Following the return of the Heidelberg fragment [1] of the Parthenon Marbles, various press agencies & a few other newspapers have now covered the story. As a result this has appeared in a large number of newspapers around the world.
Greek Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis heralds this as being a major step & points out that any silent agreement by various museums to all hold on to their pieces has now been broken. Heidelberg is the first institution to return any part of the Parthenon Sculptures, but it is hoped that others will be inspired to follow their bold gesture.
From:
Washington Post (Reuters) [2]
Greece welcomes return of fragment of Parthenon
BC-GREECE-PARTHENON-FRAGMENT (PICTURE)
By Dina KyriakidouATHENS, Sept 5 (Reuters) – Greece on Tuesday hailed the return of a small fragment of the Parthenon from a German university as major step towards the return of the temple’s sculptures from the British Museum.
The marble fragment of a foot, measuring only a few centimetres (inches), was placed by Culture Minister George Voulgarakis back on the northern frieze of the 5th century BC Parthenon on Tuesday. Part of the frieze is now in the Acropolis Museum in Athens, but much is in London.
“For the first time in almost 200 years, a precious piece of the Parthenon abroad is put in its place,” Voulgarakis said. “The Parthenon marbles have started to come home.”The 2,500-year-old Acropolis monuments are seen as the epitome of the Golden Age of Athens.
The foot fragment comes from a procession frieze, much of which is in the British Museum as part of a collection widely known as the Elgin Marbles, after the British ambassador who took them from the Acropolis and transported them to Britain in 1802.
The late Greek actress and minister Melina Mercouri spearheaded a fiery campaign for their return in the 1980s, describing them as looted national treasures.
The British Museum has repeatedly turned down such requests, saying the marbles are in better care in London, safe from the Athens pollution that has damaged those left behind.
Greece hopes a museum being built at the foot of the Acropolis, especially to house the marbles, will be ready in 2007.
“This is the first time that a request for the return of Parthenon marbles has been accepted,” Voulgarakis said. “For the first time, the silent agreement among museums in possession of Parthenon sculptures has been broken.”
Greek officials, eager to allay museums’ fears the return of the marbles may open the way for other nations to demand antiquities back, have made clear the Parthenon is a special case of restoring a fragmented monument of world importance.
“It must be made clear to all museums around the world that have Greek or other foreign collections that the Parthenon sculptures are very special,” Voulgarakis said.
“Agreement to restore the integrity of the Parthenon does not mean they will be deprived of their precious collections.”
Reut13:18 09-05-06
From:
International Herald Tribune (Associated Press) [3]
(AP Report)
German university returns Parthenon sculpture to Greece
The Associated PressPublished: September 5, 2006
ATHENS, Greece A German university has returned a tiny sculpture taken from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon — a gesture the government said it hoped would bolster efforts to bring back the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum.The 8-by-12-centimeter (3-by-5-inch) relief sculpture of a man’s foot was handed back to Greece by the University of Heidelberg.
“This is a major symbolic gesture … a new page in the previously deadlocked debate for the return of all (Parthenon) sculptures from museums abroad,” Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis said Tuesday, a day after visiting the southern German university and receiving the sculpture.
Greece is seeking the return of a much larger collection of Parthenon sculptures — the Elgin Marbles — from the British Museum in London, arguing that they are an integral part of temple on the Acropolis hill.
The marbles were removed by Britain’s Lord Elgin in the early 19th century.
Greece failed in a bid to bring the marbles back, on loan or permanently, in time for the 2004 Olympics in Athens but has pressed ahead with the campaign and construction of a a new €129 million (US$165 million) museum at the foot of the Acropolis that is due to be completed next year.
Voulgarakis said a space in the new museum had been reserved for all Parthenon sculptures still housed abroad.
The University of Heidelberg “has take the first step toward reuniting the Parthenon sculptures, recognizing that there was no scientific, legal or moral justification for retaining possession of them,” Voulgarakis said.
“The case of the Parthenon is unique … and does not set a precedent for other monuments and collections,” he said. “This is not an issue of national pride. I will never stop saying it … The reunification of the sculptures is a debt toward history.”
The Heidelberg sculpture belongs to the north section of the Parthenon frieze.
Athens has stepped up pressure in recent months to reclaim ancient artifacts.
Last week, two sculptures were returned by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles: a marble relief from the northern island of Thassos and a black stone tombstone believed to be from near Thebes dating to the sixth and fourth centuries B.C.
Greek authorities said the sculptures had been exported illegally.
From:
Washington Times (AFP) [4]
Piece-by-piece return of the Parthenon
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
September 6, 2006ATHENS
Greece yesterday showcased a 2,500-year-old marble statue fragment from the Parthenon returned by Germany’s Heidelberg University and predicted it will help reclaim Parthenon pieces at the British Museum.
“I am certain that the return of [this] fragment from Heidelberg will rekindle the discussion concerning the return of the scattered parts of the Parthenon,” Greek Minister of Culture George Voulgarakis said during a ceremony atop the Acropolis.
“This has historic significance,” he said.
Mr. Voulgarakis personally transported the fragment — the first from the dismembered Parthenon frieze to come back from a known location abroad — from Germany on board the Greek prime minister’s plane.
“This could be the most important act in my political career,” the minister told a Greek radio station last week.
Measuring 10 by 8 centimeters (3 by 4 inches), the fragment belongs to the Parthenon’s northern frieze, part of a sculpture depicting participants in a festival honoring the city’s patron goddess, Athena.
The heel fragment probably was removed from the Acropolis by a 19th-century visitor to the site and was first recorded at Heidelberg University in 1871, said Acropolis site supervisor Alkistis Horemi.
“Its edges were chiseled, it was used as a souvenir,” she said.
The word Parthenon has been carved in Greek into the back of the fragment.
Mr. Voulgarakis said Greece remains on a mission to recover all the missing parts of the Parthenon, which was badly damaged during a 17th-century Venetian siege of Athens.
According to the Greek Ministry of Culture, pieces of the fifth-century B.C. temple are found in London; Paris; Vienna, Austria; Rome and Palermo, Italy; Copenhagen; Munich and Wuerzburg, Germany.
But the holy grail of Greek efforts remains the British Museum’s collection of 56 sculpted friezes depicting gods, men and monsters that were removed from the Parthenon by agents of British ambassador Lord Elgin in 1806-11, at a time when Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire.
The Greeks for 20 years have demanded their return, complaining that the works — masterpieces executed at the height of the Greek classical period — were removed illegally and are part of the national heritage.
Greece says it is willing to discuss the prospect of cooperation, joint exhibits and loans with foreign institutions that restore contested antiquities.
In return for the marble fragment, Heidelberg University was given a Roman-era sculpted head on a five-year loan, Miss Horemi said.
From:
Xinhua (China) [5]
Parthenon fragment returns to Greece from Germany
2006-09-06 07:48:01ATHENS, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) — Culture Minister George Voulgarakis on Tuesday unveiled a repatriated fragment belonging to the 8th block of the Parthenon’s northern frieze, following its return by the University of Heidelberg.
The fragment is part of a carving of a man’s heel, which measures 11cm by 8cm, and is to be re-attached to the temple.
Voulgarakis arrived at the renowned German university a day earlier to attend a handing-over ceremony, calling the development “momentous,” as for the first time a standing demand for repatriating portions of the Classical Era Parthenon was granted.
“Our duty to repatriate the Parthenon Marbles back to their rightful place is a duty of all humanity towards civilization,” the minister said in a direct reference to Athens’ persistence in returning the friezes saw off the Parthenon in the early 19th century by a rogue English diplomat, Lord Elgin.
Two ancient artifacts were also returned earlier this year by a U.S. private museum after decades-long dispute. Enditem
Editor: Liu Dan
From:
The Scotsman [6]
Wed 6 Sep 2006
German gesture reopens debate on Elgin Marbles
DEREK GATOPOULOS IN ATHENSTHE British Museum was under new pressure to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece yesterday after a German university gave back a tiny sculpture taken from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon.
The 3in by 5in sculpture of a man’s foot, from the north section of the Parthenon frieze, was handed back by Heidelberg University, and Giorgos Voulgarakis, the Greek culture minister, said: “This is a major symbolic gesture … a new page in the previously deadlocked debate for the return of all [Parthenon] sculptures from museums abroad.”
Greece says the Elgin Marbles – removed by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century – are an integral part of the temple on the Acropolis in Athens.
It failed in a bid to get the marbles back, on loan or permanently, in time for the 2004 Olympics but has pressed ahead with the construction of a 129 million (£87 million) museum at the foot of the Acropolis that is due to be completed next year.
Mr Voulgarakis said a space in the museum had been reserved for all Parthenon sculptures still housed abroad.
He added that the University of Heidelberg “has taken the first step toward reuniting the Parthenon sculptures, recognising that there was no scientific, legal or moral justification for retaining possession of them”.
From:
New York Times [7]
Arts, Briefly
Compiled by LAWRENCE VAN GELDER
Published: September 6, 2006
Parthenon Fragment Returns to GreeceGreece celebrated the return of a small fragment of the Parthenon yesterday: the beginning of the end of its long campaign for repatriation of the sculptures that once adorned the temple on the Acropolis. “For the first time in almost 200 years, a precious piece of the Parthenon abroad is put in its place,” said George Voulgarakis, the culture minister. “The Parthenon marbles have started to come home.” Returned by the University of Heidelberg in Germany, the fragment of a foot, measuring only a few inches, was placed back on the north frieze of the 2,500-year-old monument. Much of the frieze it originated from is in the British Museum, part of the collection known as the Elgin Marbles. The British Museum has repeatedly rejected requests for the return of the marbles, saying they receive better care in London, safe from the pollution in Athens. Yesterday Mr. Voulgarakis assured museums that the Parthenon was a special case. He said, “Agreement to restore the integrity of the Parthenon does not mean they will be deprived of their precious collections.” Greece is constructing a museum at the foot of the Acropolis to house the marbles. It will be ready next year.