The current visit of the Greek Prime Minister, Costas Karamanlis, to Australia is a timely reminder that the Greek Government has strongly embraced the age-old issue of the return of the Elgin collection of Parthenon Sculptures currently on display at the British Museum in London.
Like his predecessor, Costas Simitis, Mr Karamanlis has in recent months made some very forthright statements about the need to reunify the sculptures. Speaking at a recent reception on the return of some priceless antiquities from the Getty Museum, Mr Karamanlis reassured the world that the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece from the British Museum is still a “main target” for the government. According to the Prime Minister:
"The reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures remains the great goal. I am confident that the new Acropolis Museum, work for whose completion is now going on with a speedy pace, will add new and very strong arguments to this effort."
In the last year the Greece has made giant strides on the world stage in highlighting the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures and the campaign for the return of illicitly-acquired cultural property from museums such as the Getty and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Recently, the Greek Government, led by its energetic Culture Minister, Giorgios Voulgarakis, sponsored the passing by the United Nations General Assembly of a draft Resolution on the Return or restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin which was adopted unanimously.
In his address to the United Nations, Mr Voulgarakis also spoke forcefully of the need to return the Parthenon Marbles:
“The Parthenon Sculptures remain dislodged and divided. The uniqueness of the Parthenon, as monumental symbol of Western Civilization, is the critical argument, and the demand for their return is ecumenical. Especially now, that the construction of the New Acropolis Museum is nearing completion. It is our ambition that the new museum will shelter all extant parts of the Parthenon, and is expected to include the disputed Sculptures we claim must be returned by the British Museum.”
The Greek Government needs to remain resolute in its determination to obtain a satisfactory solution to the continuing debate over the Elgin Marbles. It needs to be understood that the British Museum has resorted to a sophisticated public relations campaign to re-invent itself as a world or universal museum, as a museum of the “collective memory of mankind” and that it would be an outrage to require it to return the sculptures taken by Lord Elgin from the Parthenon 200 years ago.
The British Museum has done this in a number of ways. Through its urbane director, Neil MacGregor, the museum has begun to promote itself as the saviour of endangered artifacts. In a BBC documentary series on the British Museum currently airing in Britain, MacGregor candidly admits that the Iraq war was a great opportunity for the British Museum to rush to Baghdad to try to stem the shameful looting of artifacts from its national museum during the early days of the US invasion and occupation. In this way, the British Museum is telling the world, in effect, that only it can be trusted to look after national treasures. The Elgin Collection of Parthenon Sculptures is no different, according to this myopic and colonialist view of the world.
In the coming months, the Greeks and the British will be having more talks about the Parthenon Sculptures at a meeting of UNESCO. At a recent meeting in London between the two sides the British Museum stated
"The Trustees see the sculptures as an integral part of the Museum’s collection in London, part of the unique overview of world civilizations that the British Museum exists to present. In consequence, they have always made clear that they cannot contemplate the removal of all of the Parthenon sculptures to Athens, even for a short period of time."
The Duveen Gallery with the Parthenon
friezes, British Museum.
Vision of the New Acropolis Museum in Athens
Whether the reference to “all of the Parthenon sculptures” contains a subtle hint about a possible solution involving part of the Elgin collection remains to be seen. It is important, however, that the Greek position remains no less firm and resolute.
I therefore make the following points:
1. The British Museum is not the “cache of civilizations” as it claims.
2. When visitors go to the British Museum they do not necessarily go there to compare cultural treasures from various civilizations, putting a lie to the oft-repeated claim that the Elgin Marbles need to be kept in the museum to be studied alongside the best of Egyptian, Assyrian and other early civilizations.
3. A proper understanding of the Periclean achievement in Classical Athens – highlighted by the building of the Parthenon – can only be achieved when all the known surviving sculptures are re-united and put on display in their correct sequence in the stunning New Acropolis Museum and are able to be viewed and studied in the context of the Parthenon itself.
4. There is, for example, no logic whatsoever in allowing a marble foot from part of the Parthenon frieze to be displayed in a glass showcase in London while the rest of the sculpture is in Athens. The fragmentary display in the cavernous halls of the Duveen Gallery is neither inspiring nor accurate.
5. At the forthcoming meeting at UNESCO the Greek delegation should challenge the hypocrisy and double standards of the British Museum. Nor should the Greeks tolerate the British Museum’s repeated obfuscation and promises of meaningful talks. The UNESCO meetings have been going on for years and the same tired statements are made each time by the British about “understanding” the Greek position and working towards a resolution.
6. Prime Minister Karamanlis should take the opportunity to emphasise to the new British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, following his appointment that the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures is an important matter in the bilateral relations between the two countries.
7. The time has come for an enlightened approach to the debate. The Greek Government should be mounting an international campaign aimed at pushing for an Anglo-Hellenic cultural property accord that results in the reciprocal exchange of cultural artifacts on a long term basis between both countries.
When the New Acropolis Museum finally opens later this year, the campaign for return will go to the next level. The Greek Government’s involvement in and enthusiasm for the sculptures’ eventual reunification is most welcome.
By George Varda
Secretary of the Australian Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles
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