Four articles look at different aspects of the looting of museums & archaeological sites in Iraq, whether similar things could happen in the west, & whether more steps could have been taken to anticipate it.

The British Museum has been eager to help the situation – which is to be welcomed, but at the same time is slightly odd behaviour, as so many of the museum’s own artefacts were acquired through similar situation in the past. Despite this fact though, they continue to maintain that what happened in the past was perfectly acceptable, but that what is happening now in Iraq is to be condemned.

From:
Post Gazette

Looting of Baghdad treasures shines light on a ‘dirty business’
Sunday, April 27, 2003
By Dennis B. Roddy, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

The Byzantine frescos of Lysi, painted in Cyprus, kidnapped to Germany and now staring down from the ceiling of a museum chapel in Texas, testify by their travels that the world views much of its cultural legacy through a catalog of stolen property.

For nine centuries, the frescos hung unmolested on a small chapel in Cyprus before being cut from the ceiling by Turkish looters during the 1974 war. Ten years later, a Houston foundation, working with the Cypriot Orthodox Church, saved them and installed them in the museum chapel, where they are an example of the moral ambiguity of the antiquities trade.
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The New Acropolis Museum is designed specifically to house the Parthenon Marbles. At present though, these sculptures are split between London & Athens, with no resolution in sight.

From:
CNN

Elgin Marbles: Centerpiece of new museum?
Greece preparing arts for 2004 Olympics
Thursday, April 10, 2003 Posted: 1:01 PM EDT (1701 GMT)

NEW YORK (AP) — The halves of a carving depicting an ancient Greek chariot race interlock on the gallery wall like parts of a jigsaw puzzle.

“Both pieces, currently divided between Athens and London, should be rejoined at the New Acropolis Museum,” says the caption.
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The Onassis Cultural Center in New York is organising an exhibition & a lecture about the Parthenon Marbles & the New Acropolis Museum.

From:
Onassis Cultural Center

March 6, 2003 – April 9, 2003
THE NEW ACROPOLIS MUSEUM IN ATHENS: DESIGN & ORIGINAL EXHIBITS FROM THE ACROPOLIS COLLECTION

Beginning on March 6, 2003, the Onassis Cultural Center will present The New Acropolis Museum, a multi-media exhibition on the new museum designed by Bernard Tschumi. The Museum is being built to house all the archaeological findings from the Acropolis, and it is expected that the building structure and the gallery for the Parthenon marbles will be completed in time for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The exhibition will include architectural drawings and renderings of the building, models, and examine the conservation technology that will be used in the Museum. Also included in the exhibition will be original finds from the Acropolis that will ultimately be housed in the Museum. The exhibition will remain on view until mid-April.

The New Acropolis Museum exhibition will give visitors an opportunity to sense the scale and proportions of the new building, and will include architectural models, designs, images, and a 3-D interactive walk-through of the building. In presenting Tschumi’s models and renderings, the exhibition shows how he created a building in harmony with the authentic Acropolis environment, which facilitates a direct relationship between the new institution’s exhibitions and the famous monuments from which they originate.
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The Onassis Cultural Center in Manhattan is displaying an exhibition about the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures.

From:
Newsday

Greece makes its case for Elgin Marbles at New York exhibit
By DAVID MINTHORN
Associated Press Writer
April 6, 2003, 10:20 AM EDT

NEW YORK — The halves of a carving depicting an ancient Greek chariot race interlock on the gallery wall like parts of a jigsaw puzzle.

“Both pieces, currently divided between Athens and London, should be rejoined at the New Acropolis Museum,” says the caption.
Read the rest of this entry »