Jason Felch, talks about his plans for a “wikiloot” database to help located looted artefacts based on the evidence that is already available. Unfortunately, the project is unsuccessful in getting the funding grant from the Knight Foundation, but they are still looking for other organisations that might be interested in funding such an endeavour.

From:
Guardian

WikiLoot aims to use crowdsourcing to track down stolen ancient artefacts
Man behind WikiLoot hopes crowdsourcing experiment will help to find some of the world’s oldest and most valuable treasures
Tom Kington in Rome
Wednesday 6 June 2012 18.39 BST

Campaigns to combat archaeological tomb raiders have notched up some big successes, notably a deal under which the J Paul Getty museum in Los Angeles agreed to hand back 40 precious artefacts after it was shown they had been looted from digs in Italy.

Activists, however, call that a drop in the ocean in a business valued at as much as $10bn (£6.5bn) a year, and claim hard-pressed lawyers and police forces are struggling against unscrupulous dealers.
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Some sources have described this situation as restitution in reverse – but it is really only reversed, in terms of the fact that the party the artefact was taken from is a museum & the party that now holds it is an individual. The ruling does nothing to reverse the logical outcome – that the party holding onto the looted artefact is instructed to hand it back to the original owner.

From:
New York Times

Nazi Victim’s Family Told to Return Artifact
By PATRICIA COHEN
Published: June 1, 2012

The decision turns on its head the familiar scenario of Holocaust victims suing to reclaim property stolen or extorted from them by the Nazis. But in this case, according to court papers, the precious 3,200-year-old Assyrian artifact had been looted, not from the survivor, but from the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin, at the close of World War II.

It is not clear how the survivor, Riven Flamenbaum, came into possession of the tablet after his liberation from Auschwitz in 1945, when he was sent to a displaced persons camp in southeastern Germany.
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Two stolen artefacts from a Greek church & one of the monasteries on mount Athos have now been returned to Greece & are going on temporary display.

From:
Greek Reporter

Ancient Greek Items Exhibited at Athens Byzantine Museum
By Marianna Tsatsou on June 3, 2012

Two stolen ancient items, which were displayed until recently in the UK, were transferred to Greece and are now hosted by the Athens Byzantine and Christian Museum beginning as of Wednesday, May 30.

The items will be kept in Athens only temporarily at the Museum, until being given to representatives of the appropriate Ephorates of the Hellenic Museum of Culture.
Read the rest of this entry »

Michael J Reppas of the American Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures will be presenting a lecture about the Parthenon Sculptures Tomorrow Morning in Columbus, Ohio.

A comprehensive Historical, Moral & Legal Presentation on: The Looting of the Parthenon and the Fight to Preserve Our Cultural Property

The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral in association with the Hellenic Heritage Foundation & The American Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures

Proudly present

A comprehensive Historical, Moral & Legal Presentation on: The Looting of the Parthenon and the Fight to Preserve Our Cultural Property

By Michael J Reppas, Esq.

June 3 2012 in the Church Hall following Services

The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral
555 N High Street
Columbus
Ohio
43215

Tel: 614.224.9020

BBC Four is reshowing a documentary directed by Robin Dashwood, that it originally made in 2004, to coincide with the Athens Olympics, about the story behind the Parthenon Sculptures & how they came to end up in the British Museum.

From:
BBC

The Elgin Marbles
Duration: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Sun 3 Jun 2012 21:00 BBC Four, Repeats Mon 4 Jun 2012 02:30 BBC Four

Drama-documentary in which art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon tells the story of the greatest cultural controversy of the last 200 years. He explores the history of the Elgin Marbles, tells the dramatic story of their removal from Athens and cites the arguments for and against their return to Greece.

Two weeks ago, I posted a poll on the AVAAZ website, calling for a a commitment to be made by the start of the 2012 Olympics for the Parthenon Marbles to be reunified in Athens.

Thank you to those of you who have added your names so far. Already, we have had 318 signatures, but we need more – the aim is to get at least 1000, but the more support that we can show, the stronger our case will appear when the results of the petition are handed to those who are in a position to make a decision on this issue (i.e. the British Government & the British Museum).

So – if you have not yet signed the petition, then please go to the AVAAZ website & add your name to the list.

If you have already signed, then remember to post about the petition on Facebook and / or Twitter, to let as many of your friends know as possible. Email your friends too, if you think they support the campaign & ask them to forward it on to their friends too.

You can read the original information that I posted about the petition & the reasons behind it here.

The actual petition itself is on the AVAAZ website – you can visit the page here to sign it.

If you want a short link to the page that is easier to remember, then go to: http://bit.ly/parthenon-sculptures-petition

The Museums Association Journal have a poll on their website, about whether the Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Greece.

From:
Museums Journal

Should the Parthenon Marbles be returned
Rebecca Atkinson, 31.05.2012
Have your say

The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles is holding an international symposium on 19 June at the London Hellenic Centre to discuss the return of the marbles to Greece.

Ahead of the event, Museums Journal wants to know whether you think the Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Greece.

Vote in the poll and leave your comments on the issue below.

The Intelligence Squared Debate in London on the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, is going to be streamed live to the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, for any Greeks (or others in the area at the time) who want to watch it.

The original article is in Greek. What follows is a rather poor attempt at converting it into English with Google Translate. Follow the link to read the original Greek text. And note that the times are different to the UK event, to allow for the different time zones.

There is also a poll on the page – so remember to visit the page to add your vote.

From:
Intelligence Squared Greece

EVENT INFO
Monday, June 11, 2012, 20.30 – 10.30 (20.20 close attendance)
Intelligence Squared Greece and the Acropolis Museum presents an exclusive live broadcast from London, the debate on the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Athens

Admission is free with pre-booked seats necessary.

Legally owned the Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum? Would Greece be sure, if they returned to Athens? These two questions are central to a debate that lasts for more than 200 years. The views are changing, along with the conditions in both countries, but this issue remains unresolved. In a particularly critical period for Greece where the image of the country is often hit in the international media, but just before the Olympic Games in London, presents an Intelligence Squared debate on this timeless question. Whether the time has come to return the Marbles to Athens? Can this be a move to Greece friendship, or even the biggest tribute to our country? Or is the argument that Britain Greece does not have the resources they need maintenance of marbles and show them to a worldwide audience, be more true today than in the past?

* The debate will be held in English with simultaneous translation into Greek.