More coverage of the statements by Greece about recovering any artefacts that are believed to have left the country illegally.

From:
Time Magazine

The Return of the Relics
By ANTHEE CARASSAVA

Posted Tuesday, Jul. 18, 2006
A long Greek drama came closer to its end last week when the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles agreed to return to Greece two ancient artifacts: a 2,400-year-old tombstone and a 6th century B.C. marble relief of women offering gifts to a goddess. For decades, Greece has noisily lobbied for the return of relics–especially the British Museum’s Elgin Marbles, which were stripped from Athens’ Parthenon in the early 1800s. Its efforts got a big boost last year, when Italian authorities put former Getty antiquities curator Marion True on trial for trafficking in looted works. Then in February, New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art agreed to return to Italy the Euphronios krater, a 2,500-year-old vase.
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This article in the Guardian on the Getty’s decision to return two artefacts to Greece adds some additional slightly confusing details.
The article quotes Giorgos Voulgarakis (The Greek Minister of Culture) as saying: “Whatever is Greek, wherever in the world, we want back”. This statement goes against previous statements made by the Greek government & contradicts other points in the same article. I think the issue here is that something was muddled in the translation from the original Greek statement – My understanding is that Greece is not asking for the return of any Greek artefacts held in foreign museums, but only for those that they believe left the country illegally.

From:
The Guardian

Greece demands return of stolen heritage
· Getty museum success inspires antiquities hunt
· We’ll scour world to get them back, says minister
Helena Smith in Athens
Tuesday July 11, 2006
The Guardian

Greece is to reclaim hundreds of looted art works and antiquities from museums and private collections around the world, the government said yesterday.

Emboldened by the J Paul Getty Museum’s move to return two prized antiquities to Greek ownership, Athens had decided to demand more repatriations, said the culture minister, Giorgos Voulgarakis. A list is being made of items believed to have been illicitly removed.
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Further details of the agreement announced yesterday by the Getty to return two artefacts to Greece.

From:
Los Angeles Times

3:30 AM PDT, July 11, 2006
Getty Will Return 2 Greek Artifacts
Greece applauds the move. But two items of greater significance and value remain in disputel
By Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino, Times Staff Writers
July 11, 2006

The J. Paul Getty Trust agreed Monday to return two antiquities that Greek authorities say were taken illegally from their country.

The move to repatriate a 4th century BC inscribed tombstone and a 5th century BC marble relief, both on display at the Getty Villa, comes two months after museum director Michael Brand visited Athens and promised to address a decade-old request by the Greek government for the return of four disputed objects in the Getty’s collection.
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Following their statement last month that they would return some artefacts to Italy, the Getty has now also announced the details of two artefacts which will be returned to Greece.
It is interesting to note that these various negotiations with Greece & Italy (& presumably other parties as well?) are continuing despite (or perhaps because of) the ongoing trial of former curator Marion True in Italy.
There are a number of interesting points to note from this announcement:

1. The Getty was eager to resolve the issue rapidly to improve their working relations with Greece: Mr. Brand said the museum decided to give up title to the stele and votive relief even though negotiations are incomplete because the Getty was eager to establish a new working relationship with Greece.
   
2. Greece hopes that this agreement will help to pave the way for the return of other antiquities illegally residing in foreign museums: At a news conference in Athens, Mr. Voulgarakis said the breakthrough would lent momentum to Greece’s bid to recover additional antiquities from museums in the United States and Europe.
3. One of the keys to securing the return of these two artefacts was a change of director at the Getty – the implication of this is that the new head of the institution, Michael Brand, sees the benefit of negotiating such claims rather than ignoring them: For the first time in 10 years, we had a Getty director coming to us with a proposal to work things out,” said Ms. Vassilopoulou, who took part in the negotiations.

From:
New York Times

Getty Museum Will Return 2 Antiquities to Greece
By HUGH EAKIN
Published: July 10, 2006

After months of intense scrutiny of its collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles said today ay that it had agreed to relinquish ownership of two of four rare ancient works that the government of Greece says were illegally removed from within its borders.

The compromise accord, which was initially reached in May at a meeting in Athens between the museum’s director, Michael Brand, and the Greek culture minister, Georgios A. Voulgarakis, provides for the return to Greece of a large stele, or grave marker, acquired by the museum in 1993 and a small marble relief from the island of Thasos bought by the museum’s founder, the oil magnate J. Paul Getty, in 1955.
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Only in the last few years have museums been able to take advantage of computer technology to recreate virtual representations of monuments or artefacts to enable visitors to understand them better. New technology being developed means that soon it may be possible to recreate the context of the entire ancient city surrounding sites such as the Athenian Acropolis as well.

From:
IST Results

Probing past memories in a digital future

Most of us find it rather hard to picture ancient times when viewing old bones and stone fragments in dusty museum display cabinets. Now archaeological artefacts can come alive with the help of European research that uses augmented reality, computer game and 3D-image technology to illustrate the past.

“It is sometimes hard to get a good idea of what it is you see when all you see is ruins,” says Tijl Vereenooghe, from the University of Leuven, one of the partners in the IST-funded EPOCH project.
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The Greek Ministry of culture has announced that they will be using a new logo – based on the Caryatid from the Erechtheion which was removed from the temple by Lord Elgin & is now in the British Museum.

From:
Kathimerini (English Edition)

Friday June 16, 2006
Culture redesign

Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis unveiled yesterday a new logo for his ministry based on the Caryatid which is on display at the British Museum in London. He said the ministry had decided to replace its logo after a survey suggested that Greeks did not connect with the previous image of an ancient column. Voulgarakis added that the new logo would help make Greek culture more recognizable.

The Getty has agreed in principle to the return of various Greek artefacts in their collection.
For some reason the Daily Telegraph seems keen to assert that if this return does go ahead, then it will have no affect whatsoever on the case for the return of the Elgin Marbles. I suppose that if your head was buried as firmly in the sand as the British Museum’s appears to be on this issue, then you would want to believe that nothing else could possibly have any influence on the issue. Many other museums around the world have managed to see these issues in a more enlightened way however, by understanding that the greater potential for cooperation & collaboration as a result of settling differences with foreign countries.

From:
Daily Telegraph

Greece persuades Getty museum to return artefacts
By Harry Mount in New York
(Filed: 18/05/2006)

The Greek government has persuaded the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles to return four priceless artefacts to Greece.

For a decade Greece has fought for the return of a rare gold funerary wreath, a tombstone, a stone torso and a votive relief that were allegedly illegally removed from the country.
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More details on the proposal by the Getty to return some disputed artefacts to Greece.
The issue of the return of these pieces was first raised ten years ago, but not much was done until Greece renewed its request last autumn. There are a number of other interesting aspects to the case – firstly the fact that Italy also has a claim on one of the pieces that Greece wants returned. Also, the Greek government has made no agreement to exempt the former curator Marion True from prosecution in Greece – something that presumably the Getty would have been pushing for as part of the agreement.
Perhaps the most positive thing is that the Getty can see the potential for future long term loans of artefacts from Greece & cooperation with Greece as a result of resolving these issues – something that has been proposed to the British Museum on various occasions, but that they seem unwilling to accept as an option.

From:
New York Times

Getty Director to Seek Return of Antiquities to Greece
By ANTHEE CARASSAVA
Published: May 17, 2006

ATHENS, May 16 — After four hours of talks here with the Greek culture minister, the director of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles said Tuesday that he would press for the return of some of the Getty’s most prized ancient artifacts to Greece.

The speed of the negotiations between the Getty director, Michael Brand, and Culture Minister George Voulgarakis is something of a coup for the Greek government. Although Greece first laid claim to four ancient treasures in the Getty’s collection 10 years ago, arguing that they had been illegally removed from the country, the issue was largely dormant until last fall, when Greece renewed its demand.
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At present most news about restitution claims involving the Getty museum relates to the trial of their former curator Marion True in Italy. This is far from the only case involving the museum however. It now appears that Greece’s request for the return of articles which they believe were removed illegally from the country may be successful.

From:
BBC news

Getty may return Greek artefacts
Last Updated: Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 18:16 GMT 19:16 UK

Getty may return Greek artefacts

The director of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles is to recommend returning priceless artefacts to Greece.

The Greek government alleges items were originally removed from the country illegally, although it is not known when they were taken.
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Greece is publishing a series of stamps depicting artefacts from Greek museums. One of the stamps in the first set issued will show a piece from the collection of the current Acropolis Museum. They see it partly as a way of encouraging tourism – letters sent out from the country to abroad will each carry images of some of the country’s cultural highlights.

From:
Kathimerini (English Edition)

Saturday April 15, 2006
Stamps: Cultural messengers on an envelope

Our ancient heritage and history is traveling the world on a series of postage stamps titled «Greek Museums,» released on April 7. Our museums are a major attraction for both Greek and foreigners all year round. Every visit is a unique journey into the past, into knowledge and tradition. The first selection depicts exhibits from the National Archaeological Museum (Greece’s largest museum and one of the world’s best for ancient sculpture), the Acropolis Museum, the Museum of Cycladic Art (with its prehistoric and Cycladic artifacts), the National Gallery-Alexandros Soutsos Museum with its modern Greek art, and the Benaki Museum with its 33,000 exhibits. What foreigner who receives a letter stamped with the Kouros of Anavyssos would not want to come and see the original?

In recent months, Sweden appears to be leading the way in returning artefacts to their countries of origin. Last year, a Swedish woman returned a marble fragment to Greece which was originally from The Erechtheion on the Acropolis. Now, in a completely separate case, the Universities of Lund & Uppsala have agreed to return forty-eight ancient coins excavated in Greece in 1922.

From:
Independent Online (Zaire)

Ancient coin trove returned to Greece
April 01 2006 at 02:57PM

Athens – A collection of 48 ancient Greek coins considered lost for decades was returned to Greece from Sweden on Friday.

Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis took delivery of the collection from Greece’s ambassador in Sweden, Evangelos Karokis.
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More on the fact that the Parthenon & its sculptures were once brightly coloured. This is something that has been known for a long time, but recent restoration work has revealed more detail on the range of pigments that were used.
Many archaeologists believe that the cleaning of the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum in the 1930s was responsible for a loss of information on the original colour of the sculptures that could now have been retrieved using modern techniques.

From:
MSNBC

Scientists retrace Parthenon’s brilliant hues
Tests turn up bits of ancient red, green and blue paint on temple
By Heather Whipps

If the ancient Greeks sold kitschy postcards to tourists 2,000 years ago, they would have depicted much different views of the popular sites that visitors flock to today.

Archaeologists say many of the stony ruins looked much different in their prime. Many were brightly painted in hues that have faded with time and, in some cases, with forced removal.
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