The New Acropolis Museum celebrated its first birthday on 20th June. With over two million visitors in this time, it has rapidly become one of the destinations on the must see list for tourists in Athens. It has raised awareness of the Parthenon Marbles significantly, as the casts of them in the Parthenon Gallery now make it very clear how many of the sculptures are in the British Museum.

From:
Athens News Agency

06/23/2010
New Acropolis Museum celebrates first anniversary

More than two million people have visited the new Museum of the Acropolis during its first year of operation, according to figures presented by the museum to mark the first anniversary since it first opened to the public on June 20, 2009.

The museum’s board chairman Prof. Demetris Pandermalis said the museum received a total of 2,010,641 visitors in that time, had set research and scientific goals, made progress in the area of conservation and also in educational programmes.
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Like many poorer countries, Belize has suffered from removal of its cultural heritage in the past by richer nations. The looting of artefacts to be sold on the black market is still a problem today & a new database created by The International Council of Museums aims to try to create an awareness of this.

From:
7 News Belize

Looted Archaeological Treasures on Red List
posted (June 10, 2010)

We all know about the Jade Head, or the Buena Vista Vase, or the Crystal skull…these are well known treasures of antiquity. But what about all the mayan treasures that have been looted by temple raiders or the state sanctioned plunder that happened in the colonial era? Those are gone forever – there’s no inventory of all the treasured antiquities lying undiscovered at sites across Belize and now way of knowing what all was looted.

It is a problem throughout Latin America where looting of mayan sites is widespread. However it’s become a problem for developed countries as well where the trafficking in cultural objects has become widespread.
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Despite some earlier worries that it would be called off due to strikes, the planned August full moon late night opening of Archaeological sites in Greece is going ahead this evening (Tuesday 24th August).

This event has happened for a number of years now, with great success.

From:
Athens News Agency

08/24/2010
Archaeological sites open for August full moon

(ANA-MPA) — More than 90 archaeological sites around the country will remain open on Tuesday during the evening hours on the occasion of August’s full moon, the last of the summer.

The New Acropolis Museum, the Acropolis itself, the Cape Sounion site and the National Archaeological Museum in downtown Athens will remain open to the public, a more-or-less summer tradition over the past few years that was, nevertheless, threatened with cancellation this year to a disagreement between the relevant culture ministry and staff at the archaeological sites over extra pay.
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Much has been made in the past of the British Museum’s links with other countries such as China (when it suits them). This helps them to backup their Universal Museum argument, implying that through numerous cultural links it is in fact a museum of the world & not a purely British institution.

Collaboration with other countries, to create reciprocal exhibitions is not limited to the British Museum however, as evidenced by previous exhibitions in China sponsored by Greece. Indeed, the two countries have quite a bit in common, as both are trying to recover items from abroad that were looted by different Earls of Elgin.

From:
People’s Daily

Athens history exhibit opens in Shanghai
17:28, June 11, 2010

The Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism will organize a cultural archeological exhibition in the Shanghai Library from June 10 to June 20 with the title “Athens: The Living History.”

The exhibition is a Greek contribution to Expo 2010 closely related to the theme “Better City, Better Life” and the theme of the Greek Pavilion “Polis, The Living City.” It presents the ancient and modern city of Athens including the city’s architecture and urban development as well as the integration of ancient monuments into daily life.
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India’s recent hopes of securing the return of some of their cultural heritage appear to have been rejected by the British Government. The fact is though, that they fall back on an outdated law as a defence of the status quo – neglecting the fact that if the political will existed, the law could easily be changed to allow restitution.

From:
Times of India

Britain rejects ASI demand for artifacts
ASHIS RAY, TNN, Jun 4, 2010, 02.12am IST

LONDON: Britain has rejected Archeological Survey of India’s demand for the return of artifacts that were carted away from India, mostly illegally, during British colonial rule. The British foreign office said domestic laws prevented museums from removing items from their collection.

‘‘The British Museum Act 1963 prevents our national museums from removing items from their collections, with the exception of human remains and objects lost during the Nazi era, and government has no plans to change the law,’’ a spokesperson of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office said.

The spokesperson said people felt strongly about the restitution debate and that museum trustees take decisions relating to the items vested in their care and politicians don’t interfere. ‘‘It’s a long-established principle in the UK, supported by successive governments.”

When people argue against restitution of cultural property, much is made of the argument that it would leave the great museums of the world almost empty. Aside from the notion that this suggests nearly all the items in the collection were acquired in dubious circumstances (few claims are made about items that were legitimately purchased), this goes completely against the reality of the situation. Well over a hundred years ago, the British Museum already had far more in its collection than it could possibly display. Due to the prohibition on deaccessioning, this situation has only got worse since then. Certainly, some of the artefacts that are hidden in store rooms might not be particularly worth seeing – but there must be many that are.

From:
Heritage Key

How Many Ancient Artefacts Are on Display at the British Museum?
Submitted by Sean Williams on Thu, 06/03/2010 – 14:48

How many ancient artefacts are on show at the British Museum? Sounds like an easy question: after all, surely it’s just a case of finding the right person and writing down a figure, right? I mean, the British Museum is the second most visited museum on the planet behind the Louvre, and well over half the Louvre’s collection is non-ancient (for an explanation of what ‘ancient’ actually is check out Jon’s blog here) – someone must know how much stuff is on show. For the short story, the numbers and how I came to my conclusions click here. If not read on and suffer with me.

First port of call: the museum’s press office, who could only tell me the museum holds a total of around 6,000,000 artefacts. Around? It’s not a great omen if the press office doesn’t even know its own total collection, let alone how much of that has made it from storage into display cases. I was whisked off to another department: “We have around six million items in total, sir, but I’m not sure of the number on display – maybe one of our guidebooks has what you’re after.”
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Western Isles MP, Angus MacNeil, hopes to hold talks with the British Museum about the possibility of reunifying all the Lewis Chessmen in Scotland.

From:
Press and Journal

SNP steps up chessmen battle
Talks over moves to return historic pieces to Lewis
By Cameron Brooks
Published: 05/06/2010

THE SNP has stepped up its campaign to repatriate the historic Lewis Chessmen to Scotland.

Western Isles MP Angus Brendan MacNeil is due to hold fresh talks in the coming weeks with the British Museum, where 82 of the 93 pieces are held permanently, and the UK Government.
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I’m in two minds about the recently announced collaboration between the British Museum & Wikipedia to try & enrich the articles on the Museum’s artefacts i the online encyclopaedia. While improving of articles & providing images to supplement them is to be welcomed, I worry at the same time that the exercise may also end up pushing the British Museum’s own personal worldview as being an indisputable fact. There are many artefacts within the British Museum who’s ownership is disputed, but the institution always tries to gloss over this where possible, or falls back on the widely discredited Universal Museum argument to justify their current position.

Museums working with resources such as Wikipedia is a great idea – but only if they don’t use it to try & scrub out other versions of the stories that they are telling.

From:
New York Times

Venerable British Museum Enlists in the Wikipedia Revolution
By NOAM COHEN
Published: June 4, 2010

The British Museum has begun an unusual collaboration with Wikipedia, the online, volunteer-written encyclopedia, to help ensure that the museum’s expertise and notable artifacts are reflected in that digital reference’s pages.

About 40 Wikipedia contributors in the London area spent Friday with a “backstage pass” to the museum, meeting with curators and taking photographs of the collection. And in a curious reversal in status, curators were invited to review Wikipedia’s treatment of the museum’s collection and make a case that important pieces were missing or given short shrift.
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The new edition of Mary Beard’s Book – The Parthenon, has various changes, particularly in relation to the New Acropolis Museum which was still in the early stages of construction when the first edition was published.

From:
Lancashire Evening Post

Book review: The Parthenon by Mary Beard
By Pam Norfolk
Published on Fri May 28 15:07:23 BST 2010

Travellers have braved wars and bandits to see it, politicians and superstars have competed to be photographed in front of it and some of the world’s greatest artists and designers have been inspired by it…

The ancient Parthenon in Athens has been a centre of pilgrimage since it was built over 2,500 years ago and its stunning architectural beauty has never failed to disappoint the millions of visitors.
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Further coverage of India’s new attempts to secure the return of numerous artefacts held in institutions outside the country.

From:
Thaindian News

India to join global campaign to retrieve captured heritage treasures
June 1st, 2010 – 1:16 pm ICT by ANI –

London/New Delhi, June 1 (ANI): Indian authorities have announced they will try to recover and retrieve thousands of allegedly looted objects held in Western museums.

The head of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Dr. Gautam Sengupta, told The Independent that the list of his country’s treasures held abroad was “too long to handle” and there was a need for a “diplomatic and legal campaign” for their restitution from institutions including the British Museum, the Royal Collection and the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
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Egypt’s Zahi Hawass has already secured the return of over 30,000 looted artefacts in recent years – he is still aiming higher though at some of the most well known items that hold an iconic status internationally & for him, define Egypt’s identity.

From:
Free Internet Press

Zahi Hawass – Egypt’s Avenger Of The Pharaohs
2010-05-28 15:20:10
Posted By: Intellpuke

Egypt, plagued by tomb raiders and art dealers, has lost large portions of its pharaonic heritage to Europe and the United States. The head of the country’s Supreme Council of Antiquities is waging a bitter moral campaign against the West, and he is now demanding the return of six of the most beautiful masterpieces.

It is 5 a.m. and Zahi Hawass is sitting in his SUV, freshly showered, about to drive out to the Bahariya Oasis for a press appearance. The streets are still empty as Cairo shimmers in the rose-colored morning sun. Hawass must hurry to avoid the morning traffic.
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For thirty years, scaffolding has been a prominent feature of the Parthenon. The current stage that the restoration works have reached means that for a few months it will be possible for visitors to see the building unencumbered by scaffold.

From:
Reuters

Athens’ Parthenon scaffold-free for first time in years
By Jon Hemming
ATHENS | Thu May 27, 2010 9:45pm BST

ATHENS (Reuters Life!) – Visitors to Athens have a rare window of opportunity to see the showpiece Parthenon temple on the ancient Acropolis without scaffolding for the first time in nearly 30 years as a major restoration work nears completion.

The Greek government launched a project to restore the Parthenon and other buildings on the world heritage site in 1975, but it was not until 1983 that work started.
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