Most countries in the western world inherit a huge amount of their cultural tradition from the ancient Greeks. From the Romans onwards, the political systems, philosophical approach, art & architecture have all borrowed heavily on Hellenic culture, using it as their foundations. Perhaps now is the time for some of these countries to think about how they can give something back – to acknowledge their cultural debt to Greece, by doing whatever they can to help support the country in its current situation.

Tourism is a huge source of income for Greece, bringing foreign money into the country – so the crisis shouldn’t be seen as a reason to stay away – but an excuse (as if one was needed) to return & rediscover the country.

Greece has made steps towards monetizing the licensing of its intellectual property – these should be given the support they deserve, rather than criticised as profiteering.

Perhaps most of all, for the reasons already given, now is the right time to return the Parthenon Marbles. They would be safe, because they would be held in the recently opened New Acropolis Museum & they would bring a fresh influx of tourists to Athens to see the sculptures reunited for the first time in over two hundred years. If Britain ever found itself in a similar situation, surely the British would expect the same?

From:
Forbes

3/15/2012 @ 3:01PM |1,493 views
One Way Greece Could Get Out Of Debt: License Its History

Of all the places I know, Greece lies most at the core to me, the place to which I always return as if visiting a beloved, again. To be there has always meant to be surrounded by life, poems, history, legacy, beauty of place, art and timelessness. Greece, for so many, has been a fountain of thought, cradle and pillar of western civilization, of course.

Such is its fascination for me that I carry a pocket Odyssey with me always, to read if I find myself waiting, wherever I may be waiting. And such is the global fascination with Homer’s great epic that I just recently read of yet another expedition to locate Odysseus’ home, the island to which he could not help but return.
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Another article on the effect that Greece’s financial crisis is having on the country’s ancient sites. As government budgets are cut, there is far less money than before for maintaining the sites & providing security on them, leading to increased levels of damage & looting.

From:
CBC

Greek antiquities threatened by austerity plan
By Adam Carter, CBC News
Posted: Mar 13, 2012 10:02 AM ET
Last Updated: Mar 13, 2012 10:06 AM ET

Sites like the Acropolis and the Parthenon have withstood tsunamis, earthquakes and the ravages of time — but some are questioning whether they can withstand the Greek debt crisis.

Thefts of ancient artifacts and cuts to culture and museum programs are ravaging a place that’s deeply tied to its past.
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Following on from previous coverage of the effects of the Greek financial crisis on the country’s archaeological sites, some archaeological programmes are taking steps to rebury archaeological discoveries, to protect them until such time as there are sufficient funds to allow full excavations to take place. Such a move, also prevents looters from discovering where some of these sites are, removing the requirement for further security.

From:
Canada.com

Greek antiquities reburied for lack of funds: report
Agence France-Presse March 2, 2012

ATHENS – Lack of funding in crisis-hit Greece has stymied archaeological research and leads experts to rebury valuable discoveries to better protect them, a Greek daily reported on Friday.

“Mother Earth is the best protector of our antiquities,” Michalis Tiverios, a professor of archaeology at Thessaloniki’s Aristotelio University, told Ta Nea daily on the sidelines of an annual archaeological congress in the city.
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Despite consternation from some quarters about Greece’s plans to generate extra revenue from filming permits, this is far from the first time in its history that the country has looked to its artistic and architectural heritage to fund its way out of a financial crisis. Perhaps current critics ought to be thankful about the non-destructive nature of the policy presently being proposed.

From:
Philadelphia Enquirer

In Greece, an ancient solution to modern crisis
March 04, 2012|By James Romm

Greek opinion is divided over the government’s plan to offer the Parthenon and other heritage sites as film and photo backdrops to raise revenue during the country’s current economic crisis. “This is sacrilege!” one Greek tour guide protested. But others thought that, humbling though the measure might be, it was at least better than begging for foreign bailouts.

For some Greeks, the debate may have evoked a sense of deja vu. Pericles, the great Athenian statesman, also proposed raiding the Parthenon to meet a shortfall nearly 2,500 years ago – challenging the boundaries not just of good taste but of religious taboo.
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Egypt & Greece have both been beset by rioting in the past twelve months & have both had high profile thefts from their museums. Every effort must be made, to try & stop similar events happening again. Once items disappear once, there is no guarantee that the country will recover them – they are pieces of their history that has been preserved for many years, yet is now no longer there. They are losing part of their cultural identity.

From:
Guardian

Precious past: why the ancient assets of Greece and Egypt must be saved
20th Feb 2012

While Greece and Egypt are destabilised by the eurozone debt crisis and revolution, we must do more to protect their vast store of the world’s antiquities

In the British Museum on a Sunday afternoon, ancient faces look back at children and adults alike. Inside their glass cases, pharaohs and priests are unfazed by the crowds. And crowds there always are, for these are the painted coffins and carved masks of the ancient Egyptians, relics of a culture that has entranced the world for thousands of years.
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Attention on the Eurozone crisis has focused on Greece, but other countries such as Italy have also had to make massive cuts to government budgets, bringing similar problems to their archaeological sites.

From:
Daily Star (Lebanon)

Austerity strikes at Italy’s crumbling treasures
April 13, 2012 12:03 AM
By Gildas Le Roux
Agence France Presse

ROME: After slashing arts budgets and with its most famous monuments badly in need of repair, Italy’s government is increasingly looking to private investors to help it preserve a priceless cultural heritage.

The biggest initiative so far, however, is faltering after billionaire Diego Della Valle said he might pull his 25 million euros ($33 million) to restore the Coliseum following union protests and investigations into the project.
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Despite the dire state of Greece’s economy, one of its biggest tourist draws & most recognisable assets is its ancient heritage. Plans to try & monetise these site with commercial filming charges have however met with mixed reviews.

From:
Kathimerini (English Edition)

Thursday February 9, 2012 (18:32)
Ancient treasures to the rescue of Greece’s ruined economy?
By Margarita Pournara

Greece’s Culture and Tourism Ministry last month said it would slash the cost of permits for filming and photographic shoots at more than 100 of the country’s ancient monuments, including the world-famous Parthenon in Athens.

Some foreign reports reacted to the news by saying the Greek government was putting the Parthenon under the hammer. Culture Minister Pavlos Geroulanos tweeted that speculation that the sites would be “rented out” was totally unfounded.
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There were many derogatory comments made, when Greece first announced that it was going to do more to encourage filming on the Acropolis by private companies (for a fee). At the end of the day though, it makes more sense to explore solutions to solve the problems of finding the funds to maintain the sites, than to sit back doing nothing. Greece’s finances are already stretched to the limit – so anything that can help the country in such a situation should be welcomed.

From:
Press Europ

Cultural heritage
How Europe hawks its monuments
8 February 2012
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Dieter Bartetzko

As Greece pimps its ancient monuments to bring in the tourists, lovers of cultural heritage are up in arms. But the country is only doing openly what the whole of Europe is: looting historic sites to drum up more ready cash.

Disparaging comments went to press practically before the Greek government spokesman had even reached the end of his declaration that the country’s ancient monuments would be used in future for commercial purposes. The Acropolis is thus to become a stage for advertisements and action movies; the Athens’ Agora, birthplace of parliamentary democracy, a playground for fashion shows and 007 stunts; and the Kerameikos, the nearly three-thousand-year-old cemetery, will become the backdrop for commercials featured perfumed sex maniacs touching themselves in their sleep. That’s more or less the future for Greece’s ancient cultural heritage in the looming shadow of the European financial crisis, as cultural pessimists paint it.
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More coverage of the problems facing Greece’s ancient sites, as a result of the country’s continuing financial difficulties. Unfortunately, it seems at the moment that the end of these problems is a long way off, so the issues are not going to disappear quickly, although help from other countries in blocking sales of looted artefacts helps to limit the market for such items.

From:
Agence France Presse

Amid debt crisis, archaeology Greece’s Achilles heel
By Isabel Malsang (AFP)

ATHENS — Faced with massive public debt, Greece is finding that its fabled antiquity heritage is proving a growing burden — with licensed digs postponed, illegal ones proliferating, museum staff trimmed and valuable pieces stolen.

“Greece’s historic remains have become our curse,” whispered an archaeologist at a recent media event organised to protest spending cuts imposed on the country for the past two years as a condition for European Union and International Monetary Fund loans.
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More coverage of the decision by Greece to reduce the costs for filming permits at the country’s ancient sites.

From:
Kathimerini (English Edition)

Greece cuts filming costs at Acropolis
Thursday, January 19, 2012
By Natalie Weeks

The Acropolis, Greece’s star attraction for 2,500 years, may be preparing for a bigger role.

The Greek government lowered the permit costs this month for using archaeological sites and museums for film crews to 1,600 euros ($2,039) a day from as much as 4,000 euros in a 2005 pricelist, and for professional photographers to 200 euros from 300 euros, according to the Culture and Tourism Ministry. Historical spots include the Acropolis, which houses the Parthenon, and Delphi, home of the ancient oracle.
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Despite the way that this was reported as hiring out ancient artefacts in many new sources, the actual story is that the cost of permits for professional filming on the Acropolis are to be reduced. The permits already exist, it is just that the cost will be less than previously.

From:
Greek Reporter

Debt-Riddled Greece Will Lease Acropolis For Commercial Exploitation
By Stella Tsolakidou on January 17, 2012

In a move bound to leave many Greeks and scholars aghast, Greece’s Ministry of Culture said on Tuesday it will open up some of the debt-stricken country’s most-cherished archaeological sites to advertising firms and other ventures.

Leasing the Parthenon through the taxation of photo and cinema shoots seems to be one of the top priorities for the Greek government, in order to raise money and tackle the debt crisis threatening the country with default.
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More coverage of the effects that the Greek debt crisis is having on the country’s museums & historic sites. This is a problem, not just for the tourists who are unable to get access, but also for the monuments themselves, which may now have lower levels of security & smaller maintenance budgets than was previously the case.

From:
Reuters

Debt crisis strikes Greek monuments, irks tourists
By Gareth Jones
ATHENS | Tue Dec 6, 2011 8:51am EST

(Reuters) – At the end of a sunny day on the Acropolis last month, Svein Davoy gazed awe-struck at the columns of the Parthenon gleaming in the twilight.

“It’s marvellous. This is where Western civilisation began. I will certainly tell my friends to come to Greece and see all this,” enthused Davoy, 63, an economist from Norway.
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