February 29, 2004
Marbles Reunited at the Athens Concert Hall
The Marbles Reunited campaign has organised an exhibition about the Elgin Marbles that is currently on display at the Athens Concert Hall.
From:
Kathimerini (English Edition)
Saturday February 28, 2004
‘The Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles: A Cultural Imperative’
HELBINothing can stop an idea when it’s time has come, and now that 80 percent of the British people have agreed in a poll that it is time for the British Museum to give the Parthenon Marbles back to Greece, the process has been set in motion. The decision is up to the British government. The British Museum is the cultural body charged with guarding and exhibiting the “Elgin” Marbles — that is, the Parthenon Marbles, taken down and taken away by Lord Elgin, who was then the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. However, the cause can be helped by the presence of someone with the stature of the president of Greece, Costis Stephanopoulos, a personage who can achieve as much as a dozen exhibitions, petitions and speeches. So the exhibition “The Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles: A Cultural Imperative” which has opened in the foyer of the Athens Concert Hall is particularly important in that Stephanopoulos, the most popular and beloved president of all Greeks, according to opinion polls, honored it with his presence. The exhibition is being held at the initiative of the Melina Mercouri Foundation, the Culture Ministry and the Acropolis Museum Construction Organization. The exhibition was also held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. UNESCO General Director Koichiro Matsuura wrote the prologue to the catalog. UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Marianna Vardinoyianni, who organized the Paris exhibit, also attended the opening in Athens last Tuesday by Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos. It is an exhibition that should be seen by all Athenians and which would have given great pleasure to that standard-bearer for the return of the Marbles, the late Melina Mercouri. The foundation that bears her name, and whose president is Mercouri’s husband Jules Dassin, is struggling to see the new Acropolis Museum become a reality.
- Parthenon Marbles exhibition in Frankfurt : January 16, 2006
- New book recreates Parthenon Marbles as a single entity : November 27, 2004
- President Papoulias briefed on campaign to return Elgin Marbles : November 19, 2005
- Greek President addresses UNESCO conference : October 19, 2007
- The Cultural Organization of Prespes presents tribute to Melina Mercouri : August 16, 2013
- International conference at the New Acropolis Museum : March 20, 2008
- Mercouri’s battle for the return of the Marbles continues : January 24, 2004
- Greece steps up efforts to secure Elgin Marbles return : May 12, 2009