The next in a series of Parthenon Marbles related annual events will take place on 7th June 2016

A conference on the Parthenon Marbles will be taking place tomorrow at the Senate House of the University of London.

The event is jointly organised by the BCRPM, The South African Committee (SACRPM) & one of the Australian Committees (IOC-A-RPM).

To find out more, view the programme for the event here.

The theme of this year’s event is that it is to commemorate the bicentenary of the Act of Parliament that enabled the purchase of the sculptures from Lord Elgin.

Professor Dario Siegle is organising a one day conference on the Parthenon Sculptures, taking place in Rome on Wednesday 8th October 2014.

There are various speakers from Greecec & Italy taking part in the event.

You can view the programme for the event here.

Conference flyer

A bit late posting this, as the event has already started.

The Third International Conference of Experts on the Return of Cultural Property is currently taking place in Greece, with events at a variety of locations.

If you want further details of the event, have a look at this web page.

3rd International Conference of Experts on the Return of Cultural Property

From:
Greek Ministry of Culture

3rd International Conference of Experts on the Return of Cultural Property

4/10/2013

As a follow-up to the Second International Conference of Experts on the Return of Cultural Property, held in Seoul, Republic of Korea, 16-17 October 2012, the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports organizes the Third International Conference of Experts on the Return of Cultural Property.
The Conference will be held from Wednesday 23 until Saturday 26 October 2013. The opening ceremony, as well as the procedures of the first day will be accommodated in the auditorium of the Acropolis Museum, while the rest sessions from Thursday 24 to Saturday, October 26, will take place in Ancient Olympia (SPAP Conference Center).

The conference program is divided into two main areas:
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The International Byron Conference for 2013 takes place in July at Kings College, London. Included on the Agenda is a session on Byron, Elgin & the Marbles, taking place in the Duveen Gallery at the British Museum.

From:
Kings College London

International Byron Conference 2013
Conference Programme

BYRON: the poetry of politics and the politics of poetry
The 39th International Byron Conference

1-6 July 2013

Unless otherwise indicated, all sessions are at King’s College London Strand Campus

All timings are provisional at this stage
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The 5th annual conference of the Association for research into crimes against art takes place on 22-23 June 2013, in Amelia, Italy.

From:
ARCA

ARCA’s 5th Annual Art Crime Conference will be held June 21-23, 2013

Amelia Italy

The Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) is pleased to announce it 5th annual interdisciplinary conference on Art Crime to be held June 21-23, 2013

Providing an arena for intellectual and professional exchange, the annual Art Crime conference is integral to the nonprofit’s mission and serves as a forum which aims to facilitate a critical appraisal of the protection of art and heritage worldwide.
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Durham University is organising a debate on the ethics of repatriation of human remains from museums.

From:
Durham university

Durham University Archaeology Society Conference 2012
Whose Past? An Interdisciplinary debate on the repatriation of artefacts and reburial of human remains
Saturday April 28th 2012 10am-5pm

Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Dawson Building, Durham University Science Site

Durham University Archaeology Society presents a one day interdisciplinary conference to be held at Durham University involving the Archaeology, Anthropology, Philosophy and Law departments from Durham and Newcastle University and selected guest speakers. This year’s theme ‘Whose Past? An Interdisciplinary debate on the repatriation of artefacts and reburial of human remains’ aims to generate a stimulating debate about the ownership and ethical principles associated with two types of archaeological material; artefacts and human remains, with the focus on the repatriation of artefacts and reburial of human remains.
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A followup to the conference on the return of and protection of cultural property, held in Athens in December. Interestingly, the final paragraph suggests that new initiatives for the return of the Parthenon Marbles are finally being explored by the Greek government.

From:
SAE

SAE
“World Cultural Heritage, the Parthenon and its Marbles are not tradable”
Athens, 13.12.2010

The institutional framework for cultural heritage, in terms of international ethics, protection, legal practice, diplomatic approach, international collaboration efforts and other relevant issues, the main focus being on the issue of the Parthenon Marbles, were discussed during the international conference organized on Friday at the New Acropolis Museum by the Foundation for International Legal Studies – I. Krispis, the Kapodistrian University of Athens, the Acropolis Museum and the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE).
“The return of all those masterpieces that constitute our cultural heritage is now more imperative than ever” stressed in his message Minister of the State, Harris Pamboukis, indicating that “the course towards reclaiming and diplomatic pressure is difficult and time consuming, however our cultural treasures have a new modern home, the New Acropolis Museum, located in their place of origin. The argument is irrefutable”.

The message of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Demetris Dollis, responsible for Greeks Abroad was also on the same wavelength, who is currently on an official visit in Australia.
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On Friday 10th December, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Greece is hosting an International colloquium on the protection & return of Cultural Property.

It is to take place in the ampitheatre of the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, from 12:30 to 19:30.

The event is organised by the University of Athens, Acropolis Museum, Foundation for International Legal Studies & the Council of Hellenes Abroad.

Please contact me directly if you would like further information about this event, as I only have it in PDF format.

A conference in London aims to represent London as a beacon of enlightenment in the world of restitution of cultural property. Many countries will be unconvinced by this argument however.

From:
The Times

May 4, 2010
London – a beacon of cultural resistution?

Plenty of people in Greece, Egypt, and Scotland might disagree but London, home of the Elgin marbles, the Rosetta Stone and the Lewis Chessmen, will today present itself as a beacon of enlightenment on the thorny subject of cultural restitution.

Delegates ranging from a lawyer with the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest to the Surveyor of The Queen’s Pictures and the Director General of ICCROM (the International Organisation for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage) in Rome are attending a conference at the National Gallery this afternoon billed as Restitution – Where Now?
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Egypt has recently had a lot of success at securing the return of artefacts from foreign institutions & collectors. Can other countries manage to copy their example though with their own requests?

From:
Modern Ghana

EGYPTIAN SEASON OF ARTEFACTS RETURNS: HOPEFUL SIGN TO BE FOLLOWED BY OTHERS?
By Kwame Opoku, Dr.
Feature Article | Sun, 14 Mar 2010

”There is a moral imperative for museums around the world to return certain artefacts to the countries they came from, and we are going to identify how we can help each other to increase the pressure on the keepers of those artefacts.”
Zahi Hawass. (1)

Egyptians seem to be having tremendous success in the recovery of their artefacts taken away during the heyday of imperialism and colonialism or stolen since 1970 when States adopted the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970). (2)
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More details on the conference being organised in Egypt on the retrieval of looted antiquities.

From:
Agence France Presse

Egypt to host conference on the return of antiquities
(AFP) – 2 hours ago

CAIRO — Egypt will host a conference in April for countries demanding the return of their antiquities, stolen but on display in museums round the world, Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities said Wednesday. The conference will “discuss the question of returning stolen antiquities,” the council said in a statement. It gave no dates for the three-day conference.

Thirty countries, including Greece, Mexico, Peru, Afghanistan, Iraq, Cambodia and China, will participate in the Cairo gathering, said Egypt’s antiquities director Zahi Hawass, who has made the return of looted Egyptian artefacts the hallmark of his tenure.
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A forthcoming conference on cultural property organised by Egypt will hopefully help the cause of many other restitution campaigns across Africa & Asia.

From:
Deutsche Presse Agentur

Egypt to aid return of stolen Asian, African artifacts (Roundup)
By Shabtai Gold Dec 23, 2009, 15:34 GMT

Cairo – Egypt’s antiquities chief announced plans on Wednesday for a conference to help coordinate the strategy of African and Asian countries who had artifacts ‘stolen’ from them.

‘At the end of March we will hold a conference to meet with others who suffered like us from stolen artifacts and to discuss how to help all of us in efforts to return the stolen artifacts,’ said Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council for Antiquities.
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