Not many days after the dispute erupted, a solution has been reached between the UK & Russia that will allow the loan of artefacts to continue as originally planned. It is interesting that one of the reasons given by the British Government & the British Museum for the non-return of the Elgin Marbles is that it would require a change in the law – but that when changes in the law are required (such as in this case) they can be pushed through very rapidly if there is the political will to do so.

From:
CNN

U-turn settles UK-Russia art row
LONDON, England (CNN)
21 December 2007

A row over a ban on an exhibition of art loaned from Russia has been resolved after Britain brought forward laws that will protect the paintings from seizure.

Russian officials had threatened to block the release of works by artists including Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh and Picasso in case their ownership was disputed by individuals claiming they were stolen during the 1917 revolution.
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Interest in the New Acropolis Museum is increasing week by week, even though the building is not going to be completely open until later next year. Almost every article published has highlighted the significance of the new building for the case of the Elgin Marbles – yet the British Museum is still trying to pretend that it has no relevance to the issue.

From:
People’s Daily (China)

Acropolis Museum an unfinished project
14:45, December 20, 2007

The opening of a Greek museum in September will exert pressure on Britain to return priceless artifacts plundered from Athens’ ancient Acropolis.

Located on a flat rock in the heart of Athens, the 5th-century BC structure is a beacon of antiquity that will soon be complemented by a modern museum at the southern foot of the Sacred Rock.
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This story is relevant to restitution issues, only inasmuch as that the UK is now perceived by other countries as a country where artwork of disputed origin is likely to be seized. It is odd how the British position on this sort of thing seems to shift significantly though if the works are already held in a UK museum.

One should bear in mind however,m that in large part, the reason for this becoming an issue is more to do with Britain’s strained diplomatic relations with Russia at present.

Interestingly, proposals are mentioned that will ban seizure of art loaned on a government to government basis. I am not entirely clear why the laws should somehow not apply in these instances? Is it now deemed as acceptable to exhibit something that you know is stolen but prohibit any claims being made on it? This seems to be something that is mainly in the interests of the large museums.

From:
Earthtimes

Russia embargoes art meant for London exhibit – Summary
Posted : Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:38:05 GMT
Author : DPA

Moscow – A diplomatic row between Russia and Britain spilled over into the art world Wednesday when Moscow cancelled a blockbuster exhibition set for London’s Royal Academy of Arts next month. The exhibit of 120 paintings from Russian state galleries featuring works by Van Gogh, Matisse and Kandinsky, currently hanging in Germany, would not go ahead because Britain could not guarantee the art would not be seized, Russia’s federal agency for culture said Wednesday.

The decision is the latest in worsening Anglo-Russian relations since the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London which culminated in a tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats in May.
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More on the news that the first phase of opening of the New Acropolis Museum will begin later this week.

From:
Kathimerini (English Edition)

Tuesday December 18, 2007
Early peak at Acropolis Museum

A section of the New Acropolis Museum will open to the public from Friday until Easter time to give people a first glimpse of the artifacts that will go on permanent display in the building, it was revealed yesterday.

The ground floor of the museum will be open for two hours every day over the next few months to allow visitors to see the antiquities that were discovered during the construction of the impressive building.
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Following renewed calls by the Greek Prime Minister for the Elgin Marbles to be returned to Greece, the British Museum has responded predictably, stating that its position on the issue remains unchanged.

From:
Agence France Presse

British museum snubs new Greek call for Elgin Marbles
18 hours ago
LONDON (AFP)

The British Museum snubbed a new call for the return of the so-called Elgin Marbles to Athens Monday, saying its position over the disputed artefacts remains unchanged.

A spokeswoman praised the construction of a new Acropolis Museum, but rebuffed a call by the Greek prime minister that conditions are “ripe” for Britain to return the marbles.
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The general public are now going to be allowed their first sneak preview of the New Acropolis Museum. From Friday, the ground floor floor of the building will be open for two hours each day, with an exhibitions of artefacts unearthed during construction of the building.

From:
Athens News Agency

12/17/2007
New Acropolis Museum opens its doors

The ground floor of the New Acropolis Museum will be open to the public for two hours daily beginning on Friday and running through the Easter holiday, it was announced on Monday.

On Friday, December 21, the Museum will open its doors to children and adults, who will be able to view an exhibition with children’s items from antiquity and funds unearthed during digging from beneath the Museum.
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Last Monday, the Greek Prime Minister renewed calls for the return of the Elgin Marbles to Athens, saying that with the completion of the New Acropolis Museum, Greece will have fulfilled all requirements for the sculptures to be returned.

From:
Earthtimes

Greece calls for return of disputed Parthenon Marbles from Britain
Posted : Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:00:01 GMT
Author : DPA

Athens – Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis renewed Greek calls Monday for the return of the Parthenon or Elgin Marbles to Athens during his tour of the new Acropolis Museum. “The new Acropolis Mueum above all reminds us of the duty to reunify the Parthenon Museum,” said Karamanlis as he toured the new museum during a massive operation to transfer the antiquities from the old museum on the Acropolis to the new venue as it neared completion.

The prime minister said Greece now fulfilled all the conditions for return of the Marbles.
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As part of the ongoing move of artefacts to the New Acropolis Museum, the first of the Caryatid sculptures has now made the journey by crane down from the Acropolis. Hopefully one day she will be joined there by her sister who is currently housed in the British Museum.

From:
Athens News Agency

12/10/2007
First caryatid to new Acropolis Museum

The transfer of the first of five caryatids from the old Acropolis museum to the New Acropolis Museum in Makrygianni began on Saturday at 11:00 in the morning, using the three-crane relay system set up to carry the priceless antiquities down the hill via the Theatre of Dionysus.

The caryatid – a sculpted female form that serves as an architectural support for entablature in the place of a pillar – will be placed on the first level of the new museum in an internal “porch” that visitors will see when they first climb up the grand stair at the entrance. Read the rest of this entry »

The Guardian looks in detail at the New Acropolis Museum in Athens & how Bernard Tschumi has dealt with the many challenges presented by the project that had been sought after by many of the world’s biggest names in architecture.

From:
The Guardian

Acropolis now
It was the biggest prize in architecture – and its creator took on earthquakes, hostile locals and 104 court cases. Jonathan Glancey reports from Athens on a momentous achievement
Monday December 3, 2007
The Guardian

It was a day unlike any other. Bernard Tschumi arrived at his office in New York’s Chelsea Village to receive a phone call. This was the big one. The Swiss-American architect had won the greatest prize in architecture: the international competition to design the New Acropolis Museum in Athens. This was a job, surely, coveted by every A-list architect in the world.

No sooner had Tschumi put down the phone than he was told that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Centre. “We all watched from our roof as the second aircraft smashed into the other tower,” he says. “No one felt like celebrating after that. It wasn’t a particularly good start.”
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