Ken Livingstone, the current mayor of London, has publicly stated that he backs the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.

From:
Macedonian Press Agency

FRIDAY, 25 JUNE 2004
THE MAYOR OF LONDON BACKS THE RETURN OF THE PARTHENON MARBLES TO GREECE
London, 25 June 2004 (14:36 UTC+2)

London’s Mayor Ken Livingston stated, during a special ceremony held in the London City Hall yesterday on the occasion of PASOK President Giorgos Papandreou visit within the framework of the efforts for the promotion of the Olympic Truce, that his views on the issue of the Marbles are very clear, stressing that he believes that it is right for the Parthenon Marbles to return to the place of their heritage.

The Mayor of London expressed certainty that the Athens Olympic Games will enjoy an unbelievable success and stated that he is proud because he will have the chance to represent London in this great event.

A new BBC documentary on Saturday 26th June will take a fresh look at both sides of the case for the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece.

From:
BBC News

Last Updated: Friday, 25 June, 2004, 17:54 GMT 18:54 UK
The real story of the Elgin Marbles
By James Bregman
BBC News Online entertainment staff

The age-old controversy surrounding the Elgin Marbles is likely to re-emerge this year when the Olympics taking place in Athens.

The marbles – depicting gods, men and monsters – were removed from Athens’ Parthenon in 1811 by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire that controlled Greece at the time.
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Many people will disappointed that the ongoing restoration works to the Athenian Acropolis will miss the completion deadline of the forthcoming Olympics. However, it is far better that the restoration works are carried out correctly & not rushed, rather than artefacts being possibly damaged in the race to give the impression that the works are completed by a specific date (a date that was never known about when the restoration works began).

From:
Reuters

Athens treasures will miss Games deadline
Tue 22 June, 2004 05:02
By Daniel Howden

ATHENS (Reuters) – Visitors to August’s Athens Olympics wanting to see classical treasures such as the temple of Athena Nike or the northern colonnade of the Parthenon will have to make do with buying picture postcards instead.

Construction workers stalk the dusty halls of some of the city’s finest museums while priceless sections of the Acropolis have been dismantled and taken to the cleaners.
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Prompted by the forthcoming Athens Olympics in August, Voice of America has an article on the reasons for & against the return of the Elgin Marbles along with a look at some other similar cases.

From:
Voice Of America

Olympic Controversy: Britain and Greece Spar Over Marbles
Megan Parlen
London
22 Jun 2004, 15:25 UTC

As the summer Olympics in Athens approach, the ongoing campaign by the Greek government for the return of some ancient sculptures held by the British Museum is back in the spotlight. The disagreement over the sculptures is one of many such disputes around the world.

Visitors to the British Museum discuss the controversy, just outside the hall where the sculptures are displayed.
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A follow up by the Macedonia Press Agency to Neal Ascherson’s article in the Observer.

From:
Macedonian Press Agency

MONDAY, 21 JUNE 2004
THE EXILE OF THE PARTHENON MARBLES MUST END
Thessaloniki, 21 June 2004 (14:17 UTC+2)

The exile of the Parthenon Marbles must end writes famous Scotch journalist and author Neal Ascherson in an article on the British newspaper “The Observer”.

He underlines that Britain has no arguments to confront Greece’s demand for the return of the Parthenon Marbles.
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Billed as the Female Indiana Jones by her publicists, archaeologist Dorothy King has made a name for herself as a vocal opponent of the campaign to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. Fortunately there are many prominent figures in the academic world who disagree strongly with her opinions & theories on the subject. Dorothy King’s comments on the sculptures appear in a BBC documentary on the Marbles next weekend.

From:
The Guardian

Marbles expert: Greeks are like abusive parents
Vanessa Thorpe, arts and media correspondent
Sunday June 20, 2004
The Observer

It is Europe’s longest-running cultural heritage dispute, yet the row over the rightful home of the Elgin Marbles is still so hotly contested it will almost qualify as an Olympic sport in Athens this summer.

Undiplomatic comments made by a British archaeologist in a new BBC documentary on the subject will now take the temperature of debate still higher. Dr Dorothy King, a supporter of the British Museum’s position on the ownership of the marbles, has offended members of the Greek community in the UK by comparing the would-be custodians of the Parthenon frieze to abusive parents.
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Neal Ascherson has written a lengthy article in the Observer about the reasons why he believes the Elgin Marbles should be returned. This article is prompted by a new BBC film on the subject to be shown later this week.

From:
The Observer

End the exile
For 300 years we have had the Elgin Marbles, but the case for their return is now unanswerable
Neal Ascherson
Sunday June 20, 2004
The Observer

In August, the Olympic Games begin in Athens. The world will converge on the city crowned by the Parthenon. But the Greeks, hoping against hope, have invited a very special group of guests who will not be coming. The sacred figures of the Elgin Marbles, sawn off the temple by a Scottish nobleman almost 200 years ago, will be staying in the British Museum.

This week, a fair-minded BBC film will examine Lord Elgin and what he did. It will also set out the arguments, some respectable, some disgraceful, which have kept the marbles here in the teeth of generations of Greek – and British – protest. At the Games, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell will meet her opposite number, Costas Karamanlis, who is both minister of culture and the new Prime Minister. It is obvious what he will say to her. It is far from obvious that they will agree.
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This article looks at the reasons why the Marbles Reunited campaign feels that the Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Athens.

From:
Toronto Star

May 23, 2004. 01:00 AM
New strategy to `reunite’ Elgin marbles
Greece requests a loan for Olympics British Museum thinks it’s a ruse
SANDRO CONTENTA

ATHENS—The scaffolding and cranes around the Parthenon these days give the ancient monument what the Greeks of the time would have surely described as a tragic allure.

Built in honour of the goddess Athene, protector of Athens, the temple was considered one of the finest of the ancient world.

But time has its way with even the grandest of efforts, and no amount of work can restore a beauty that today is more suggested than real.
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Ninety five thousand Greek elementary school children have written letters to the British government asking for the Parthenon Marbles to be returned to Greece.

From:
Macedonian Press Agency

FRIDAY, 21 MAY 2004
GREEK STUDENTS CALL FOR THE RETURN OF THE PARTHENON MARBLES
Thessaloniki, 20 May 2004 (16:02 UTC+2)

Hundreds of private school students and teachers gathered this morning outside the British embassy in Athens and the British consulate in Thessaloniki to deliver a total of 95,000 letters addressed to British Prime Minister Tony Blair calling for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.

The mainly elementary school students delivered the letters and both the British ambassador and the British Consul General pledged to bring the messages to the British Prime Minister.
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In 2002, the Italian Government announced that they were going to return a fragment of the Parthenon frieze back to Greece. Since then, due to arguments between the museum in Palermo (which currently holds the piece) & the Italian government, the piece has still not been returned.

From:
Kathimerinini English Edition

Monday May 17, 2004
Papal blessings for Olympics organizers

VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope John Paul II urged on Saturday that the forthcoming Olympics should be a show of fraternity and peace, and offered his blessings to the organizers.
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An Oxford Union debate on the Elgin Marbles has stirred up controversy, after many of the speakers against restitution dropped out.

From:
The Oxford Student

13th May 2004
Elgin Marbles Debate mired in controversy
Gemma Varley

A prominent speaker dramatically pulled out of a Union debate on Sunday amid accusations that it was rigged.

Michael Daley, a leading archaeologist and campaigner for the protection of British Museum collections, refused to speak in the debate with the motion, “This house believes the Elgin Marbles [as they are commonly referred to] should be returned to Greece”. He claimed that the organisers were trying to force the debate in favour of the marbles repatriation to Greece.
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After being made shadow Arts minister, Boris Johnson listed a six point programme of what he would do if the Conservative party got into power. One of his proposals was that the Greeks should be given an indistinguishable replica of the Elgin Marbles to stop any further arguments on the subject. Boris Johnson has spoken out a number of times in the past against campaigns to return the sculptures to Greece.

From:
The Guardian

Tory spokesman Johnson spells out arts plan
Nicholas Watt, political correspondent
Friday May 7, 2004
The Guardian

With his tousled blond hair and jolly appearances on Have I Got New For You?, Boris Johnson was once written off as a political lightweight.

But the man who was told by Michael Portillo to “choose politics or comedy” strode forth yesterday as a Tory big beast of the future when he was appointed shadow arts minister.
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