An interesting look at 10 different cases (some well known, some more obscure) where countries are involved in disputes over the ownership of looted cultural property. Some of the cases have been resolved, but many are still no closer to reaching a conclusion than the day after the artefacts were originally taken.

From:
Business Insider

10 Ancient Artifacts That Countries Are Still Fighting Over
Vivian Giang | Jul. 14, 2011, 7:51 PM

Legendary historical artifacts have traded hands from conquerors to thieves and ended up thousands of miles from their origin.

The question of ownership is extremely murky.

With a black market in looted art worth as much as $6.3 billion a year, the mantra of “finder’s keepers” can be tempting. Past and present owners, however, may claim an object, sometimes leading to disputes and wars between nations.
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A meeting of UNESCO’s ICPRPC committee in Azerbaijan has considered the protection of cultural artefacts from Azerbaijan, as well as re-visiting the standing restitution appeals for the return of the Parthenon Marbles & the Bogazkoy sphinx.

From:
News.Az

Azerbaijan appeals UNESCO to protects cultural heritage in occupied lands
Wed 06 July 2011 04:25 GMT | 5:25 Local Time

The 17th meeting of the UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation (ICPRCP) was held.

The Department of international relations and cultural programs of Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture and Tourism reports that the issues which were included in the agenda – The restitutions appeals on Parthenon marbles (the United Kingdom of Great Britain – Greece), Bogazkoy sphinx (Germany – Turkey) were examined, the reports by member states and UNESCO partner organizations were listened.
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Another review of the new children’s book by Anthony Horowitz, about a plot to return the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum to Athens.

Scorpia Rising (Alex Rider)
Author: Anthony Horowitz
Publisher: Walker
ISBN: 1406310492

From:
Guardian

Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz – review

Sunday 8 May 2011 11.00 BST

‘The detail is amazing, he drags you straight into the room’

The finale of the enthralling Alex Rider series, comes with a bang, and this time, the majority of the book is from the bad guy’s point of view. Alex returns this time with SCORPIA, the evil criminal organisation, on his tail. Jack Starbright, his new guardian is with him this time as Alex goes to Cairo, in Egypt, with him and Mr Smithers, Horowitz’s version of James Bond’s Q; the gadget man. At the beginning, we see the arch-villain: Zeljan Kurst, meeting a dying Greek millionaire in the British Museum. I recently visited the Museum myself and the detail is amazing, he drags you straight into the room. This book will see, a major twist, Smither’s final shocking gadget, and a new side of Alan Blunt. I would recommend this, to anyone between the ages of 10 to 13, because it’s a bit violent for under 10′s.

Following Christopher Hitchens death, Stephen Fry talks about why he now thinks that the time is now right for the Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum to return to Athens.

From:
StephenFry.com

A Modest Proposal
By Stephen Fry
December 19th, 2011

Greece is the Word

I have a modest proposal that might simultaneously celebrate the life of Christopher Hitchens, strengthen Britain’s low stock in Europe and allow us to help a dear friend in terrible trouble.

Perhaps the most beautiful and famous monument in the world is the Doric masterpiece atop the citadel, or Acropolis, of Athens. It is called the Parthenon, the Virgin Temple dedicated to Pallas Athene, the goddess of wisdom who gave the Greek capital its name.
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In the mid 1980s, when interest in the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles was not as high as it is now, Christopher Hitchens chose to write his second book about the Parthenon Marbles – and why he thought that they should be returned to Greece. This book still is perhaps the text that most eloquently summarises the arguments for the return of the sculptures & refutes those against. It has since been reprinted in three different editions, each time summarising the current status of the case, with introductory passages written by various others involved with the campaign.

His book was the first thing that I read when researching the design of the New Acropolis Museum – which led to my interest in the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles ever since then.

Particularly in his later works, I disagreed with much of what Hitch wrote, but in other cases, his clear understanding of the arguments led me to change my own mind on subjects. Throughout his life though, he steadfastly maintained his assertions that the Parthenon Sculptures should be returned to Greece.

Farewell Christopher, you will be missed.

(Interestingly, I notice that the Reuters obituary was written by Sharon Waxman – herself an author of a book on disputed artefacts in museums)

The Parthenon Marbles: The Case for Reunification
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1844672522

From:
Reuters

Christopher Hitchens: A salute to intellectual honesty
By Sharon Waxman
Sun Dec 18, 2011 2:42pm EST

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Nothing sharpened Christopher Hitchens’ mind like cancer.

He wrote the best, most piercing, most clarifying prose of his career as he faced down the specter of his own demise.

As he dealt with fatigue and nausea, with the anger, disgust and frustration that must accompany what he knew was a death sentence, Hitch poured it all into words that were as painfully honest as they were hilarious.
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A few weeks ago, France announced that they would return various Māori heads taken from New Zealand. This article looks at some of the other well-known disputes over artefacts.

From:
Daily Telegraph

Famous disputes over ownership of ancient artefacts
10:30AM BST 09 May 2011

Elgin Marbles

France has agreed to return more than one dozen Maori heads taken from new Zealand more than a century ago. Here are some other ongoing disputes between nations over prized ancient artefacts:

Probably the most famous, and one of the longest running, disputes over ownership of ancient artefacts is the battle between Britain and Greece over the Elgin Marbles.
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A new children’s novel by Anthony Horowitz revolves around a plot to return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece. Unfortunately, it appears that those in favour of return are cast as the bad guys in this particular version of the story…

Scorpia Rising (Alex Rider)
Author: Anthony Horowitz
Publisher: Walker
ISBN: 1406310492

From:
BBC News

Book Review: Alex Rider – Scorpia Rising
Last Updated: Wednesday June 08 2011 10:57 GMT

Author
Anthony Horowitz

The story
This book is different from all the other Alex Rider books as it explains the villain’s plot right at the beginning, whereas most other Alex Rider books you have to work out what the villain is up to.

In this book, Scorpia are hired to return some statues called the Elgin Marbles in the British museum to Greece. To do this they plan to blackmail MI6 by showing the world that MI6 have been using a teenager to do all their work.
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There will be a lecture in Sydney about excavations made last summer of the ship, the Mentor, that carried some of the Elgin Marbles from Greece to the UK.

From:
Radio Symban

Public Lecture, Wreck of the Mentor: The Mentor shipwreck, its cargo of Parthenon Marbles, 1800’s salvage and 2011 excavation
06/12/12

In 1802 the small brig Mentor was wrecked on the island of Kythera, Greece. Its stated cargo consisted of 17 crates of the Parthenon Marbles en-route from Piraeus to England via Malta. Over the next two years Lord Elgin spent a small fortune recovering the Marbles using Greek sponge divers. It was long suspected however that there were other undocumented antiquities aboard the vessel which were not recovered. Previous archaeological investigations had been inconclusive.

In July an excavation led by Dr. Kourkoumelis of the Ephorate of Marine Antiquities, Ministry of Culture & Tourism, Greece with three Australian volunteers recovered a number of ancient coins as well as personal items belonging to the crew. The similarities of the Mentor wreck-site with the Queensland wrecks of the HMS Pandora (1792) and Foam (1893) contributed to the decision to excavate in the area most likely to contain the long anticipated antiquities.

The talk is being generously supported by the Kytherian Association of Australia, in conjunction with the Sydney Friends of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens. Excavations have been supported by the Nicholas Anthony Aroney Trust & Kytherian Association of Australia. Refreshments are being sponsored by Fardoulis Chocolates. www.choc.com.au.

Theatre 101
New Law School Building
Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney
Wednesday, 7 December 2011, 7pm for a 7:30pm start
by Cos Coroneos and John Fardoulis

For more information about the Mentor project see: http://www.krg.org.au/mentor

Cost: A five dollar donation to the project would be appreciated!

Mathematics Lecturer Nik Lygeros (who is also the Greek with the highest IQ level) talks about why he feels that the British Museum should return the Elgin Marbles.

From:
Greek Reporter

Greek Genius Comments on Return of Parthenon Marbles
Posted on 25 April 2011 by Polina Dimea

The restoration of the Parthenon marbles is a national issue that appeals to every Greek soul.

Dr. Nik Lygeros is the Greek with the highest IQ score (189 of the Standford-Binet Intelligence scale). He is a mathematics lecturer at the University of Lyon. His passion for Greece is obvious throughout his whole work and his lectures related to people, history and culture of Greece. He is one who voted for the restoration of the Parthenon marbles.
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Korea has recently had the Oegyujanggak documents returned by France & Japan is also planning on returning other documents to them soon. There is still a lot of the country’s heritage located in foreign museums however and the ownership of many of these items continues to be disputed.

From:
Joong Ang Daily (Korea)

Bringing our cultural treasures home
April 26, 2011

The massive needle-shaped stone monuments known as the Egyptian obelisks are still a mystery, but it is widely believed that they are symbols of fertility. In most civilizations, the sky is often represented as male while the earth is female. In Greek mythology, Uranus was the god of the sky and Gaia was the goddess of the earth. But in ancient Egypt, Geb was the god of the Earth, and his wife Nut was the goddess of the sky. The obelisks are said to be phalluses constructed to point up at the sky for Nut.

Although the obelisks were built in Egypt, most obelisks are found not in Egypt but in Italy. There are 29 obelisks remaining around the world, and nine of them are in Egypt. Italy has 11. Roman emperors had admired the majestic beauty of the obelisks when they conquered Egypt and took them to Italy. That was over 2,000 years ago. Italians’ infatuation with obelisks returned in the 20th century. When Italy won the second Italo-Abyssinian War, Benito Mussolini looted the Obelisk of Axum.
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The official figures for 2010 show that the New Acropolis Museum was the most popular site for tourists visiting Greece. The British Museum might claim that more people see the Elgin Marbles in London (a fact that is open to some debate), however in the case of the New Acropolis Museum, the figures are for those people purely wanting to see the marbles – not general figures for a museum, which may include the Duveen Gallery, amongst numerous other elements.

From:
Agence France Presse

Acropolis Museum is Greece’s top site: official data
(AFP) – Apr 11, 2011

ATHENS — The Acropolis Museum was Greece’s top tourist draw in 2010, eclipsing for the first time the ancient Athens citadel whose sculptures it showcases, official data showed on Monday.

Over 1.3 million people queued to visit the country’s newest museum between January and December last year, the Greek statistics authority (Esa) said.
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Despite what institutions such as the British Museum might claim, repatriation has become an important part of the role of most international museums.

From:
The Epoch Times

Museums Gain New Relevance in the Modern World
By Shar Adams
Created: Apr 11, 2011

Every one has heard of blockbuster movies and sell-out theatre performances but we do not usually relate blockbuster exhibitions to museums. We can now, the dusty shelves and creaking floorboards of the C20 museums fast becoming a thing of the past.

Today well considered and relevant exhibitions can be found in museums with artifacts from the past cleverly displayed to interact with multi media, digital displays and even live performances.
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