Nobody watching news in recent years can have managed to avoid hearing about the Greek debt crisis. Much of the focus has been on the level of the debt & how it can be re-paid, but the effects on real people living in the country can be far more of a problem. Cuts in the budgets of government departments have meant that the level of spending on archaeological & cultural projects has had to be heavily reduced from what it was a few years ago. Solutions need to be found, not just to the macro level problem, but to the many smaller issues that both stem from it & in some cases help to perpetuate it.

From:
Bloomberg News

Greece’s $473 Billion Debt Mirrors Crisis in Cultural Assets
By A. Craig Copetas – Oct 19, 2011 12:00 AM GMT
Plato doesn’t live here anymore.

A pack of feral cats chases the rodents that run past the Gypsy squatters who inhabit the bleak 32-acre Athens park that masks the birthplace of Western civilization. Alexandros Stanas says what’s interred beneath the debris illustrates both a solution to Greece’s 345 billion euro ($473 billion) sovereign debt crisis and why his country roils in catastrophe.

“Economics, politics, philosophy, everything that empowers our reasoning and ability to solve today’s problems was born here at Plato’s Academy,” says Stanas, a former management consultant at the Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism who is now general director of the Art-Athina International Contemporary Art Fair.
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An interesting followup to the previous post about the ongoing problems of artefact looting within Greece.

From:
SAFE

Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Repatriation Effects: Greece’s National Archaeological Museum

In the Galleries:

While we all revile the looting of archaeological sites and the illicit trade of artifacts, we can now begin to review the effects of the repatriation of ancient material back to the countries of origin. Here I am not referring to Native American remains, but the statues and vases created by the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean. Recently, I visited the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece, which has seen financial and public relations troubles partly due to the national economic crisis. Here, I saw the 2007 repatriated kore from the J.P. Getty Museum standing amongst other statues without any bells or whistles describing its sordid history. Also on display was a bronze athlete, repatriated in 2002, propped in its own corner. I believe that the return of these objects reflect legal and ethical principles, which absolutely must be upheld.
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Andrew George MP, Chair of the Marbles Reunited campaign, explains some of the reasoning behind his request that the the British Government return the Parthenon Sculptures.

From:
politics.co.uk

Comment: No bailout, but will the Elgin marbles do?
Tuesday, 28 June 2011 10:35 AM
We might not want to be involved in the bail out, but returning the Elgin Marbles would show we are Greece’s friend.
By Andrew George MP

Whilst the current financial crisis dominates all current press coverage relating to Greece, there is no reason why we should use this as an excuse to ignore other key Anglo-Hellenic issues.

At present, news coming from Greece is predominantly negative – returning the Parthenon Sculptures (popularly known as the Elgin Marbles) would give people there something positive – a reason to celebrate and something that would increase the tourist draw to the country, helping to revive their economy.
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