Further coverage of the Greek government’s response to the article in The Times that claimed that they were no longer claiming ownership of the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum.

From:
Greek Reporter

Ministry denies reviewing position on Parthenon artifacts
Posted on 07 December 2010 by Apostolos Papapostolou

The Culture Ministry yesterday rebuffed a report in the Times newspaper suggesting that Minister Pavlos Geroulanos had offered to forgo its claims to the Parthenon Marbles, which are on display at the British Museum, in return for a long-term loan of the artifacts. Sources at the ministry told Skai that the government has not changed its position regarding its demand for the return of the Marbles. The museum said it had not been informed of any official proposal by the Greek government adding that Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos never referred to the issue of the marbles’ ownership in his meeting with a reporter of the British newspaper “The Times.”

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Despite earlier reports to the contrary suggesting Greek position on the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles might have changed, statements since then by the Greek Culture Ministry state that this is not the cases & that the report in The Times misrepresents their position.

From:
Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Greece remains firm in demand for permanent return of marbles
Dec 6, 2010, 20:55 GMT
DPA

Athens – Greece remained steadfast Monday in its demand for the permanent return of the Parthenon Marbles to the new museum in Athens, denying newspaper reports that said it would forgo its claim for a long-term loan of the artefacts.

In a recent report, The Times newspaper said: ‘Greece was trying to break decades of stalemate with Britain over the Elgin Marbles by dropping its long-standing claim to ownership of the sculptures in return for the British Musuem sending the Acropolis artefacts back to Athens on a long-term loan.’
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In an interview with The Times, Greece’s Culture Minister, Pavlos Geroulanos, has indicated that he may be willing to set aside the issue of ownership, in order to facilitate serious talks with the British Museum about the reunification of the Elgin Marbles.

Later reports from Greece have however indicated that this attribution was made in error & was not what was discussed in the interview.

From:
The Times

Greece offers to drop claim to Elgin Marbles
Michael Binyon Athens Last updated December 6 2010 12:01 AM

Greece is trying to break decades of stalemate with Britain over the Elgin Marbles by dropping its long-standing claim to ownership of the sculptures in return for the British Museum sending the Acropolis artefacts back to Athens on a long-term loan.

In return, Greece will offer the British Museum a selection of its best classical art, changing the exhibition every few years to give London one of the richest permanent displays in Western Europe of sculpture, carvings and art from ancient Greece.
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Mary Beard, author of a book on the Parthenon has written a summary of the arguments surrounding the Elgin Marbles for the history section of the BBC’s website.

From:
BBC

Lord Elgin – Saviour or Vandal?
By Mary Beard
Last updated 2010-10-15

Much of the sculpture that once enhanced the Parthenon in Athens was brought to London by Lord Elgin 200 years ago. Was this the act of a saviour or a vandal? Mary Beard looks at both sides of a fierce argument.

Controversy

During the first decade of the 19th century the agents of Lord Thomas Elgin (British Ambassador to Constantinople 1799-1803) removed whole boatloads of ancient sculpture from Greece’s capital city of Athens. The pride of this collection was a large amount of fifth-century BC sculpture taken from the Parthenon, the temple to the goddess Athena, which stood on the Acropolis hill in the centre of the city.
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The British Museum regularly props up its defence for the retention of the Elgin Marbles with the fact that the sculptures can be seen in their museum free of charge, without any real debate a to whether this is necessarily a universally good thing. As budgets for government spending are cut in the UK, more & more questions must be asked about whether these institutions should keep their free admission, or charge visitors (which doesn’t necessarily need to be a large amount).

From:
Evening Standard

British Museum reduces opening hours as budget cuts begin to bite
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent
30.09.10

The British Museum is to reduce its opening hours from January to cope with government budget cuts.

Late-night opening to the permanent collections will be axed on Thursdays and restricted to one evening a week — Fridays. Staff recruitment will be “significantly reduced”.
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A new book by a longstanding member of the British Museum’s staff promises to expose some of what happens behind the scenes at the museum. This may or may not be interesting – depending on your point of view & on what is actually revealed in the book.

Behind the Colonnade: Thirty-seven Years at the British Museum
Author: Norman Jacobs
Publisher: The History Press Ltd
ISBN: 0752452797

From:
Love Reading

Bone of Contention? Skeletons Abound as Author Opens British Museum Closet
29 Sep 2010

Norman Jacobs lifts the lid on one of London’s oldest historical institutions

A “fascinating and insightful” expose of the British Museum hits the shelves in November.

Behind the Colonnade lifts the lid on London’s oldest historical institution, and reveals the building’s “secrets, charms and colourful past”. The 216-page autobiography chronicles events of the last four decades, as witnessed by one of its longest-serving – and most trusted – employees. Author Norman Jacobs spent 37 years at the museum where he “watched, listened and recorded” life in its corridors. The father-of-two, 63, compiled his “notes and memories” and decided to pen Behind the Colonnade following his retirement in 2004 aged 57.
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There is now an edited (one minute long) version of the video of last weekend’s protest outside the British Museum organised by METOPO. Well worth watching, even if you didn’t find the time to see the full ten minute one that I posted originally.

You can read more details about the protest itself here.

An English language press release about last week’s demonstration outside the British Museum organised by METOPO. The Exhibition was to protest in favour of the return of the Elgin Marbles to Athens.

From:
METOPO

PRESS RELEASE
The slogan “Bring them Back” echoed all over the British Museum!
London, 25 October 2010

The afternoon of Saturday October 23rd outside the British Museum, was strikingly different to any other. The flashes of the visitors were immortalising not any of the Museums’ stolen exhibits, but rather, the demonstrators standing in the front yard of the Museum, who wearing black t-shirts, holding banners and placards, were conveying the demand of the Hellenes anywhere in the world: “Bring Them Back”.

The demonstration for the return and restoration of the Parthenon Sculptures, organised by the ‘METOPO Cypriot Student Movement UK’ and the non-governmental organisation ‘Artclick’, under the campaign “Bring Them Back”, was an ultimate absolute success, as the people embraced it and dynamically became part of it.
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A video has been made of the METOPO organised protest for the Bring Them Back campaign outside the British Museum last weekend.

From:
METOPO

Το “BRING THEM BACK” ήχησε μέσα στο Βρετανικό Μουσείο!
Λονδίνο, 25 Οκτωβρίου 2010

Το προχθεσινό απόγευμα στο Βρετανικό Μουσείο στο Λονδίνο δεν ήταν το ίδιο. Αυτό που τραβούσε τα φλας των επισκεπτών δεν ήταν κάποιο από τα «κλεμμένα» εκθέματα του, αλλά οι διαδηλωτές με τις μαύρες μπλούζες, οι οποίοι στεκόντουσαν στο κεντρικό προαύλιο κρατώντας πανό και πλακάτ, μεταφέροντας έτσι το μήνυμα και την απαίτηση όλων των απανταχού Ελλήνων: “BRING THEM BACK”.
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The Parthenon Marbles reunification protest outside the British Museum yesterday was well attended – by my counting, there were over fifty people there, despite the rather chilly weather. There was quite a bit of interest from some of the people passing by & I got a chance to meet the organisers of the event. Unfortunately the British Museum limits the duration of such protests to fourty minutes – which has the effect of limiting the impact of them to people passing by during that time period.

You can also view the photostream for Elginism directly on Flickr or as an album on Facebook.

In the old Acropolis Museum located actually on the Acropolis itself, I never had any problems taking photographs. Within the New Acropolis Museum however, whilst I took many pictures while the building was under construction, I’ve had great difficulty in taking any pictures within the building since the exhibits were in place. Even at the opening in 2009, although people (only a very limited number of invited guests) were allowed to take photos in the lower levels of the building, numerous staff were making sure that no one took photos inside the Parthenon Gallery.

Whilst I can understand that museums make money from selling reproduction rights to items in their collections, I can not see how stopping all photography (when the general tradition in Greece is for museums to allow it) is a move that benefits anyone. In many cases, photographs would have acted as an advert for the museum. The building has already been published in numerous newspapers & magazines, so there is now no secret behind the appearance of the interior (which could have been argued as a reason prior to its opening).

The Parthenon (Wonders of the World)
Author: Mary Beard
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
ISBN: 1861973012

From:
The Times Blogs

August 03, 2010
How much does a picture of the Parthenon cost?

How can we keep the Greek economy afloat? Well, one answer is by asking for permission to reproduce pictures from Greek museums.

Just recently I produced a new edition of my Parthenon book, brought up to date with a new chapter on the new Acropolis Museum (plus all the to-ing and fro-ing about the Elgin Marbles in the years since the first edition came out).
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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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