Showing 12 results for the tag: Pavlos Geroulanos.

March 6, 2013

Greek archaeological sites struggle to handle budget cuts

Posted at 8:57 am in Greece Archaeology, Similar cases

More coverage of the effects that the Euro Crisis & Greece’s austerity plans are having on the country’s ancient sites.

From:
USA Today

Greek treasures take a hit
by Nikolia Apostolou, Special for USA TODAY
Updated 9/14/2012 12:05 AM

ATHENS — They survived wars, plunderers, earthquakes, millions of tourists and nearly 2,000 years of time. But they may not survive Greece’s debt crisis.

The great ruins of ancient Greek civilization are being imperiled by massive budget cuts Greece is imposing to qualify for European bailout funds after years of overspending, say preservation experts.
Read the rest of this entry »

June 19, 2012

Lack of funds for policing Greek archaeological sites leads to a rise in illicit digs

Posted at 1:07 pm in Greece Archaeology, Similar cases

More coverage of the problems facing many of Greece’s archaeological sites as a result of the ongoing financial difficulties in the country.

From:
New York Times

Greek Antiquities, Long Fragile, Are Endangered by Austerity
By RANDY KENNEDY
Published: June 11, 2012

KYTHIRA, Greece — A jarring public-awareness ad that has appeared recently on Greek television news shows a little girl strolling with her mother through the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, one of the country’s cultural crown jewels. The girl skips off by herself, and as she stands alone before a 2,500-year-old marble statue, a hand suddenly sweeps in from behind, covering her mouth and yanking her away.

An instant later, she reappears, apparently unharmed but staring forlornly at an empty plinth: The kidnappers weren’t after the girl — they were after the statue.
Read the rest of this entry »

March 26, 2012

The effect of the Greek debt crisis on the country’s historic monuments

Posted at 1:02 pm in Greece Archaeology

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.
Read the rest of this entry »

March 23, 2012

Greek culture minister meets with British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles

Posted at 8:42 am in Elgin Marbles

Greek culture minister, Pavlos Geroulanos, has met with the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles while on a visit to London.

From:
Greek Reporter

Greek Culture Minister Meets with British Committee for Restitution of Parthenon Marbles
Posted on 08 November 2011

A meeting was held among representatives of the British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles and the Greek Minister of Culture and Tourism Pavlos Geroulanos, who travelled to the United Kingdom in order to attend the London Tourism Exhibition.

The meeting’s attendees included the British Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament, Andrew George, who promotes the restitution of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.
Read the rest of this entry »

March 21, 2012

Greek debt crisis reflects the crisis in cultural assets

Posted at 8:57 am in Greece Archaeology, New Acropolis Museum

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.
Read the rest of this entry »

February 2, 2012

Upgrading of Greek museums & archaeological sites

Posted at 8:52 am in Greece Archaeology

169 Greek archaeological sites & museums have now been upgraded to have better signage & visitor facilities.

From:
Greek Reporter

Services Upgraded in 169 Museums and Archaelogical Sites
Posted on 13 July 2011 by Anastasia Chaini

The upgrading of 20 museums and archaeological sites services, for a total of 169, will be completed by the end of the summer. The remaining 149 will go up to the A1 category in the next three years, based on the time schedule of the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Paul Geroulanos. Up until now, no Greek museum or archaeological site, not even the Acropolis, has gone up so high in the rankings.

The upgrading of the services mainly concerns the issue of leaflets in two languages​​, the placement of large informational signs, and the installation of outposts and toilets for the disabled and automatic water / soft drink machines, where necessary.
Read the rest of this entry »

January 11, 2011

Greek Ministry of Culture denies change in position on Parthenon Marbles

Posted at 1:54 pm in British Museum, Elgin Marbles

Further coverage of the Greek government’s response to the article in The Times that claimed that they were no longer claiming ownership of the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum.

From:
Greek Reporter

Ministry denies reviewing position on Parthenon artifacts
Posted on 07 December 2010 by Apostolos Papapostolou

The Culture Ministry yesterday rebuffed a report in the Times newspaper suggesting that Minister Pavlos Geroulanos had offered to forgo its claims to the Parthenon Marbles, which are on display at the British Museum, in return for a long-term loan of the artifacts. Sources at the ministry told Skai that the government has not changed its position regarding its demand for the return of the Marbles. The museum said it had not been informed of any official proposal by the Greek government adding that Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos never referred to the issue of the marbles’ ownership in his meeting with a reporter of the British newspaper “The Times.”

Read the rest of this entry »

January 6, 2011

Greece offers to set aside ownership claims on Parthenon Marbles

Posted at 1:57 pm in Elgin Marbles

Further coverage of the reports in The Times that Greece has agreed to set aside claims of ownership, in it’s attempts to secure the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Athens.

From:
Bloomberg News

Greece Offers to Forgo Claim to Ownership of Elgin Marbles, Times Reports
By Chris Peterson – Dec 6, 2010 8:08 AM GMT

Greece offered to end the long- running dispute with Britain over the Elgin Marbles by saying it would forgo its claim in return for a long-term loan of the artefacts, once a frieze on the Parthenon, the London-based Times reported, citing Greek Culture Minister Pavlos Yeroulanos.

The frieze was removed in 1801 by British diplomat Lord Elgin with the permission of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, which then ruled Greece, and shipped to London after parliament agreed to buy them. Greece regards them as having been looted, the newspaper said.
Read the rest of this entry »

Greece states that it will drop ownership claims on Parthenon Marbles

Posted at 1:52 pm in Elgin Marbles

In an interview with The Times, Greece’s Culture Minister, Pavlos Geroulanos, has indicated that he may be willing to set aside the issue of ownership, in order to facilitate serious talks with the British Museum about the reunification of the Elgin Marbles.

Later reports from Greece have however indicated that this attribution was made in error & was not what was discussed in the interview.

From:
The Times

Greece offers to drop claim to Elgin Marbles
Michael Binyon Athens Last updated December 6 2010 12:01 AM

Greece is trying to break decades of stalemate with Britain over the Elgin Marbles by dropping its long-standing claim to ownership of the sculptures in return for the British Museum sending the Acropolis artefacts back to Athens on a long-term loan.

In return, Greece will offer the British Museum a selection of its best classical art, changing the exhibition every few years to give London one of the richest permanent displays in Western Europe of sculpture, carvings and art from ancient Greece.
Read the rest of this entry »

November 19, 2010

Nike Monument in honour of Callimachus unveiled at the New Acropolis Museum

Posted at 2:09 pm in Greece Archaeology, New Acropolis Museum

A restoration of the Nike Monument, built to honour Callimachus afte the Battle of Marathon has been unveiled at the New Acropolis Museum in Athens.

From:
Athens News Agency

10/27/2010
Nike Monument unveiled at new Acropolis Museum

ΑΝΑ-ΜPΑ/The Nike Monument erected in honour of the ancient military commander Callimachus after the Battle of Marathon, its various surviving shards reassembled for the first time to resemble the form they would have had in antiquity, was unveiled in the new Acropolis Museum on Tuesday by Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos.

In statements at the unveiling, Geroulanos emphasised the importance of the monument 2,500 years after the historic battle, an event broadly regarded as a pivotal moment in the history of European culture.
Read the rest of this entry »

August 18, 2010

Statues recovered after illegal excavation

Posted at 12:59 pm in Greece Archaeology, Similar cases

Illegal excavation & sale of archaeological artefacts remains a problem today, just as much as it was hundreds of years ago. Two statues are on display in Athens, having been recovered from an illegal excavation in Greece.

From:
Balkan Travellers

25 May 2010
Recovered statues on display in Athens

Two marble statues of male youths, dated between 550 and 520 BC, were displayed at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens last week, following their recovery by the police from farmers who were allegedly planning to sell them abroad.

The statues, Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos and Greek police Chief Eleftherios Economou told media, were recovered during a sting operation near Corinth on May 14, when two men were arrested as they were loading the figures into a truck.
Read the rest of this entry »

November 6, 2009

PASOK reiterates their intentions to reunify the Elgin Marbles

Posted at 2:27 pm in Elgin Marbles

Following the change in Greece’s government a few weeks ago, the new Culture & Tourism Minister has announced that the intentions to vigorously pursue the campaign to reunify all the surviving Parthenon sculptures in the New Acropolis Museum.

From:
Athens News Agency

10/27/2009
Culture ministry priorities

Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos underlined Monday that his top priority would be to organise the newly merged ministry of culture and tourism and the solutions that need to be given to lingering problems, while clarifying that he is the only one responsible for the culture sector.

On the strategy being followed for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece, Geroulanos stressed that the efforts will continue. He also noted that the British Museum appeared to be concerned, since it had taken the trouble to distribute leaflets giving its positions called “why the Marbles must stay” (at the British Museum).
Read the rest of this entry »