The book & now the film of Monuments Men have been covered a number of times already on this website.

Now that the film is out in the cinemas, others have also made the connection between the stories it describes & that of the Parthenon Sculptures.

At a recent press conference, George Clooney was asked by a journalist about whether he thought that Britain should return Greek artefacts (a clear reference to the Parthenon Sculptures). He stated that he felt that Greece had a very good case to make, and that is would be a very fair thing to happen if they were returned.

George Clooney, Star of Monuments Men

In response to this, the the chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, John Whittingdale, suggested that Clooney didn’t know what he was talking about & that “There’s a very strong view in this country that they should stay in the UK”. Clearly, he has not seen the results of the previous polls organised by the BCRPM & Marbles Reunited a few years ago, which indicated an overwhelming level of support amongst people who were well informed about the issue.

You can see a video of the actual question here:

From:
Independent

George Clooney believes Britain should lose its Marbles
Ian Johnston
Sunday 09 February 2014

Hollywood actor George Clooney has called for the UK to return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece, saying it is “the right thing to do”.

Clooney was speaking at the Berlin Film Festival yesterday during a press conference for his film The Monuments Men, which tells the story of a team sent by the Allies to try to save artefacts from being stolen by the Nazis.
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Following on from the Colloquy on the return of the Parthenon Marbles in June, they have now put online videos of all the speakers who were there.

You can view them on Youtube here.

The American Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures has produced a video to accompany a traveling exhibition of imagery of the Parthenon.

You can also subscribe to their YouYube channel to see their other videos.

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.

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 Open University has produced a short video that explains the story of the Benin Bronzes very clearly in less than three minutes. It would be interesting to see if the creator of this clip could be persuaded to do similar things for some other key restitution cases such as the Parthenon Sculptures.

From:
Open University

Prepare to be Inspired…
The Benin Bronzes

Been inspired by the Benin Bronzes? Explore other topics and see what else inspires you.

What do the Benin Bronzes mean to you? Ground breaking art from the African continent, or a shameful symbol of Britain’s Imperial past?

The Arts Past and Present (AA100) investigates the collision of cultures and the impact on today’s world. It’s designed to excite and challenge your thinking on a host of historical as well as topical issues.

Whether you’re in search of Cleopatra, into sacred places, want to learn more about the Dalai Lama, Irish Nationalism or the Benin Bronzes we guarantee to take your interest further

From:
Open University

The Bring Them Back campaign for the return of the Elgin Marbles, sponsored by Metaxa has already achieved quite a bit of media attention – no doubt due in part to the clever yet amusing video that they have produced.

From;
Heritage Key

Bring Them Back Campaign Takes Big Ben Clock Hostage in Exchange for Elgin Marbles
Submitted by Ann on Tue, 05/25/2010 – 09:48

I you go sightseeing in London after a night out, stare up at Big Ben to find its clock missing, you might conclude you’ve overdone it on the Metaxa. But no: according to the new campaign video from bringthemback.org, Britain’s best-known clock was taken by Greek multi-millionaire Aristotle Elginiadis. In a month’s time the video – a call for the return of the Elgin Marbles (what else) – has amassed nearly half a million YouTube views, with little sign of its popularity waning.

The campaign video kicks off with a breaking news report: Big Ben’s clock has been stolen! Avid reporter Elena Katritsi quickly traces the timepiece to the Mediterranean villa of multi-millionaire Elginiadis, who isn’t shy to confess his ‘art theft’. Elginiadis says he took the Big Ben clock to protect it from London’s worsening pollution problems. The clock is a world-famous monument, it should be treated as such, and surely there’s less air pollution in a seaside village in Greece? That the ‘thief’ is taking good care of the clock is quickly demonstrated, with the cutest house-maid cleaning the clock in the background (Detail you won’t want to miss!).
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A new Greek based campaign for the return of the Parthenon Marbles has been launched recently, called Bring them back“>Bring them Back.

From:
America Blog

Saturday, April 17, 2010
Bring back the Elgin Marbles
by John Aravosis (DC)

Back around 1800, when Greece was still suffering from 400 years of Turkish occupation, the British ambassador, Lord Elgin, got permission from the Turks to remove a good chunk of the Parthenon and bring it back to London, for display in the British Museum. Now that the Turks are gone, the Greeks would like their Parthenon back.

It’s an interesting issue. I can sympathize with the argument that you can’t ask that ever piece of antiquity from everywhere around the world be returned to its nation or origin, or you’d empty every museum in the world. Having said that, how does this story differ from the Nazi’s pilfering the Louvre? While I’m sympathetic to the notion that not every artifact should go home, the Parthenon is a big deal. And taking massive chunks of it during a foreign occupation is, well, tacky. Now that the Greeks have a new modern museum to house the “Elgin Marbles,” the British lose their number one argument – that the antiquities were better preserved in England than in Greece, where they could be better cared for. Not anymore.

Below is a cute video that demonstrates the problem. It’s tied to a Web site called “Bring them back.”

The Acropolis in Athens, along with the numerous buildings that occupy & surround the site are all now on Google Earth in 3D.

From:
Google Earth Blog

March 1, 2010
Athens goes 3D

With the Winter Olympics wrapping up, Google thought it’d be fun to revisit the site of the first modern Olympic games. They’ve added detailed 3D coverage to the city, with thousands of buildings now showing off sharp 3D models.

They provide a list of fun places to check out, such as the Parthenon and the Herodeion Theater.

You can also view a short video tour of the 3D city of Athens here.

Most of the artefacts from the ancient Kingdom of Benin that ended up in museums around the world, left the country following the British army’s looting of the country in 1897.

This song (forwarded to my by Kwame Opoku) details the massacre, followed by the (so far unsuccessful) attempts to have some of these artefacts returned to their country of origin. Perhaps someone needs to produce something similar to help publicise the campaign for the return of the Parthenon Marbles & to correct some of the popular misconceptions so that people better understand the true situation.

Listen to (& watch) it here.