Since the introduction of the Human Tissue Act, Aboriginal Australians have had a huge number of successes in retrieving artefacts from British Institutions. If other restitution cases are to be successful there are many lessons that can be learned from observing the various steps that led to this current situation with regards to Aboriginal artefacts.

From:
Daily Telegraph

Museum returns old Aboriginal skull to Australia
The skull of an indigenous Aboriginal Australian taken from the country 100 years ago and kept by a British museum has been handed back.
Last Updated: 7:55PM BST 13 May 2009

Little is known about the remains, thought to date back to the 19th century, which were returned to members of the Ngarrindjeri during a ceremony in Liverpool on Wednesday.

The remains were bought from Dr William Broad, of Liverpool, in 1948 after he visited Australia between 1902 and 1904 and published works on skeletal remains in the country.
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The London Olympics in 2012 represent a unique opportunity for Britain & Greece to reach an agreement on the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles. Professor Mika Kajava from the University of Helsinki elaborated on this at a lecture given recently.

From:
University of Helsinki

Return of the Marbles?
12th May 2009

“London now has a unique possibility to live up to modern thinking and international agreement by declaring to bring the Parthenon Marbles back to Athens”

– London is hosting the Olympics in the year 2012. London now has a unique possibility to live up to modern thinking and international agreement by declaring to bring the Parthenon Marbles back to Athens, says Professor Mika Kajava from the University of Helsinki and Vice President of the Finnish Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Sculptures.
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Kwame Opoku responds to some of the disingenuous analogies that try to draw parallels to other issues.

From:
Afrikanet

Datum: 12.05.09 09:29
Von: Dr. Kwame Opoku
Comparing disputes about looted artefacts with child custody cases

I find the proposal to apply principles developed in child custody cases to disputes regarding the ownership of looted artefacts, very interesting but also problematic and, in the end, not feasible. (1)

To compare cultural artefacts with children under any circumstances is itself very disputable. Artworks cannot be compared to children and hence from the very nature of the subjects concerned, the comparison falters. A good judge would try to ascertain the wishes of a child at the centre of marital dispute but we surely cannot ask an art object where it would like to be, Berlin or Benin?
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The opening of the New Acropolis Museum next month will represent a mojor step forward in the campaign for the reunification of all surviving fragments of the Parthenon Sculptures in Athens.

From:
Sydney Morning Herald

Greece steps up demands for return of Elgin Marbles for new museum
* May 12, 2009

ATHENS: Greece is making new demands for the return of the Elgin Marbles to coincide with the opening next month of the £115 million ($230 million) Acropolis Museum, which has a reserved space for the famous piece of classical statuary.

The museum has been established as a home for the 146-metre-long frieze that adorned the Parthenon until 1801.
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The New Acropolis Museum opens next month, but opinion is divided on whether the Elgin Marbles should be returned from the British Museum to complete its main exhibit.

From:
Daily Telegraph (UK)

Greek government unveils new home for Elgin Marbles
Fresh demands for the return of the Elgin Marbles are accompanying the launch next month of the £115 million Acropolis Museum, which has a reserved space for the world’s most famous piece of classical statuary.
By Andrew Pierce in Athens
Last Updated: 12:02PM BST 11 May 2009

The 270,000 sq ft museum is being established as a home for the 160-metre long strip of marble that adorned the Parthenon until 1801. The museum, which stands just 400 metres from the Parthenon, opens in June – three decades after the building was first proposed.

Antonis Samaras, the minister for culture and Athletics said: “The opening of the Acropolis Museum is a major world event. June 20th will be a day of celebration for all civilised people, not for Greeks alone. I want the Britons especially to consider the Acropolis Museum as the most hospitable place for them.”
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Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will be among other world leaders attending the opening ceremony of the New Acropolis Museum on 20th June.

From:
Hurriyet (Turkey)

11/5/9
PM and FM to visit Greece

ATHENS – Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will visit Greece on separate days in June, the Elefteros Tipos newspaper in Greece reported.

Erdoğan requested to attend the opening ceremony of the Acropolis Museum on June 20, the newspaper wrote, as a return for the visit of Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis in 2008. Davutoğlu will attend the foreign ministers’ summit of European Security and Cooperation Organization on June 28 to 29.

The Skulpturhalle in Basel is hosting an exhibition about the New Acropolis Museum with the support of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture.

From:
Athens News Agency

11/5/9
Skulpturhalle Basel hosts Acropolis Museum exhibition

An exhibition promoting the New Acropolis Museum in Athens will open at Skulpturhalle Basel, Switzerland, on May 12, part of an initiative by the Hellenic Foundation for Culture (HFC).

The exhibition focuses on the excavations conducted on the spot where the new museum stands today, some 400 metres from the Acropolis, and serve as a pre-opening of the New Acropolis Museum next month. The exhibition is organised by the Organisation for the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum (OANMA).
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The Holocaust (Stolen Art) Restitution Bill has now been published in its current form, shortly before its second reading in Parliament. This bill if it becomes law will allow the return by museums of artefacts looted during the Nazi era, something that in many cases is currently not possible, as proved by the Feldmann Case in 2005.

From:
UK Parliament

Session 2008 – 09
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament
Holocaust (Stolen Art) Restitution Bill

Contents

1 Powers of de-accession
2 Applicability
3 Short title and commencement

Bill 35

A Bill To provide for the transfer from public museum and gallery collections of arts, artefacts and other objects stolen between 1933 and 1945 by or on behalf of the Nazi regime, its members and sympathisers; to provide for the return of such artefacts and objects to the lawful owners, their heirs and successors; and for connected purposes.
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Further details have now been released of the opening events planned for the New Acropolis Museum’s inauguration in June. The events will be spread over a number of days as the sheer number of people invited would not fit in the building for one single mass opening event.

From:
Kathimerini (English Edition)

Tuesday May 5, 2009
Celebrating beneath the Acropolis
Inaugural events for new museum scheduled to last four days and include long guestlist
Work in progress. Crews working outside the New Acropolis Museum on Makriyianni Street. The much-awaited museum is scheduled to open its doors next month. (Photo: Nikos Bardopoulos)
By Iota Sykka – Kathimerini

The celebrations for the inauguration of the New Acropolis Museum are set to last four days. Though festive in spirit, they will be far from the extravaganzas envisioned by previous culture ministers. Essentially, the celebrations, which start on June 20, will act as a platform for a wide-ranging meeting on both a political and a scientific level.

In the meantime, Greek Culture Minister Antonis Samaras is working on the project on a daily basis.
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Many travel articles about Greece are now focusing on the New Acropolis Museum as one of the key reasons for people to visit the country during the coming year. It is something that is of interests not just to archaeologists & academics, but to anyone who might also have visited the Acropolis site in the past. This wide appeal will also add huge amounts of publicity to the issue of the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.

From:
Howard County Times (Maryland, USA)

Rick Steves’ Europe: Athens
More than just the ‘big three’
By Rick Steves, Tribune Media Services
Posted 5/07/09

A century and a half ago, Athens was a humble, forgotten city of about 8,000 people. Today, one out of every three Greeks packs into this city of about 4 million.

Athens has been famous for its sprawl, noise and pollution. My advice has long been to see the big sights, then get out. But visiting it recently to research a new guidebook, I’ve seen a dramatic change. The city has made a concerted effort to curb pollution, clean up and pedestrianize the streets, spiff up the museums, build a new airport and invest in one of Europe’s better public transit systems.
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As the Greek president’s visit to Finland continues, he has attended a seminar organised by the Finnish Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles. The diversity of support for the campaign continues to show that it is far from being just a Greek issue, despite attempts by Britain to portray it as such.

From:
Athens News Agency

05/07/2009
Helsinki event for return of Parthenon Marbles

HELSINKI (ANA-MPA) — President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias, on a state visit to Finland, expressed hope that the Parthenon Marbles, which are currently in the British Museum, will soon be placed “in the spot awaiting them”, a reference to the New Acropolis Museum that will be inaugurated next month.

The Greek president addressed a seminar on the Parthenon Marbles on Wednesday evening at the University of Helsinki, organised by the Finnish Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles, which was set up last year as part of the International Association for the reunification of the Parthenon friezes.
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Following on from the fact that Ebay was a major trader in looted artefacts a few years ago, in a strange twist, it seems that the vast numbers of forgeries on ebay is actually killing off the market in looted antiquities.

From:
Arstechnica

eBay is saving archeology by killing the antiquities market
How could a service that makes it easier to move looted material cut down on the looting? By making forgeries even easier to move.
By John Timmer | Last updated May 5, 2009 8:44 PM CT

By any reasonable analysis, eBay should have been a nightmare for archaeologists, allowing looted goods a new outlet, one that eliminated any cloak-and-dagger aspects of the illicit trade in antiquities by allowing the trade to flourish in plain sight, hidden by the anonymity of users’ accounts and the sheer volume of goods changing hands. But, according to at least one archaeologist who specializes in the civilizations of pre-Columbian South America, that hasn’t been the case at all. Instead, by swamping the market with fakes, eBay has made forgery a far more lucrative business, and destroyed the economics of looting.
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