The Elgin Marbles, originally part of the Parthenon in Athens, are deeply intertwined with Greek cultural identity, symbolizing the nation's historical and artistic heritage and serving as a cornerstone of its national narrative since their creation over 2,500 years ago.

Their removal by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century under controversial circumstances, during Greece's subjugation by the Ottoman Empire, is viewed by many Greeks as a cultural theft that disrupted the integrity of the Parthenon and its representation of Greek civilization.

Lord Elgin, a British diplomat and ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, removed the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens between 1801 and 1804 during Greece's occupation by the Ottomans, claiming he had obtained permission from the Ottoman authorities to do so, though no definitive documentation of this permission has been found.

Elgin stated that his primary motivation for removing the sculptures was to preserve them from further damage, as the Parthenon had been used as a munitions depot and was suffering from neglect and vandalism under Ottoman rule, with some marbles reportedly being ground into mortar by Turkish workers.

After transporting the marbles to Britain, Elgin faced criticism and support for his actions, eventually selling them to the British government in 1816, which placed them in the British Museum, where they remain a focal point of cultural and legal disputes over their rightful ownership.

In 1816, a parliamentary select committee in Britain investigated Lord Elgin's actions and deemed them legal, leading to the sculptures being purchased by the British government and subsequently housed in the British Museum under an act of parliament.

Despite the legal framework surrounding their acquisition, Greece has consistently argued that the marbles were stolen and has sought their return since gaining independence in 1832, framing the issue as one of cultural reunification rather than ownership.

The British Museum and the UK government argue that the Elgin Marbles were legally acquired by Lord Elgin under the laws of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Greece at the time, and their ownership was confirmed by a parliamentary select committee in 1816 before being transferred to the British Museum by an act of parliament.

The British Museum emphasizes its role as a universal museum, claiming that the marbles are part of a collection that serves to share cultural treasures with the world, and asserts that their preservation and accessibility have been ensured under its care for generations.

UK officials have expressed concerns that returning the marbles could set a precedent leading to widespread demands for the repatriation of other artifacts, and the British Museum Act of 1963 legally prevents the museum from permanently returning items in its collection.

Greece has consistently argued for the return of the marbles, emphasizing their cultural significance as symbols of Greek heritage and asserting that their removal was illegal, with campaigns for their repatriation intensifying since the 1980s under figures like Melina Mercouri and through UNESCO advocacy.

Key arguments presented by Greece include the claim that the marbles were stolen, their rightful place is in the Acropolis Museum in Athens, which offers a suitable and culturally relevant setting, and that their return would rectify historical injustices and honor Greece's national identity.

The construction of the Acropolis Museum in Athens in 2009 has strengthened Greece's case for the return of the Elgin Marbles by providing a world-class facility specifically designed to house the sculptures, countering previous arguments that Greece lacked a suitable location for their display.

The museum's Parthenon Gallery includes plaster copies of the marbles currently held in the British Museum, emphasizing the cultural and historical significance of reuniting the sculptures with their original context at the Acropolis site.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has explicitly stated that the marbles belong in the Acropolis Museum, leveraging its existence as a key argument in diplomatic efforts to negotiate their return, including offers to loan other Greek treasures to the British Museum as part of a cultural exchange.

Diplomatic negotiations between Greece and the UK over the Elgin Marbles have included offers from Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to loan Greek cultural treasures to the British Museum in exchange for the return of the sculptures, emphasizing their rightful place in the Acropolis Museum in Athens as part of Greece's heritage.

Recent talks between the British Museum and Mitsotakis, reportedly ongoing since November 2022, have explored potential agreements, including cultural exchanges or temporary loans, though no consensus has been reached due to legal restrictions under the British Museum Act of 1963 that prevent permanent restitution.

Efforts to resolve the dispute have faced setbacks, such as the cancellation of a meeting between Mitsotakis and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in November 2023, following disagreements over public discussions of the marbles' return, highlighting the sensitive nature of the negotiations and their impact on bilateral relations.

One proposed solution to the Elgin Marbles dispute is the establishment of a long-term loan agreement, where the British Museum would lend the marbles to Greece for display in the Acropolis Museum, allowing both nations to share cultural heritage while avoiding permanent transfer of ownership.

Another compromise suggested by cultural organizations involves creating a rotating exhibition that would allow the marbles to be displayed alternately in Greece and the UK, fostering international collaboration and mutual appreciation of the artifacts.

Scholars have also proposed the idea of joint stewardship, where both countries would collaborate on the conservation and interpretation of the marbles, emphasizing shared responsibility and cultural diplomacy.

The UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property has been instrumental in shaping international law regarding cultural property, emphasizing the need for cooperation to prevent the impoverishment of cultural heritage and facilitate the return of looted artifacts, though its impact on cases like the Elgin Marbles remains limited due to the timing of their acquisition before modern agreements.

UNESCO's recognition of the inter-governmental nature of the dispute over the Elgin Marbles has reinforced Greece's position that the UK has an obligation to return the artifacts, highlighting the role of international organizations in mediating cultural property disputes.

The International Council of Museums has developed a code of ethics advocating for the respectful treatment and repatriation of cultural artifacts, underscoring the importance of collaboration with the communities to which these items belong, a principle that could guide the resolution of disputes like the Elgin Marbles controversy.

Modern archaeological practices, such as the integration of cultural heritage management frameworks like UNESCO’s Competence Assessment Framework, have emphasized the importance of conservation, value creation, and public education, which have influenced public perceptions of cultural artifacts like the Elgin Marbles by highlighting their role in cultural identity and tourism economies.

Efforts to integrate cultural heritage into education, such as the UAE’s curriculum on UNESCO World Heritage sites, demonstrate how policies can foster awareness and responsibility among future generations, influencing contemporary debates on the ethical management and repatriation of artifacts like the Elgin Marbles.

Virtual exhibitions and 3D replicas have been proposed as technological solutions to complement or substitute physical repatriation, allowing audiences to experience cultural artifacts in immersive digital environments, as demonstrated by projects like the virtual exhibition 'The Vanishing Pharaoh,' which uses VR/AR technology to recreate historical sites and artifacts for global audiences without physical relocation.

Digital twin technology has been utilized to create high-resolution virtual replicas of artworks and cultural relics, enabling detailed examination and authentication while preserving the originals, as seen in exhibitions like the 'Digital Twin Life' model that integrates blockchain for credibility and offers interactive experiences through VR headsets.

3D printing and AI-driven restoration techniques have been employed to create accurate replicas of cultural artifacts, such as the Sanxingdui Museum's use of 3D printing to produce research replicas of ancient relics, which serve both preservation and educational purposes without necessitating physical artifact movement.

Recent developments, such as Italy's return of a Parthenon fragment to Greece, suggest that cultural exchange agreements could serve as a model for resolving disputes over artifacts, fostering international cooperation and setting precedents for future artifact exchanges.

The Elgin Marbles controversy highlights the growing demand for repatriation of cultural artifacts, which could influence future archaeological practices by emphasizing ethical considerations and the importance of respecting the cultural heritage of source nations during excavations and exchanges.

Aspiring archaeologists can learn from the controversy that diplomatic and ethical considerations are crucial when dealing with cultural artifacts, as demonstrated by recent repatriation efforts like Italy's return of a Parthenon fragment to Greece, which underscores the value of cultural cooperation and mutual respect in resolving disputes.

The Elgin Marbles, originally part of the Parthenon in Athens, are deeply intertwined with Greek cultural identity, symbolizing the nation's historical and artistic heritage and serving as a cornerstone of its national narrative since their creation over 2,500 years ago.

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Content: LONDON (Reuters) - The historic Greek treasure of Elgin Marbles is nearing its return to its country of origin, 200 years after it was moved and ended up in the British Museum.
The Parthenon marble, seen as a symbol of freedom in Greece, was controversially moved out of the country by a British diplomat in a move that ignited a debate that lasted more than two centuries.
Greece has made repeated requests for the sculptures to be returned after they were controversially removed from one of the world ’ s most historic landmarks.
Prime Minister Rishi Sonak had been scheduled to meet his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday, but Downing Street canceled the arrangement and sent Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Duden instead.
The head of the British Museum, former Conservative Chancellor George Osborne, is pushing for a temporary loan to be returned to Greece, and is believed to have drawn up a deal.
But both Sonak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer say they will not support a change to the British Museum law that currently bars their return.
The museum said it was continuing "constructive discussions" about their possible return.
Gin Marble
The Algin marble is 17 sculptures that are 2,500 years old.
His pieces were part of a frieze that adorned the ancient Parthenon temple at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.
The marbles make up about half of the 160-meter-long frieze of the Parthenon Temple, which is considered one of the greatest cultural monuments in the world.
These sculptures are seen as symbols of freedom in Greece, where they are known as Parthenon marble.
British diplomat Lord Elgin removed the sculptures from the majestic Parthenon temple in the early 19th century.
At that time, he was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Greece.
Beginning in 1801, Lord Elgin is said to have supervised the removal of the marble and shipped it to the UK in 170 boxes.
He is said to have claimed to have obtained permission from the Ottoman Empire to move the marble, but despite massive documentation from that period, nothing was found to support his actions.
In the United Kingdom, Lord Elgin received support and criticism, and sold it to the United Kingdom government in 1816 before the marble was transferred to the custody of the British Museum.
The beginning and evolution of the dispute
The controversy between Greece and Britain can be traced back to when the marble first arrived in Britain due to criticism of its removal.
In 1832, Greece gained independence from the Ottoman Empire before it began trying to recover sculptures and other works of art taken from the country.
In the early 1980s, the actress and then Greek Minister of Culture, Melina Mercury, reignited the campaign when she made it her mission to secure the return of marble sculptures.
In 1983, she met with the director of the British Museum, Dr. David Wilson, in London to demand the return of the sculptures.
She continued to press the museum and the British government until her death in 1994.
Despite other requests and high-level media coverage, no agreement was reached in the years that followed.
A new campaign
In 2009, Greece stepped up its marble recovery campaign after opening a new museum at the foot of the Acropolis Hill, hoping one day to house it.
In 2014, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney called on Britain to start talks with Greece over the return of the Elgin marble.
The lawyer, who is the wife of Hollywood star George Clooney, said: "This is an injustice that has been going on for a long time, in a world full of intractable conflicts."
In 2015, Greece ruled out any legal action against the UK over Elgin Marbles.
In May 2022, the so-called Fagan fragment — a piece showing the foot of the ancient Greek goddess Artemis seated — was permanently returned to Athens from a museum in Italy.
It was originally part of the eastern frieze of the temple dating back to the 5th century BC.
The British reaction
In 2022, there were calls to make it easier for UK museums to consider returning cultural objects, but the government rejected them.
Former Conservative culture minister Lord Vaizi also headed a new body aimed at returning Elgin marble to Greece.
The refusal came after then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the Greek prime minister during talks at Downing Street in 2021 that the sculpture issue was "a matter for the curators of the British Museum".
Then, at the beginning of December, George Osborne, the head of the British Museum, reportedly held secret talks with the Greek prime minister about the possibility of returning the marble sculptures.
Negotiations between former Treasury Secretary Osborne and Kiriakos Mitsotakis have been taking place in London since November 2021, according to the Greek daily Ta Nea.
The Greek prime minister has on numerous occasions called for the relocation of the sculptures, and even offered to lend other treasures to the British Museum in return.
A spokesman for Project Parthenon, a campaign advocating the return of marble sculptures, hailed the talks as a “positive sign ” that a“ win-win solution ” to the centuries-old debate could be reached.
Possible deal?
In December last year, Downing Street said there were no plans to change the law that prohibits the museum from disposing of objects in its collection except in very limited circumstances.
A spokesman for the prime minister said: “The Parthenon sculptures are legally owned by trustees and are practically independent of the government. ”
Last month, the British Museum issued a statement saying it would not dismantle its collection “because it tells a unique story of our common humanity, ” but added that it wanted to forge a new“ Parthenon partnership ” with Greece.
The talks in Westminster were used by former culture minister Lord Vaizi to press again for the return of the sculptures.
He said that the frieze in Athens "resembles a film that was cut in half and half of it was moved against the will of its owners to another country."
After cancelling the bilateral meeting between Sonak and Mitsotakis on Tuesday, the Greek leader said he was "disappointed".
Mr Sonak said the UK “has no plans to change our approach ” but“ did not ask him [Mr Mitsotakis] what short-term or new ideas have been put forward ”.
Starmer and Mitsotakis Meet
Opposition Labour leader Sir Kiir Starmer met Mitsotakis on Monday.
A source close to Labour leader Sir Kiir Starmer told the Financial Times he was unlikely to change the law if he won the next election.
"We are committed to the current law, but if a mutually acceptable loan deal can be agreed between the British Museum and the Greek government, we will not stand in the way."
Is the agreement possible?
The head of the National Museum, George Osborne, is understood to have drawn up a deal with Athens, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Current legislation bars the museum from legally granting treasures, but Osborne is said to be seeking to repatriate the antiquities as part of a long-term "cultural exchange."
But this loan deal is not expected to permanently end the long-running dispute.
The article was prepared from the site of (Sky News) British channel:
https: / / news.sky.com / story / elgin-marbles-what-are-they-and-how-did-they-end-up-in-the-british-museum-12779617

Their removal by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century under controversial circumstances, during Greece's subjugation by the Ottoman Empire, is viewed by many Greeks as a cultural theft that disrupted the integrity of the Parthenon and its representation of Greek civilization.

Title:

Content: Opinion

Bring them home

At the end of August, it was reported that around 2,000 artefacts, including gold jewellery and gems, had been stolen from the British Museum over a long period of time.

Chairman of the trustees, George Osborne acknowledged that the museum’s reputation has suffered as a result of its mishandling of the thefts, which sparked outrage after it was revealed that most of the stolen antiquities may never be recovered due to the museum’s poor record keeping, raising questions about security and leadership.

For decades, the British Museum has argued that the Parthenon Marbles should not be returned to Greece since the country lacks a suitable location for their display.

The Acropolis Museum, on the other hand, has solidified its place among the world’s top ten best museums and is the go-to museum in Athens where one can readily understand why Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilization. So, why not return the Parthenon marbles to their rightful home, and how did they end up in the British Museum in the first place?

In the early 1800s, when British aristocrat Lord Elgin sailed home from Greece, he also shipped to England some of the greatest treasures of antiquity, which included a collection of Greek statues and carved frieze panels that once decorated the Parthenon in Athens.

The so-called Elgin Marbles were later sold to the British government with the approval of the Ottomans who ruled Greece at the time and became the most storied artefacts in the British Museum’s collection. They also became the subject of perhaps the world’s most notorious cultural dispute.

The British maintain that the marbles were legally acquired and they belong in a universal museum alongside other artefacts, excluding the 2,000 that were now reportedly stolen. The Greeks, on the other hand, view them as looted treasures that form the cornerstone of their national heritage.

For decades, the issue of the Parthenon Marbles has been on the agenda of the Unesco Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property (ICPRCP). In fact, it was Melina Mercouri, the Greek Minister of Culture at the time, who raised the matter of their return during the 1982 Unesco World Conference.

Although the forum ruled in favour of the cause, stating that restitution of works illegally removed from their countries of origin is a fundamental principle of people-to-people cultural relations, Mercouri’s British counterpart responded that the UK Government “could not intervene in the affairs of a private establishment like the British Museum.”

While efforts are underway to retrieve the stolen antiquities, the British Museum’s collections may never be recovered because the museum’s records only identify the collection as a whole and fail to list the individual pieces.

This is not the first time the museum’s image as a safe keeper of global treasures has been called into doubt. The poor condition of the British Museum’s western block has been recorded numerous times. Images of water leaking into the Parthenon gallery were broadcast on Greek television in 2018, resulting from a cracked glass ceiling pane. Although the glass was replaced with new fixings and no sculptures were destroyed, a leaking roof in 2021 resulted in water seeping through, once again, delaying the reopening of the Greek galleries following the pandemic.

The British Museum claimed that none of the statues had been damaged and the issue was addressed. However, for Greece, these events demonstrate that the British Museum is failing to care for the Parthenon Marbles, reinforcing the country’s legitimate claim that the sculptures be permanently returned to Athens.

Earlier this year, the British Museum moved closer to a landmark agreement with Athens that could result in the return of the marbles. Although existing legislation makes it illegal to give away treasures, Osborne is reportedly seeking to repatriate the Parthenon Marbles as part of a cultural exchange that would see other Greek antiques displayed at the British Museum. Over half of the British people support their repatriation to Greece.

Hundreds of statues from the Archaic and Classical periods can be found at the ultramodern Acropolis Museum. The top level is the museum’s showcase, which provides a visual link to the Acropolis and allows visitors to view both the monument and its sculptures. The majority of the Parthenon Marbles will be displayed there upon their anticipated return.

The Parthenon Sculptures were made in Greece by Greeks to honour the glory of Greece. They represent millions of people’s cultural identities. Greece is their true home. It is where they belong.

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Lord Elgin, a British diplomat and ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, removed the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens between 1801 and 1804 during Greece's occupation by the Ottomans, claiming he had obtained permission from the Ottoman authorities to do so, though no definitive documentation of this permission has been found.

Elgin stated that his primary motivation for removing the sculptures was to preserve them from further damage, as the Parthenon had been used as a munitions depot and was suffering from neglect and vandalism under Ottoman rule, with some marbles reportedly being ground into mortar by Turkish workers.

Title:

Content: Stephen Fry calls returning Elgin Marbles to Greece 'A classy thing at last'

THE ELGIN Marbles' return to Greece would be "a classy act" by the UK, says Stephen Fry.

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UK has 'no obligation' to return Elgin Marbles says Widdecombe

Greece has called for the repatriation of the collection of Elgin Marbles for more than 200 years – ever since they were taken from the Parthenon in 1802 on the order of Lord Elgin, Britain's then-ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Mr Fry, who said he is "very keen" to see the sculptures be returned to Athens, has been the latest to join the debate over the home of the monumental artwork.

The actor and broadcaster suggested the marbles be replaced with a virtual experience.

He stressed that with modern technology the carvings can be replicated using lasers.

He said: "So the British Museum would have a Parthenon experience and you go in and see this fabulous technology using AR helmets or whatever you want to wear and you see how the originals were perfectly reproduced and out in place and you watch them being packed up and put on the train."

The sculptures, which sit at the London-based institution, have not been available to be publicly viewed for nearly a year due to ongoing maintenance work and the coronavirus pandemic.

The British Museum is to reopen its Greek galleries to the public on Monday, December 13.

READ MORE: Boris in lockdown warning: 'Tidal wave' of Omicron to hit UK - PM unveils new jabs plan

Critics argue the Elgin Marbles, which sit at the British Museum, should be repatriated to Greece (Image: Getty)

Mr Fry, 64, said: "I know a lot of people say 'we've looked after them' and it's certainly true we've looked after them, but it would be such a classy act.

"I promise you one million Athenians would come on to the street to welcome them.

"They mean so much to the Greeks, they are part of the nature of what Athens is."

The British Museum houses 15 metopes, 17 pedimental figures and 75 metres of the original frieze.

50 metres remain in Athens and other parts are in museums across Europe.

Comedian Stephen Fry called returning the artwork would be 'a classy act' from Britain's side (Image: Getty)

The sculptures have been a subject of debate ever since the were taken from Greece in 1802 (Image: Getty)

Mr Fry claimed a move such as returning the Elgin Marbles is what the country needs: "There would be a hand-shake ceremony and suddenly people would for once look at Britain and say that was a classy act.

"It would be a classy thing and Britain hasn't done a classy thing for some time."

Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking to the FT ahead of a foreign policy trip to the UK last month, said: "If I were in the PM's shoes and I were thinking out of the box in terms of global Britannia, and the idea of Britain really playing a role in the post-Brexit world, [it] would be a fantastic coup for public diplomacy if they were to look at this from a different perspective."

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Kyriakos Mitsotakis advocates for 'reunification' of Elgin Marbles

Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has urged Boris Johnson to return the marbles to Athens (Image: Getty)

Then, during his visit to London, he urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to return the priceless ancient sculptures to Greece, again presenting it as a chance for the UK to strengthen its Global Britain standing.

Mr Johnson has so far not shown signs he intends to return the Elgin Marbles.

Speaking to the Greek paper Ta Nea earlier this year, he claimed: "The UK government has a firm, longstanding position on the sculptures.

"They were legally acquired by Lord Elgin under the appropriate laws of the time and have been legally owned by the British Museum’s trustees since their acquisition."

This aligns with the view outlined on the British Museum’s website, which backs Lord Elgin's efforts to bring the marbles to the UK in the early 19th century: "His actions were thoroughly investigated by a parliamentary select committee in 1816 and found to be entirely legal, prior to the sculptures entering the collection of the British Museum by act of parliament."

After transporting the marbles to Britain, Elgin faced criticism and support for his actions, eventually selling them to the British government in 1816, which placed them in the British Museum, where they remain a focal point of cultural and legal disputes over their rightful ownership.

In 1816, a parliamentary select committee in Britain investigated Lord Elgin's actions and deemed them legal, leading to the sculptures being purchased by the British government and subsequently housed in the British Museum under an act of parliament.

Despite the legal framework surrounding their acquisition, Greece has consistently argued that the marbles were stolen and has sought their return since gaining independence in 1832, framing the issue as one of cultural reunification rather than ownership.

Title:

Content: You are here
Home > News > Parthenon marbles are to remain in the British Museum

Parthenon marbles are to remain in the British Museum

The museum might yet arrange for the sculptures to be loaned. But Sunak stated that there are no plans to change the statute, which specifies that the museum can only dispose of pieces in its collection under certain circumstances.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has ruled out amending a regulation that prevents the British Museum from permanently returning the Parthenon marbles to Greece.

Sunak confirmed that they have no intention of altering the existing regulations, which limit the museum’s ability to sell or dispose of pieces in its collection except under specific circumstances.

Sunak is unlikely to break with the stances of his two predecessors, who were both against any kind of loan of the marbles to Greece.

“The UK has cared for the Elgin Marbles for generations. Our galleries and museums are funded by taxpayers because they are a huge asset to this country,” Sunak told reporters on his plane as he flew to the United States on monday

“We share their treasures with the world, and the world comes to the UK to see them. The collection of the British Museum is protected by law, and we have no plans to change it.”

Since its independence in 1832, Greece has repeatedly demanded the return of the statues known as the Elgin Marbles, which were stolen from the Parthenon temple in Athens by British ambassador Lord Elgin in the early nineteenth century, while Greece was under Ottoman domination.

George Osborne, a former finance minister and the chair of the British Museum, has been collaborating with Greece to develop a new agreement that would enable the Parthenon sculptures to be displayed in both Athens and London. The Parthenon Project, which has received support from politicians across various parties in the UK, announced on Sunday that a long-term cultural partnership agreement could potentially facilitate the return of the British Museum’s Parthenon collection to Greece.

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The British Museum and the UK government argue that the Elgin Marbles were legally acquired by Lord Elgin under the laws of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Greece at the time, and their ownership was confirmed by a parliamentary select committee in 1816 before being transferred to the British Museum by an act of parliament.

The British Museum emphasizes its role as a universal museum, claiming that the marbles are part of a collection that serves to share cultural treasures with the world, and asserts that their preservation and accessibility have been ensured under its care for generations.

UK officials have expressed concerns that returning the marbles could set a precedent leading to widespread demands for the repatriation of other artifacts, and the British Museum Act of 1963 legally prevents the museum from permanently returning items in its collection.

Title:

Content: UK refuses to return Parthenon marble to Greece
Daily Morning and Agencies
Istanbul, Turkey
Posted at 16.01.2023 11: 13
Last update at 16.01.2023 11: 14
Elgin marble sculpture at the British Museum in London (French)
Britain ’ s culture minister has ruled out a permanent return of Parthenon marble to Greece amid reports that a “cultural exchange ” has almost been agreed with Athens.
Minister Michelle Donilan told BBC Radio that the deal, reportedly negotiated by British Museum chief George Osborne, was not about the permanent return of ancient sculptures to Greece.
Donilan said this was "not final or permanent", referring to the deal by Osborne, former finance minister under former prime minister David Cameron.
Such a move would “open the door to the question of the full contents of our museums. ”
The sculpture, also known as Elgin marble, was taken from the Parthenon Temple in the Acropolis of Athens in the early 19th century by British diplomat Thomas Bruce, nicknamed the 8th Earl of Elgin.
Secret talks between Osborne and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis were reportedly held for a year.
The Daily Telegraph earlier this month, citing media sources, said the reported deal, effectively a loan agreement for the sculpture, could result in the 2,500-year-old relics returning “sooner rather than later. ”
Such an arrangement could circumvent the legal ban on the museum dismantling its huge collection.
Donilan said separately: “Museums are not able to return artifacts legally permanently, which I fully agree with. ”
“A lot of people talked about lending the sculpture for 100 years, which I don ’ t think is in line with the spirit of legislation at all, ” she said, adding that this was not what Osborne was planning to do.
She added that the UK does not want to give up things that have become "national property...
It was seen by people from all over the world, "which the state took great care to preserve.
Elgin VIII took the sculpture when he was British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, and Greece today insists that the marble artifact was stolen, so Athens has waged a long campaign for its return while the UK asserts it was legally obtained.
The return of the marble sculpture remains a highly sensitive topic as the British Museum ’ s huge collection includes many items that other countries now consider looted after being taken over by the builders of the British Empire while the government is wary of setting such a precedent.

Greece has consistently argued for the return of the marbles, emphasizing their cultural significance as symbols of Greek heritage and asserting that their removal was illegal, with campaigns for their repatriation intensifying since the 1980s under figures like Melina Mercouri and through UNESCO advocacy.

Key arguments presented by Greece include the claim that the marbles were stolen, their rightful place is in the Acropolis Museum in Athens, which offers a suitable and culturally relevant setting, and that their return would rectify historical injustices and honor Greece's national identity.

Title:

Content: Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Greek prime minister tries to broker deal for return of Parthenon marbles

Kyriakos Mitsotakis offers to loan Greek treasures to British Museum if ‘stolen’ sculptures are returned to Acropolis

The Greek prime minister has demanded that the 2,500-year-old Parthenon marbles, which he accuses Britain of stealing, be returned to Greece, and even offered to loan some of his country’s treasures to the British Museum in an attempt to broker a deal.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the Daily Telegraph that the sculptures, also known as the Elgin marbles, belong in the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

However, Boris Johnson has previously ruled out returning them on the grounds that they were acquired legally.

Mitsotakis said: “Our position is very clear. The marbles were stolen in the 19th century; they belong in the Acropolis Museum and we need to discuss this issue in earnest.

“I am sure that if there was a willingness on the part of the government to move we could find an arrangement with the British Museum in terms of us sending abroad cultural treasures on loan, which have never left the country.”

The marbles were removed from the Acropolis more than 200 years ago by Lord Elgin in circumstances that have spurred one of the world’s most famous cultural rows and have long been the subject of dispute.

Mitsotakis said he would raise the issue with Johnson when the two meet next week for talks that could shape future relations between the two countries.

“Refusing to discuss the topic seems to me, given the context of everything that has been happening in terms of the return of cultural treasures, to be rather an anachronistic approach,” he added.

“It would be a fantastic statement by what Boris calls Global Britain if they were to move on this and look at it through a completely different lens.”

But Johnson dismissed the appeal for their return to Greece earlier this year, telling the Greek newspaper Ta Nea: “I understand the strong feelings of the Greek people – and indeed prime minister Mitsotakis – on the issue.

“But the UK government has a firm, longstanding position on the sculptures, which is that they were legally acquired by Lord Elgin under the appropriate laws of the time and have been legally owned by the British Museum’s trustees since their acquisition.”

Greece has long called for the reunification of the sculptures, displayed in museums across Europe but mostly in London, and says it is integral to understanding the artworks in the context of the Acropolis.

The construction of the Acropolis Museum in Athens in 2009 has strengthened Greece's case for the return of the Elgin Marbles by providing a world-class facility specifically designed to house the sculptures, countering previous arguments that Greece lacked a suitable location for their display.

The museum's Parthenon Gallery includes plaster copies of the marbles currently held in the British Museum, emphasizing the cultural and historical significance of reuniting the sculptures with their original context at the Acropolis site.

Title:

Content: Parthenon Sculptures: Agreement to Return Parthenon Marbles to Greece Arrives at Advanced Stage - Reports
• Kitty Razel
• Cultural Affairs Editor
Greece and Britain are close to reaching an agreement to return Parthenon sculptures (also known in Britain as the Elgin Marbles) to Greece, according to a Greek newspaper.
The Nea newspaper reported that the director of the British Museum, George Osborne, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, held secret talks with the Greek prime minister.
Greece has been demanding the return of the statues for decades.
The British Museum said it was "ready to talk to anyone, including the Greek government" in order to reach a partnership on the subject.
The Parthenon sculptures are considered by many to be among the most important works of art that are being debated for return to their countries of origin.
Carved from the Parthenon Temple in Athens in the 19th century by British diplomat and military officer Lord Elgin, the sculptures were brought to Britain by the British government and placed in the British Museum in 1816.
The marble statues were among those decorated in the 2,500-year-old temple, which was carved by the sculptor Phidias.
The exhibition of the Parthenon Gallery at the Acropolis Museum in Greece was built more than a decade ago to display sculptures there.
In addition to the original marble sculptures that remain in Greece, the exhibition includes plaster copies of those other original marble sculptures that are currently housed in the British Museum and other foreign museums.
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Ta Nea reported that meetings were held with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for the first time in London in 2021.
Osborne held preliminary talks with Mitsotakis about the fate of the Greek sculptures at the Greek ambassador's home in Mayfair, and also met with the Greek foreign minister.
He later met with the Greek foreign minister and the Greek minister of state, the paper said.
Mitsotakis met Osborne again this week at the Berkeley Hotel in London.
A Greek source familiar with the matter told the paper that an agreement was almost complete, but important details were still under discussion, that agreement on it was difficult but not impossible, and that tangible progress had been made.
Osborne told LBC that an agreement on Parthenon sculptures was under consideration and could be accomplished if neither party had preconditions or red lines.
A spokesman for the British Museum said the museum had previously called for a partnership on Parthenon sculptures with Greece, adding: “We are seeking a long-term and positive partnership with countries and communities around the world, and that includes Greece of course. ”
"We are acting legally and we will not dismantle our great collection of sculptures, they tell a unique story of human history," the museum said, which may be the most important obstacle to reaching an agreement with Greece.
The Horniman Museum and Gardens in London has signed a partnership agreement on 72 of its holdings, the Bronzes of Benin, with Nigeria over ownership of the artefacts.
The pieces were looted by British troops from the city of Benin, in what is now Nigeria, in 1897.
The museum ’ s director, Nick Merriman, said: “We are in the final stages of getting museums to recognize the era of colonial history. ”
Horniman has been able to act as a charity, and is governed by laws different from those governing national institutions.
British law prohibits the British Museum from relinquishing parts of its holdings, including 900 Benin bronzes, as well as Parthenon sculptures.
I had prepared a report in October on the efforts of the then Minister of Culture, Lord Vizin, to explore the possibility of changing the law.
The Ministry of Culture, Media and Sport said: “The British Museum is prohibited by law from transporting items except in a few exceptional circumstances, and the government is not considering changing this law. ”
Lord Vizi is currently the director of the Parthenon Project, an organization founded by Greek businessman John Levas.
Last summer, the association conducted a survey of 2,000 people about the return of the sculptures to Greece, which found that 54 percent of those surveyed said the sculptures should be returned, while 16 percent disagreed.
The claimants' view was that it originally belonged to Greece.
The Parthenon project is campaigning for a mutually satisfactory solution, and news from the talks suggests that a solution is close.
The project aims to reach an agreement in the interest of both parties, centered on a cultural partnership between the two countries.
According to the Te Nea report, the partnership is at the center of talks between the two sides, and the talk is about the return of the sculptures to Greece while the British Museum hosts archaeological treasures from Greece that have not been exhibited abroad before.
British officials have proposed that London and Athens share the sculptures and have explored the possibility of returning part of them to Greece.
The Greek government is not expected to settle for any solution that does not include the permanent return of the sculptures to Greece.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has explicitly stated that the marbles belong in the Acropolis Museum, leveraging its existence as a key argument in diplomatic efforts to negotiate their return, including offers to loan other Greek treasures to the British Museum as part of a cultural exchange.

Diplomatic negotiations between Greece and the UK over the Elgin Marbles have included offers from Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to loan Greek cultural treasures to the British Museum in exchange for the return of the sculptures, emphasizing their rightful place in the Acropolis Museum in Athens as part of Greece's heritage.

Recent talks between the British Museum and Mitsotakis, reportedly ongoing since November 2022, have explored potential agreements, including cultural exchanges or temporary loans, though no consensus has been reached due to legal restrictions under the British Museum Act of 1963 that prevent permanent restitution.

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Content: Main content

Reports say a deal to return Elgin Marbles to Greece is at an "advanced stage"

The Greek daily newspaper, Ta Nea, says talks have been taking place between the British Museum and the Greek prime minister since November last year.

The Greek daily newspaper, Ta Nea, says talks have been taking place between the British Museum and the Greek prime minister since November last year.

Also on the programme: an alternative to plastic; and the story of how a fossil, which lay unnoticed in a drawer for over half a century, has advanced our understanding of the origins of reptiles.

(Picture: One of the Parthenon Statues, also known as the Elgin Marbles. Credit: Reuters)

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Efforts to resolve the dispute have faced setbacks, such as the cancellation of a meeting between Mitsotakis and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in November 2023, following disagreements over public discussions of the marbles' return, highlighting the sensitive nature of the negotiations and their impact on bilateral relations.

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Greek PM reiterates demand for British Museum to return Parthenon statue, British PM cancels meeting, sparking diplomatic row
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in an interview with the BBC on Sunday, reiterated that the authorities want the British Museum to return some of the statues that were “stolen ” from the Parthenon Temple.
What we want you to know is
Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis, in an interview with the BBC on Sunday (26), described the Parthenon shrine as part of the statue group in Greece, part in the United Kingdom, like the "Mona Lisa smile" torn in half and asked Britain to return it.
British Prime Minister David Sunak then called the meeting a "temporary cancellation" hours before the meeting, prompting discontent from Mitsotakis, Greek officials and the public, calling it a "diplomatic crisis."
In an interview with the BBC on Sunday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated that the British Museum wants to return some of the “stolen ” statues from the Parthenon Temple. Subsequently, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, hours before the meeting with Mitsotakis, a temporary resolution to cancel, sparking a diplomatic dispute between the two countries.
BBC, British authorities claim that Sunak cancelled the meeting because Mitsotakis broke his promise to "not talk about the statue".
Mitsotakis, however, said it was Greece ’ s consistent and public stance to demand the British Museum return of the statue, saying in a statement: “I would like to express my dissatisfaction with the temporary cancellation by the United Kingdom just hours before the meeting. ”
The Greeks worked for hundreds of years to return the statue of the Parthenon.
The controversial statue is one of a group of marble statues used to decorate the Parthenon Temple in the ancient Greek city of Athens, also known as the Elgin Marbles.
In the 19th century, the British diplomat to the Ottoman Empire, the 7th Earl of Elgin, secretly removed the stone carvings and brought them back to Britain for collection in the British Museum.
At that time, Elgin claimed that he had taken the stone carvings with the permission of the Ottoman Empire and therefore had legitimacy.
However, the Greek authorities do not think so.
Since 1983, the Greek government has been trying to coordinate with the UK to ask them to return the stone carvings. In 2022, UNESCO also intervened to facilitate talks, but to no avail.
Therefore, the issue of the return of the stone carvings has become the core issue and exchange condition of many negotiations between Greece and Britain, including of course the meeting originally planned by Sunak and Mitsotakis.
Statues of the Parthenon Temple are mainly located in Athens and the British Museum.
In an interview with the BBC on the 26th, Mitsotakis described: "The scattered statue is like tearing the famous painting" Mona Lisa's Smile "in two parts and giving it to two museums." He called on the British authorities and the British Museum to return the "stolen" stone carvings and work together so that people can enjoy the statue "in its place".
Because of these remarks, Sunak temporarily announced on Monday night that he would cancel his meeting with Mitsotakis on Tuesday.
According to the Guardian, the British government said that the content of Mitsotakis ’ interview with the BBC violates the commitment of the two countries to “not talk about the return of stone carvings ” agreed in 2021.
The Greek authorities immediately denied the claim, and Mitsotakiston said that Greece ’ s position on asking Britain to return the statue was well known and reiterated during his tenure as prime minister.
The conversation should have been about the climate crisis, the Israeli-Kazakh conflict, the Russian-Ukrainian war, the British and Greek immigration plans, and the Parthenon statue.
After Sunak cancelled the talks, the British offered to have Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden attend, but Mitsotakis refused, and the two sides did not meet.
UK has no plans to amend the British Museum Act
The New York Times reported that in the past two years, the Greek government and the British Museum have repeatedly held "delicate negotiations" over the return of the statue, but the two sides have yet to reach a consensus.
According to the report, the Greek authorities want the British Museum to return all the Parthenon stone carvings, in exchange for which the Greek Museum will regularly select artefacts for display in the British Museum.
For its part, the British Museum agreed to "borrow" some of the Parthenon stone carvings and other exhibits from the Greek government for a short period of time. If Greece "returns" on schedule, the British Museum will "lend" more stone carvings.
Mitsotakis also mentioned in an interview with the BBC that the outcome of the negotiations at this stage is not as good as he expected, but he considers himself a man of perseverance and said: "Greece has waited for hundreds of years, we can wait more."
“I ’ m going to stand firm and be willing to continue negotiations.
A British government spokesman told The Guardian they were concerned that the return of stone carvings to Greece could create a “slippery slope ” that could trigger a wave of returns of disputed artifacts from other collections.
In addition, the British Museum Act 1963 states that the British Museum may not return its collections to its homeland.
According to the BBC, the British government has no plans to amend the decree, which means that the British authorities are unwilling to violate the decree and return the stone carvings to Greece.
The return of the stone sculpture is a matter of British election and diplomatic relations.
Evangelos Kyriakidis, head of the Greek Agency for Monuments and Estates, told Euronews that the Greek government attaches importance to the statues of the Parthenon temple because they are not only important monuments, but also a symbol of Greek national strength.
Kiriadis uses the metaphor of "the jewel of the crown of the king of England in Greece" to argue that the issue of the statue group is a matter of sovereignty.
The New York Times pointed out that the news of the cancellation of the meeting in Sunak immediately triggered the dissatisfaction of politicians of the Greek political party and caused a wave of criticism on social media, with many accounts condemning it as a diplomatic incident and a mini-diplomatic crisis between Greece and the United Kingdom.
The Guardian also quoted a Greek government spokesman, accusing Sunak of using the issue of the return of stone carvings with Greece to divert attention from Britain's internal affairs.
The spokesman said more bluntly that Sunak ’ s decision has the potential to damage Britain ’ s reputation in Europe, which is divided after Brexit.
A senior EU official also told The Guardian that cancelling the prime minister ’ s meeting and then sending the deputy prime minister to meet with the Greek prime minister would violate normal diplomatic procedures and damage Britain ’ s credibility.
He also said: "The United Kingdom, which wants to go global, cannot stop talking to friends about a problem that has existed for 200 years."
Another observer also pointed out that the British government is ahead of the serious refugee problem, and Greece is a member of the European Union that links Europe and the Mediterranean, which has important geopolitical significance.
Not only is there a diplomatic crisis, but the return of the stone carvings to the dispute may also bring about a domestic crisis for Sunak and the ruling party.
The New York Times reported that Britain will hold elections next year, and the ruling party is currently facing a long period of economic stagnation in the United Kingdom and divergent views on immigration policy. At this time, it has a conflict with Greece, which may make the question of the ownership of the statue an election point between the Labour Party and the Conservative Party.
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One proposed solution to the Elgin Marbles dispute is the establishment of a long-term loan agreement, where the British Museum would lend the marbles to Greece for display in the Acropolis Museum, allowing both nations to share cultural heritage while avoiding permanent transfer of ownership.

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Content: No: 3, 5 January 2024, Press Release Regarding the Appointment of Maria Ángela Holguin Cuéllar, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, as the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations on Cyprus

The Secretary-General of the United Nations has announced the appointment of Maria Ángela Holguin Cuéllar, former Foreign Minister of Colombia, as his Personal Envoy on Cyprus.

Türkiye and the Turkish Cypriot side have given their consent to the said appointment on two conditions. The first is that the mandate of the Personal Envoy shall be limited to exploring whether common ground exists or not between the two sides on the Island for the start of new, formal settlement negotiations. The second is that the duration of the Personal Envoy’s mandate shall not exceed six months. The President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, H.E. Mr. Tatar, has also underlined these two points.

Actually, the fact that there is no common ground between the two sides on the Island is also stated in the reports of the UN Secretary-General. It is abundantly clear that the federal solution model, which has been repeatedly negotiated for more than half a century and has never been realized due to the intransigent attitude of the Greek Cypriot side, is outdated and exhausted. From now on, the indispensable precondition for the start of any new negotiation process in Cyprus is the reaffirmation of the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot people. Reaching a common ground between the two sides will therefore only be possible within the framework of this understanding. Embarking yet again on a process seeking a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, whose life has expired, is out of the question.

This being the case, it is clear that the six-month mandate of the Personal Envoy will be more than sufficient to ascertain, without leaving any room for misunderstanding, whether common ground exists or not between the two sides on the Island to start new, formal settlement negotiations.

We wish the Personal Envoy, Ms. Holguin Cuéllar, success in her new assignment. We emphasize our expectation that her report will objectively reflect the positions of the sides and the realities on the Island, draw the necessary conclusions and put on record which realistic future course of action could be followed based on these conclusions.

Another compromise suggested by cultural organizations involves creating a rotating exhibition that would allow the marbles to be displayed alternately in Greece and the UK, fostering international collaboration and mutual appreciation of the artifacts.

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Content: Waverly Hills owner supports statement released by Historical Society about agreement

A legal battle has been haunting the owners and managers of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium.
Published: Oct. 16, 2022 at 10:34 PM EDT|Updated: 23 hours ago

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - As of Monday, Oct. 17, Charlie Mattingly reached out to WAVE News saying he supports the statement released by the Waverly Hills Historical Society.

The following statement was released Saturday -

“The Waverly Hills Historical Society and Charlie Mattingly have reached an agreement to resolve all of their disputes. Ultimately, all parties share a love for the preservation of Waverly Hills Sanatorium, and they agree that a collaboration is the best course of action so that future generations will be able to enjoy and learn from its history, building, and grounds.

As we finalize the details of this new singular team, which we will announce over the next few weeks as we both complete the logistical details, we do want it to be known that the Mattingly Family will remain involved with the WHHS. The WHHS is creating a permanent Mattingly Family Board Seat to ensure its founder’s vision and legacy at Waverly Hills Sanatorium is continued indefinitely. The WHHS and the Mattingly Family look forward to working together in this new way, and they jointly invite the public to become involved with Waverly Hills Sanatorium, whether it be through volunteering, touring the facility, or donating to the preservation efforts.”

Mattingly told WAVE News he is looking forward to a resolution between the two parties as soon as possible.

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A legal battle has been haunting the owners and managers of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. After more than a year of fighting in court, the argument over the ownership of the former hospital was believed to be coming to an end.

The two sides have been arguing in court for the past year over how the facility is being managed.

On Saturday, WAVE News reported the owners of the Sanatorium and the managers of the property, the Waverly Hills Historical Society, had come to an agreement.

That news came from a statement from the Historical Society.

After checking in with a group on the owner’s side of things, they apparently had a different point of view.

On Saturday, the “Save Waverly Hills” group had a fundraising event at the Sanatorium to raise money to help pay the owners, Charlie and Tina Mattingly’s legal fees.

The statement said the Historical Society and the Mattinglys reached an agreement to resolve all their disputes. The people in the “Save Waverly Hills” group said that was not entirely accurate.

“Nothing has been finalized,” Ernie Pack, the founder of the group said. “Nothing has been agreed to just yet. All they’ve done is agree to kind of drop...it’s like a cease-fire basically for negotiations.”

Pack is connected to the Mattingly family. He said the lawsuit has hurt the Sanatorium’s image and attendance.

He said fewer people are showing up to events because of their loyalty to the Mattinglys.

Pack thinks the Historical Society released the statement to make people believe the battle was over, as a way to boost attendance.

“That’s all that’s really been agreed to,” Pack said. “Is that we are going to talk about it. It has not been agreed that this is over, and their statement made it sound like everything is over.”

This all started in January 2021 when the Historical Society claimed the Mattinglys damaged the property and sold off assets without consent, among other things.

That said, Pack is encouraged by the progress. Progress that can literally be seen by a gap in a fence that used to keep people like him out of certain parts of the property.

“Well as you can see, we’ve got one section of it gone,” Pack said. “When you were here recently, the fence was all the way across the parking lot. We got one section gone, we’re looking forward to getting rid of the rest of it.”

Pack said the Mattinglys have been through enough, and the current board seems willing to work toward a resolution.

“I think both parties have the same goal in mind in the end,” Pack said. “It’s just a matter that we have two different perspectives of how to get there. We’re hoping that this works out for the best for Tina and Charlie. That’s who we’re fighting for here.”

WAVE News reached out to the Historical Society when the statement came out, and was told they can’t talk yet. But they did say both sides will sit down together soon.

A response to the claim that their statement was premature was asked, but there has not been a comment.

Scholars have also proposed the idea of joint stewardship, where both countries would collaborate on the conservation and interpretation of the marbles, emphasizing shared responsibility and cultural diplomacy.

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Content: The Inter-Parliamentary Union team headed by Ali Al-Naimi concludes its visit to Kiev and Moscow
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The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Working Group on the Peaceful Resolution of the Crisis in Ukraine, chaired by H.E. Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Working Group representing the Arab Geopolitical Group in the Executive Committee of the IPU, concluded its visit to Kiev and Moscow.
Members of the Working Group included the Speakers of the Parliaments of Namibia, South Africa and Uruguay, as well as prominent MPs from Indonesia, Israel and Kazakhstan.
During its visits, the IPU Working Group held discussions with the political leaders of the two countries, with the aim of advancing towards a peaceful solution to the crisis in Ukraine.
During the visit to Kiev, the Working Group met with H.E. Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, members of the various political parties of the Parliament, members of the Ukrainian Parliament of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, representatives of the United Nations and the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
The Group undertook a field visit to the cities of Dmitrivka, Bucha and Irbin to see the impact of the crisis on the capital, Kiev, and its neighbouring towns.
In Moscow, the working group held meetings in the State Duma with Vice President Peter Tolstoy and the Council of the Russian Federation with Vice President Konstantin Kosachev.
The working group also met with Andrei Rudenko, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, along with Tatiana Moskalkova, Human Rights Commissioner of the Russian Federation, as well as representatives of the Russian Civil Chamber and heard Russian views.
His Excellency Dr. Ali Al Nuaimi said: “These visits are the beginning of a mission aimed at communicating with the deputies of the Russian and Ukrainian parliaments and working with them to build bridges between the two countries to end the crisis, build confidence between the two parties and strengthen relations based on the principle of good neighborliness. ”
In both capitals, the Working Group stressed the need for an immediate de-escalation and a return to dialogue in order to reach a peaceful solution to the crisis, in strict compliance with international law, and stressed that these visits aim to listen to both parties and better understand each other ’ s perspectives and build bridges between them to help them end this crisis and its devastating consequences for both countries and the world.
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The UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property has been instrumental in shaping international law regarding cultural property, emphasizing the need for cooperation to prevent the impoverishment of cultural heritage and facilitate the return of looted artifacts, though its impact on cases like the Elgin Marbles remains limited due to the timing of their acquisition before modern agreements.

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Content: Why we need a G20 League of Looted Nations to take on the museums

As G20 has members from both sides — the looted and the looters — there is a wonderful opportunity to form an official consensus regarding fast repatriation of items of invaluable cultural significance. Pooling information and devising mechanisms that can cut red-tape would be a huge achievement

Reshmi Dasgupta May 18, 2023 21:27:30 IST

Replica of the Koh-i-Noor diamond. Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons/ aiva

When it comes to looted antiquities, it is not often that the looters and the looted gather in the same forum. The G20 is one such, and serendipitously India — one of the most looted — is the chair this year. China, another nation whose treasures repose in museums around the world, is also a member. And despite the ongoing froideur over borders and other issues, looted antiquities is one point on which they cannot but agree. Is it not time, then, for a bold new initiative?

It could be called the League of Looted Nations. And given the widespread belief that the United Nations is now just a tax-free sinecure rather than a body that makes a real difference anymore, India’s move for a consensus on repatriation of important items of cultural heritage to the countries they belong to could be just what is needed. More so as repositories of these treasures — whether publicly or privately owned — have been able to fob off single-nation efforts.

On #InternationalMuseumDay, it is time to rethink the role of museums in this. Tourists marvel at displays in museums and galleries, sparing little thought as to how they got there. Museums and universities have recently been erasing the Sackler name from galleries, libraries and halls donated by the family as their fortune came from opioids. Benefits begotten from slavery are also being rejected. Why is there no similar protest against illegal antiquities in museums abroad?

Mainly because there has been no concerted effort by looted nations to publicise the stealing of their cultural heritage — and its ramifications. The issue has so far been conveniently regarded as the domain of individual nations not a common problem that unifies many. So each looted country takes its case to the offending nation, with limited success. The public of the nations where looted cultural heritage is displayed in museums remains largely unaware of the issues.

Take the long and so far futile battle of Greece to get back the so-called Elgin Marbles — segments of the Parthenon — from the British Museum. Such has been the difficulty to get the British to budge that a move by the current BM head George Osborne to “loan” the priceless friezes back to Greece is being seen as a victory. No one is calling out the brazenness of the British! How can something that belongs to Greece be “loaned” to it by those who carted it off?

India has also been fighting for the return for antiquities, although the Kohinoor gets most of the publicity on this count. The fact is that the diamond is just the most blingy of the treasures that the British got from India via questionable means during the Raj. There are many more Indian treasures in their clutches, including huge sections of the Amaravati Stupa, Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s throne, the copper Sultanganj Buddha and Tipu Sultan’s sword, ring and wooden tiger.

The then British Prime Minister David Cameron wasn’t kidding when on a visit to India in 2010 he ruled out the return of the Kohinoor saying. “If you (Britain) say yes to one, you suddenly find the British Museum would be empty. I think, I am afraid to say… it is going to have to stay put.” Some Indian artefacts have indeed been returned by the UK since 2010, but notably, none of those mentioned above. Clearly wider and more sustained action is needed to get results.

That is why India’s emphasis on righting wrongs in the cultural space at G20 is timely. In the 21st century there is no basis for the old canard that museums and private collections (mostly in Western nations and former colonial powers) offer more secure spaces than the countries’ treasures had been “obtained” from. As these columns have always asserted, such institutions have been committing a crime against nations by continuing to keep their cultural heritage.

The West so far has done mostly lip service on the matter of protecting and returning looted cultural artefacts. And bureaucratic red-tape has ensured that the return of antiquities is delayed. Meanwhile, priceless “collections” in museums that clearly have no business to be there rather than in the places of worship or other monuments they were looted from, continue to be displayed and “studied” by scholars. Including those from the countries they were looted from!

The Paris Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property signed in 1970 under the aegis of UNESCO (and endorsed by 143 nations so far) laid down admirably specific conditions. But antiquities of many nations including India are still in museums and collections when they could not have been procured by means acceptable by today’s standards as looting no longer qualifies.

Article 2 of the convention says, “Parties to this Convention recognize that the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property is one of the main causes of the impoverishment of the cultural heritage of the countries of origin of such property and that international co-operation constitutes one of the most efficient means of protecting each country’s cultural property against all the dangers resulting there from.” What has this “recognition” achieved?

The document also virtuously states that “Parties undertake to oppose such practices with the means at their disposal, and particularly by removing their causes, putting a stop to current practices, and by helping to make the necessary reparations…The import, export or transfer of ownership of cultural property effected contrary to the provisions adopted under this Convention by the States Parties thereto, shall be illicit.” More sound and fury signifying nothing.

Obviously so, as the notorious Subhash Kapoor’s trade in illegal antiquities from India and elsewhere flourished abroad after 1970. He and many others cocked a snook at these toothless pronouncements, particularly Article 7 which said member states would take “necessary measures…to prevent museums and similar institutions… from acquiring cultural property originating in another State Party which has been illegally exported” after this convention “took effect”.

The convention also says that at the request of an aggrieved country (via diplomatic channels and with supporting documents), the nation to which cultural property had been illegally imported should “take appropriate steps to recover and return” those items but with a caveat that “the requesting State shall pay just compensation to an innocent purchaser or to a person who has valid title to that property”. How can any title be ‘valid’ if it belongs to another country?

By that logic, of course, Greece should simply pay Britain for the return of the Parthenon pieces carted off by Lord Elgin and India should do the same to get the Kohinoor back — after some solid haggling, presumably. Of course, given Britain’s dire economic situation at present, this may seem an attractive proposition—monetise the treasures Britons stole in centuries past, to tide over its crisis today. But there is little reason for looted nations to oblige.

As G20 has members from both sides — the looted and the looters — there is a wonderful opportunity to form an official consensus regarding fast repatriation of items of invaluable cultural significance. Pooling information and devising mechanisms that can cut red-tape would be a huge achievement. Of course then institutions like the British Museum will have to come to terms with their own past — and display non-looted alternatives in their emptied galleries.

The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed are personal.

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UNESCO's recognition of the inter-governmental nature of the dispute over the Elgin Marbles has reinforced Greece's position that the UK has an obligation to return the artifacts, highlighting the role of international organizations in mediating cultural property disputes.

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Content: Greece asks Britain to return Parthenon statue British Museum: a popular heritage
▲ Part of the Greek Parthenon, now in the British Museum.
(Photo / Reuters)
Journalist Lin Yen-chen / Comprehensive Report
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a speech in Paris on the 12th that the Parthenon statue in the British Museum should be returned as soon as possible, and that the British side should enter into negotiations as soon as possible to achieve this goal.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in March that Britain was the rightful owner of the Parthenon and refused to return the 2,500-year-old statue to Greece.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has stressed that the United Kingdom legally owns the Parthenon.
(Photo / Reuters)
Speaking at UNESCO ’ s 75th anniversary event, Mitsotakis said UNESCO took a key step in September when it recognised the inter-governmental nature of the problem and therefore the obligation to return the Parthenon was entirely in the UK.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis believes Britain has a duty to return the Parthenon.
(Photo / Dazhi Imaging / Associated Press)
Since independence in 1832, Greece has been demanding the return of the statues to Britain, where they are known as Elgin Marbles because it was the British diplomat Lord Elgin who removed them from Greece, which was then ruled by the Ottoman Empire, in the early 19th century.
The British Museum refused to return and claimed that the stone carvings were acquired by a legal contract between the Earl of Elgin and the Ottoman Empire, and that the statues were the common heritage of everyone.
Mitsotakis stressed that the existing Parthenon statue in London must be reunited with most of the other statues in Athens as soon as possible.
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The International Council of Museums has developed a code of ethics advocating for the respectful treatment and repatriation of cultural artifacts, underscoring the importance of collaboration with the communities to which these items belong, a principle that could guide the resolution of disputes like the Elgin Marbles controversy.

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Content: Exhibition of human organs in Vienna
Human organs on display at the Natural History Museum in Vienna in October 2021 (AFP)
Visitors to the prestigious Vienna Museum of Natural History can tour its pathological anatomy exhibition featuring skulls and human organs preserved in transparent containers.
The exhibition takes into account the evolution of the vision of ethics to the display of human remains, including the need to provide an explanation to visitors, according to « AFP » on Sunday.
The museum ’ s collection, the largest open to the public in the world, contains 50,000 preserved objects, displayed in the circular Nareturm (or “Crazy Tower ”) building built in the 18th century as a psychiatric hospital.
The new presentation of the collection was launched in early September and focuses on the sober character that required significant work to make the required adjustments.
Thousands of visitors come every week to see the bones, guts and more in this collection.
The director of the museum, Voland, defended the opening of visits to the public, while other countries preferred to limit them to researchers only.
“Everyone faces diseases one day, ” Voland said, highlighting the educational merit of presenting this unique collection, which has been dedicated since 1796 to the training of medical students.
“Some people come for information because they are personally interested, while others seek to learn more about the progress of science. ”
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For example, the visitor recognizes what a tumor in the eye causes, and sees the effects of a virus on the body or what burns cause blood vessels.
Edward Venter, curator of the exhibition, noted that visitors are "aware of what alcohol can do to the human body" when they see a "30-kilogram liver".
Biologist Christian Bihaffe, who was visiting the exhibition with a group of his students, said the ability to “understand ” if they see what they are studying is“ greater than if the lesson is theoretical ” on school benches.
But some of the students seemed shocked by what they were seeing: here is the skeleton of a girl with hydrocephalus, there is the body of a baby with torn skin preserved in liquid lotion, and so on.
So there is a very fine line between these corpses and human organs being exposed and being turned into show.
Edward Venter said: "We try to avoid this becoming a voyeurism by giving as many educational explanations as possible."
Photographs are prohibited.
In fact, the display of bodies behind glass facades in Europe dates back to the end of the 16th century, with mummies brought from Egypt.
But “consciousness ” emerged as of 2002, notes Marie Cornu, director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, specializing in property law.
The controversy arose when South Africa demanded the burial of Sartege Bartman, a Khoisan woman whose body was displayed in England and France after her death in the 19th century.
Thus, it is only 20 years since institutions began to “hold themselves accountable, ” according to Korno.
Code of Ethics
The International Council of Museums has developed a code of ethics to help, which states that human remains must be treated with "respect" and "great courtesy", in harmony with the community to which the remains belong.
The head of medical groups at the Sorbonne University in Paris, Eloise Keitel, said: “The presentation of the remains in the way that was previously approved is no longer permissible. ”
It considered the need to "provide explanations to the visitor on the reasons for the formation and maintenance of these groups."
In Nareturm, Catherine Voland said that "everything is known about the conditions of the arrival of the samples" at the museum, which comes from autopsies, the last of which dates back to the beginning of the 20th century.
She stressed the importance of “knowing what can be shown to the public ” as something“ illegally obtained ” should not be shown.
Although laws vary between countries, it is now unlikely that “someone will die in a hospital and then appear again in an exhibition, ” Vienna medical history professor Herwig Cech reassured.
Marie Corneau said that permission to donate one ’ s body to science and research “does not at all mean that it is authorized to be displayed afterwards in a museum. ”
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Modern archaeological practices, such as the integration of cultural heritage management frameworks like UNESCO’s Competence Assessment Framework, have emphasized the importance of conservation, value creation, and public education, which have influenced public perceptions of cultural artifacts like the Elgin Marbles by highlighting their role in cultural identity and tourism economies.

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Content: Evergrande Launches Two Master ’ s Programmes in Cultural Heritage Management and Public Policy and Risk Management in September
Author: Weng Man-chen
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Hang Seng University will launch the Master of Arts in Cultural Heritage Management and Master of Social Sciences in Public Policy and Risk Management in the 2023 / 24 academic year, with 50 and 40 places respectively, to provide relevant management and applied knowledge to those interested in heritage conservation, and to nurture talents who are interested in policy research and risk management.
The Master of Arts Programme in Cultural Heritage Management introduces UNESCO ’ s Cultural Heritage Management Competence Assessment Framework, which covers the conservation and value creation, operation, management and public education of both physical and intangible cultural heritage, and the Revitalizing Historic Buildings Partnership. Richard Engelhardt, former UNESCO Director of Cultural Affairs for Asia and the Pacific, and Ting Xinbao, a renowned historian and former Director of History Museums, will also serve as adjunct professors. The MSc in Social Sciences in Public Policy and Risk Governance is the first MSc in public policy with a focus on risk research in Hong Kong.
Mr Hui Chack-kuen, Head of the Master of Arts in Cultural Heritage Management Programme and Department of Art and Design, said that local and Greater Bay Area cultural heritage sites in recent years have attracted public and media attention, thus enhancing the public's concept of cultural conservation.
(courtesy of Hang Seng University)
Mr Hui Chack-kuen, Director of the Master of Arts in Cultural Heritage Management and Department of Art and Design, said that local and Greater Bay Area cultural heritage had attracted public and media attention in recent years, thus enhancing the public's concept of cultural conservation, which not only builds local identity and cultural identity, but is also a key factor in promoting cultural tourism and the economy.
The Master of Social Science in Public Policy and Risk Governance, Associate Professor of the Department of Social Sciences, Mr Kong Po-wah, said that the programme enables students to understand the importance of risk factors in the public policy process and to propose innovative policy solutions. (Provided by Hang Seng University)
The Master of Social Science in Public Policy and Risk Management, Professor Kong Po-hua, says that the program enables students to understand the importance of risk factors in the public policy process in order to propose innovative policy solutions. Graduates can pursue careers in public and private institutions, policy institutes, non-governmental organizations, public relations organizations, and research master's or doctoral programs in policy studies and public administration.

Efforts to integrate cultural heritage into education, such as the UAE’s curriculum on UNESCO World Heritage sites, demonstrate how policies can foster awareness and responsibility among future generations, influencing contemporary debates on the ethical management and repatriation of artifacts like the Elgin Marbles.

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The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Education announce a qualitative addition to the curriculum for the 11th grade
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The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and the Ministry of Education have launched a new educational resource on “Al Ain Cultural Sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List ” as part of the curriculum to support the content of the curricula and courses in social studies and civic education for grade 11 in all public and private schools that apply the Ministry of Education curricula in the UAE.
The Department has issued the educational resource in both Arabic and English, to promote Al Ain cultural sites, especially after its inclusion as the first Emirati site on the UNESCO World Heritage List for Humanity.
The publication aims to raise students ’ awareness of the importance of Al Ain ’ s cultural sites as part of a shared global and human heritage, as well as the role that our students and all members of society can play in preserving them for the future.
This publication, which was prepared by the Department under the supervision of a group of experts and specialists in the field of education, culture and history, which relies on the integrated approach and interactive multi-disciplinary platforms, and is based on strategies of self-learning and group learning; to be used and achieved by the teacher in guiding the educational process of students. Diverse educational objectives in the cognitive, skill and behavioral fields related to cultural education.
His Excellency Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education, said: “This book, published by the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi, is an important educational and historical resource that highlights Al Ain ’ s cultural sites, which date back thousands of years, and provides rich material on the cultural heritage and historical environment of these sites." Daphne Bidaa Bint Sa'ud, Al-Aflaj and the Historical Oases. "
His Excellency stressed that the content of this book, which is in line with the vision and philosophy of the Ministry of Education and the standards of social studies and national education, will provide students with new knowledge, experiences and skills, in addition to strengthening their national identity and building their personalities through studying the past, drawing lessons and benefiting from them in building the present and future.
His Excellency Mohammed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi, said: “Educating future generations and enhancing their knowledge about the cultural heritage and rich historical environment of our country is one of the most important responsibilities of the Department. This is the real wealth of our country. ”
Al Mubarak added: “This integrated educational bag uses a simplified educational methodology that meets the requirements of modern education methods that contribute to improving the outputs of education in line with the global developments in the educational fields.
The publication of the book is another milestone in our journey to integrate cultural heritage into the curriculum of state schools in an innovative and modern way.
This addition to the curriculum will not only ensure that students are aware of Al Ain ’ s cultural sites, but also reinforce their awareness of their great importance to our history and society, and reinforce their sense of individual responsibility by educating them on what they can do to play an active role in protecting these sites for future generations. ”
The book “Al Ain Cultural Sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List ” supports the Ministry of Education ’ s plans to develop and update educational curricula to keep pace with developments and developments, so the Ministry has included this book as a subject for grade 11 students in all public and private schools that apply the Ministry of Education ’ s curricula.
The importance of the book is that it contributes to the development of students' skills in critical thinking, research, analysis, exploration and linking between variables, and inspiration of ideas, lessons and experiences that develop their tendencies and refine their abilities and build their personalities.
The book begins with the presentation of the content related to the World Heritage sites in the Al Ain region; Jebel Hafeet, Hili, Bida 'bint Saoud, Oasis and Aflaj, and includes an introduction and preface, and four chapters each containing a number of classroom lessons with educational objectives, explanations, and questions, accompanied by proposed activities. For students, in addition to interactive videos, pictures and illustrations, enrichment portals, relevant Internet links, a list of concepts and terms, and a list of sources and references that can be consulted by the teacher and the student.
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Virtual exhibitions and 3D replicas have been proposed as technological solutions to complement or substitute physical repatriation, allowing audiences to experience cultural artifacts in immersive digital environments, as demonstrated by projects like the virtual exhibition 'The Vanishing Pharaoh,' which uses VR/AR technology to recreate historical sites and artifacts for global audiences without physical relocation.

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Content: People 's Network > > Education
Virtual Curation to Expand Aesthetic Space
Kang Li
March 14, 2024 08: 31 | Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition
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The 2nd Global College Student Virtual Curatorial Competition Cloud Award Ceremony
"Art Museum virtual curatorial talent training" project teaching site
Kevin Kelly, the founding editor of Wired, predicts in his new book The World After 5000 Days that a virtual world will emerge after 5000 days, in which everything is related to AI and can be imagined as a 3D world with an added dimension of time.
At present, we are in an important stage of technological change, and the widespread use of artificial intelligence is profoundly changing people's lives and working methods.
You can see the leopard from the changes in the current exhibition format.
In the past, exhibitions usually took place in the exhibition space, with physical works either hanging on the wall or standing in the corner of the exhibition hall.
With the rise of digital art, technology has given works of art a richer form of expression.
For example, the exhibition “The Vanishing Pharaoh ” jointly created by the French VR / AR content brand Excurio and the archaeological team of the Giza Project of Harvard University in the United States has been launched in Shanghai and Chengdu, China, following the first exhibition in Paris, France.
Rather than calling it an “exhibition, ” it would be more appropriate to describe it as a“ virtual image experience. ”
Wearing a virtual headset, the audience entered a space of only a few hundred square meters and completed the wonderful tour of the Egyptian pyramids after 45 minutes of watching.
According to statistics, the exhibition has received nearly 100,000 visitors, reflecting that the new exhibition format is widely accepted and has its unique advantages.
Similarly, the education sector is also quietly changing.
No matter the form of instruction, auxiliary teaching tools, or teacher-student communication model, has changed.
Virtual simulation technology has gradually changed from a facilitative teaching to an independent course.
In the current opportunities of scientific and technological change and industrial renewal, the digitalization of education is an important attempt.
The Central Academy of Fine Arts has been at the forefront in the digitalization of education, and the Virtual Curatorial Experimental Project and the Virtual Experimental Project of Museum Aesthetics Curriculum have been awarded the first-class national virtual simulation experimental teaching courses in 2020 and 2023 respectively.
With these two projects as the foundation, the Central Academy of Fine Arts, together with more than a dozen art colleges and institutions, jointly set up a national-level production, study and research platform, the virtual curation and aesthetic education course virtual teaching and research room of the Fine Arts Museum.
The platform is more like a center of multiple overlapping resources, in a virtual space that is not limited by time and space, and integrates into a “cloud public community ”, which activates the communication of the global curatorial industry in a connected state, and also inspires the components of contemporary curatorial plans, curatorial methods, team formation, and cooperation methods from the perspective of technology application.
Fan Dean, president of the China Artists Association, believes that the platform has three main features: first, it can timely gather the latest achievements and historical materials in exhibition planning, both pictures and text, and data classification, to provide support for analysis of global exhibition planning trends; second, the massive information materials collected will help to carry out teaching and research related to exhibition planning; and finally, the platform can provide a space to train new curatorial talents.
Since 2022, the Central Academy of Fine Arts has hosted the “National College Student Virtual Curatorial Competition ”, which aims to encourage college students to integrate humanities and art, cutting-edge technology and aesthetic education communication, and put forward high-quality solutions through a highly reductive and operational virtual curatorial platform to promote the results to the public and extend the multiple possibilities of social aesthetic education.
At present, the number of participants has reached more than 3,000, covering nearly 400 colleges and universities, supported by more than a dozen art institutions, held more than 10 academic lectures, and accumulated nearly 2,000 virtual exhibition cases.
Among them, non-art students accounted for 10% of the total number of participants, reflecting the attraction of the competition to the younger generation.
In addition to the event expansion, the virtual exhibition training program also followed.
Previously, the 2023 annual art talent training funding project of the National Art Fund “Art Museum Virtual Curatorial Talent Training ” was held at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
Thirty staff members from museums and museums across the country participated in the training.
In the three-month theoretical teaching, practical research and report on the results of the course, the lecturers and students have continuously tried to think about the virtual technology in museums and museums with a forward-looking and speculative perspective.
Imagine that in the near future, the audience can enter the virtual exhibition through the Internet, "pick up" high-precision cultural relics digital "double", or even "dissect" bronzes, click a video to interpret the internal inscriptions or amplify each decorative pattern; in the same exhibition hall, multiple audiences or online interactive communication, or online to listen to archaeological experts to interpret cultural relics.
Such an online virtual exhibition of cultural relics will become an effective supplement to the content of the physical museum, not only to improve the viewing experience in one direction, but also a multi-dimensional cultural exchange activities.
The emergence of digital media has changed the sensory form of the masses.
When the medium develops as an extension of our body parts, the medium becomes the human “skin ” and becomes the environment.
New technologies will inevitably lead to new sensory experiences and needs, and virtual curation is a new way of curating in the digital age.
An interconnected, multi-dimensional, cross-layered "virtual space" extends the possibilities of infinite reconstruction, which will inevitably affect the way of communication, communication and communication.
“Cloud communication ” has greatly enhanced the breadth and depth of information dissemination and broadened people ’ s participation.
Based on the present, the author believes that the virtual exhibition needs to meet at least three characteristics: the community exchange platform of different groups, the strong interactive experience viewing mode and the multi-dimensional knowledge acquisition channel.
Virtual curatorial fusion of the era of technology, curatorial disciplines and humanities and art will inevitably iterate out a richer exhibition form in the future.
(Author Unit: Central Academy of Fine Arts)
(Image provided by the author)
(Editor: Li Fang, Hao Mengjia)
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Digital twin technology has been utilized to create high-resolution virtual replicas of artworks and cultural relics, enabling detailed examination and authentication while preserving the originals, as seen in exhibitions like the 'Digital Twin Life' model that integrates blockchain for credibility and offers interactive experiences through VR headsets.

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RuizhiDigital Bioscience Exhibition Visual Arts Innovation Experience Arrives on 19th
• Business Times Chien Li-tsung
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What kind of viewing experience can be excited by the application of digital twin in the visual arts? Taipei Art Industry and Economics Research Center and Ruizhi Corporation ’ s Funique VR Studio curated “Digital twin vertical application ” exhibition, which will be exhibited at Taipei International Art Fair from 19th to 23rd, 2023.
Digital Twin is a dynamic digital model based on the real-time data of real objects based on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analysis.
It is a twin version of the real world physical entity in the virtual world, which can be used to build virtual fields and create virtual integration of multiple experiences.
This special exhibition by RuizhiFunique VR Studio scans the artwork in an ultra-high number of times and creates a virtual “double ” in a realistic way, presenting the original image through high-resolution digital technology.
Through the VR headset, the viewer can move around the virtual world, change the viewing angle, and even zoom the work to observe the extremely subtle composition like a detective.
According to Cheng Po-yuan, founder of Ruizhi, the “Digital Twin Life ” model is not only used for the display of the metaverse, but also can establish a digital identity authentication covering the whole picture of the artwork, and integrate blockchain technology to ensure the credibility of the artwork authentication, and can also serve as reliable evidence for the identification of the artwork.
Cheng Po-yuan emphasizes that digital twins have already been used in medical, construction, manufacturing, aerospace, and film and television entertainment, and have begun to introduce digital twins in urban development and preservation of cultural relics.
Renowned auction house Sotheby ’ s entered the metaverse platform at the end of 2021, opening a secondary market for digital art in 2023, which can be traded in cryptocurrency.
It can be predicted that digital technology will change the rules of the art market, especially when art enters the digital platform trading, requiring a credible digital certification of art.
The three participating works in this special exhibition, "Pomegranate Fantasy", "Bamboo House" and "Beautiful Flowers", are selected by Taipei Art Institute from the "Taiwan Gallery Industry Historical Archive". The works are pure and mature and have a distinctive style.
【 The Fantasy of Pomegranate 】 For the artist Jiang Handong, through color and lines, summons the celebration he saw in his hometown from memory, creating a colorful world full of childlike innocence and modern feeling.
【 Takeshi Hsuen 】 is one of the masterpieces of the artist 's wild cursive book, using the oriental art form "calligraphy" as a medium for artistic realization. Through the training of "skills", it is transformed into the energy available for self-life; creating the "original" value of oriental art that adheres to the "classical law" in contemporary time and space.
Beautiful Flowers is a gift from artist Chen Xiangxun, who is known as the daughter of Zhang Yi-kun, the head of the Art Center.
Viewers can see that the artist uses a round brush to paint the vivid posture of the flowers, and the paintings are rich and full in color but not dazzling, and life is full of hidden hidden hidden characteristics.
Through high-magnification scanning of the "digital twin" images, the three works can help the viewer capture the characteristics that were not visible and could not be seen in the physical world in the past, and drive the viewer to think about the "reality" of existence and non-existence.
This high-resolution experience is an art and market value that will help the gallery industry, artists, galleries, art banks, and collectors in the future.
Exhibition time: October 19, 2023 (Thu) - October 23, 2023
Venue: Taipei World Trade Center - Exhibition Hall 1 (X06)
Registration:: https: / / www.accupass.com / event / 2310120545071139635731
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3D printing and AI-driven restoration techniques have been employed to create accurate replicas of cultural artifacts, such as the Sanxingdui Museum's use of 3D printing to produce research replicas of ancient relics, which serve both preservation and educational purposes without necessitating physical artifact movement.

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Sanxingdui new museum opens … 600 cultural relics debut bronze altar, bird foot statue unveiled
A total of more than 1,500 cultural relics (sets) were unveiled, more than three times the number of cultural relics on display. Nearly 600 cultural relics were on display for the first time, including six newly discovered sacrificial pits, including bronze altars, bird and foot statues, and horseman statues.
The new museum uses AI restoration, 3D printing, 3D data recovery and other technologies to make a number of Sanxingdui "heavy tools" debut in consideration of the needs of cultural heritage protection.
Source: YouTube
The new building area of the Sanxingdui Museum is 54,400 square meters, five times that of the original exhibition hall, of which the exhibition area is 22,000 square meters.
The exhibition is divided into three chapters: "Century of Dreams", "King of Glory" and "Gods of Heaven and Earth". The exhibition showcases the past and present life of the Sanxingdui site, as well as the latest archaeological discoveries and research achievements.
Sanxingdui "heavy weapons" have been unveiled, presenting important ceremonial instruments used by the ancient Shu people in the sacrificial activities, the main sacrificial acts, the objects of worship, their belief systems, and the concept of the universe.
The cultural relics on display this time are only the tip of the iceberg of cultural relics unearthed at the Sanxingdui site. In two excavations since 1986 and 2019, more than 21,000 cultural relics of various types have been unearthed at the Sanxingdui site, including more than 17,000 cultural relics with relatively complete artifacts.
The number of these unearthed cultural relics is huge, and the assembly work is very cumbersome, and the restoration work is a long way to go.
Yu Jian, deputy director of the Sanxingdui Museum, said that when AI technology is used to assist in the restoration of cultural relics, many cultural relics restoration problems have a new breakthrough.
This time, the bronze altar, bronze beast statue, bronze bird foot statue, these three cultural relics are all using AI algorithms, combined with the manual matching of the cultural relics restorer, to achieve cross-pit matching.
Among them, the complex shape, rich content of the bronze altar of the latest recovery results for the first time disclosed, especially attracted people's attention.
The altar can be roughly divided into three layers, namely, the bronze altar base, the bronze god beast and the bronze top altar figure.
From 1986 to 2022, researchers spelled out “parts ” from four sacrificial pits.
Yu Jian said that the assembly of unearthed artifacts is very cumbersome, but with the help of virtual means, the process can be made efficient.
At present, considering the structural safety of the cultural relics, the bronze altar, bronze animal statue, bronze bird foot statue and other "heavy tools" have adopted the display method of "digital restoration demonstration".
At the same time, on the basis of the protection needs of cultural relics and the display effect, the original proportion of research replicas through 3D printing technology has been made, and the original appearance of cultural relics has been recreated.
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Recent developments, such as Italy's return of a Parthenon fragment to Greece, suggest that cultural exchange agreements could serve as a model for resolving disputes over artifacts, fostering international cooperation and setting precedents for future artifact exchanges.

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Italy returns Parthenon fragment to Greece amid UK row over marbles

Loan deal could renew pressure on Britain to repatriate ancient Parthenon marbles to Athens

Italy is returning a fragment belonging to the Parthenon’s eastern frieze to Greece in a breakthrough deal that could renew pressure on Britain to repatriate the 2,500-year-old Parthenon marbles removed by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century.

The marble fragment, which depicts the foot of a goddess, either Peitho or Artemis, peeking out from beneath an elaborate tunic, is currently held at the Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum in Palermo, Sicily. It was originally bought by the University of Palermo from the widow of Robert Fagan, the British consul for Sicily and Malta, after his death in 1816.

The artefact is being returned on a four-year loan as part of a cultural exchange agreement between Sicily and Greece, with the intention for the loan period to be extended by a further four years. However, the move back to Greece could eventually become permanent.

In return, the Acropolis Museum in Athens will loan the Palermo museum a 5th-century BC headless statue of the goddess Athena, as well as an 8th-century BC amphora.

The deal, which includes an exchange of cultural initiatives between the two museums, comes after several years of negotiations between Sicilian and Greek authorities.

“Sending back to the context of its origins a small, but significant, fragment belonging to the Parthenon has a very strong symbolic value,” said Sicily’s councillor for culture, Alberto Samonà. “It is also a response to the international debate [about the Parthenon artefacts]. But I don’t want to get into that debate. For us, this is a gesture of friendship – Greece and Sicily are two areas of the Mediterranean that share a common story.”

The fragment was loaned to Greece in 2002 and in 2008. Samonà said the latest transfer could become permanent, but that it would be up to the Italian culture ministry to take the measures needed to make that happen.

It is not known how Fagan, an amateur archaeologist, acquired the fragment, although one theory suggests it might have been given to him by Elgin, the British aristocrat who excavated the bulk of the ancient Parthenon marbles between 1801 and 1804 before selling them to the British Museum in 1816, where the artefacts are currently on display.

Greece has long fought for the marbles to be repatriated from the UK. In November, the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, demanded that Britain return the marbles to Greece, while at the same time offering to loan some Greek historical treasures to the British Museum. In response, Downing Street said returning the marbles was a matter for the British Museum. The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, had previously said the marbles would remain in Britain, arguing that they were legally acquired.

The Elgin Marbles controversy highlights the growing demand for repatriation of cultural artifacts, which could influence future archaeological practices by emphasizing ethical considerations and the importance of respecting the cultural heritage of source nations during excavations and exchanges.

Aspiring archaeologists can learn from the controversy that diplomatic and ethical considerations are crucial when dealing with cultural artifacts, as demonstrated by recent repatriation efforts like Italy's return of a Parthenon fragment to Greece, which underscores the value of cultural cooperation and mutual respect in resolving disputes.