The British Museum is to Loan (for the second time) the Cyrus Cylinder to Iran, following controversy in the 1970s when it was lent previously. This does however conveniently gloss over the question of how it ended up in the British Museum in the first place.

From:
Persian Journal

IRAN – “Cyrus The Great” Cylinder Coming Home
Sep 10, 2004, 22:53
INDEPENDENT

The British Museum is to lend Iran one of its most famous antiquities, which is regarded as the first charter of human rights, 30 years after its loan to the Shah triggered a fierce diplomatic row.

The inscriptions on the clay drum known as the Cyrus Cylinder detail the conquest of the Babylon of Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar by the 6th-century BC Persian king, Cyrus the Great. It was the Iraq/Iran war of the time.
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Following its display at the Benaki Museum & at University College London, the exhibition of photos of the Acropolis restoration by Socratis Mavrommatis is appearing at a gallery in Fairfield County, Ohio.

From:
Fairfield County Weekly

Polishing History

by Mike Sembos – September 9, 2004

And you thought I-95 construction was taking a long time… The restoration of the Acropolis in Athens began in 1975, and though evidence of continuing projects were well hidden for the Olympics, it continues indefinitely. Socratis Mavrommatis , the chief photographer of the Acropolis Restoration Service (ARS), has been documenting the progress on film. The 100 or so black and white photos that will be on exhibit at Fairfield U’s Thomas Walsh Gallery starting Wed., September 15, are organized into four sections–the Acropolis before restoration began, the preparation, the work itself and the monuments throughout the process. Peruse up-close architectural shots, views of the Parthenon’s marble floor and frieze and a large color photograph of the Acropolis taken from the nearby hill of the Pnyx, among others.

Behind the scenes at the Acropolis, a complex cleaning program is restoring the sculptures that have been removed from the Parthenon. The technologically advanced methods such as LaserACT being used in this & other restorations throughout Europe require funding, at the same time as governments are trying to cut back on funding.

From:
Nature

Nature
Published online: 08 September 2004

Conservers plead for funds to protect Europe’s heritage
Alison Abbott

Money to preserve historic objects in decline

London

Tens of millions of tourists visit Europe each year to enjoy its cultural heritage. And if they were aware of it, they would no doubt cheer the work of the scientists who are preserving that heritage — fighting the harm caused by pollution, by the natural processes of decay and by the tourists themselves.

But at a meeting in London from 1 to 3 September, the European network of these interdisciplinary researchers declared that its support is diminishing.
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Following years of excavations, the north slopes of the Acropolis (the area above Plaka) are open to the public once more.

From:
Kathimerini

Wednesday September 1, 2004
North slopes of Acropolis open

For the first time in years, the entire Acropolis hill has become accessible to visitors after the Culture Ministry opened the north slopes of the ancient citadel to the general public.

A ministry announcement said yesterday that the area — which was closed off during the 1990s but had not been officially accessible before that — will acquire its own entrance before the end of October from Theorias Street, on the upper reaches of the Plaka district.

Until then, visitors can reach the north slopes from the entry to the Theater of Dionysus and the ruins on the south slope, on the corner of Dionysiou Areopagitou and Thrassylou streets.

The newly opened area, which is dominated by the Erechtheion Temple at the top of the craggy Acropolis rock, includes a series of caves which served as shrines in ancient times, including a cave of Pan which figures prominently in “Ion,” a tragedy by the playwright Euripides.

Following the successful Olympics in Athens, there is an interesting article, repeating Greece’s demands for the return of the marbles.

From:
Digital Journal

August 31, 2004
Greece Demands Return of 2,500-Year-Old Parthenon Sculptures

By Roger Wilkison

ATHENS (voa) – While Greece celebrates the successful return of the Olympic Games to their land of origin, there is one more homecoming it would like to see: that of the 2,500-year-old sculptures that were removed from the Parthenon, Athens’ most famous landmark, early in the 19th century. But, the sculptures, known as the Elgin Marbles, are likely to remain in the British Museum in London.

The demand for the return of the marbles, which took up about 60 percent of the west frieze of the Parthenon, goes back to the founding of the Greek state in 1832.
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