The 'Greek Offer' - the loan proposal

 

Ever since Lord Elgin removed sections of the Parthenon Sculptures from Greece to Britain in 1816, it was decided that the Marbles be placed in the British Museum.

 

Arguments over ownership of sections of the Sculptures housed in the British Museum together with concerns about the conditions for displaying them in Athens have prevented their return.

Now, in an effort to move the debate forward and provide a solution to a previously intractable problem, the Greek government has made an imaginative offer to accept the British half of the Sculptures on long-term loan, to be displayed in a joint exhibitional project in the New Acropolis Museum.

WHAT THE 'GREEK OFFER' MEANS

  • The British Museum would send its sections of the Parthenon Sculptures to Athens on long-term loan

  • The British Museum would retain ownership of its sections of the Sculptures - ownership would no longer be an issue

  • The reunited Sculptures would be displayed in the new, purpose-built Acropolis Museum in Athens in direct view of the original Acropolis rock and providing ideal conditions for conserving, viewing and appreciating the reunited Sculptures in a historical setting close to the Parthenon

  • The British Museum could have part of the New Acropolis Museum designated as an annex of the British Museum in Athens

  • The Greeks would make available other precious finds (never before seen outside Greece) for touring exhibitions of the British Museum and UK regional museums

WHY THE 'GREEK OFFER' SHOULD BE ACCEPTED

The Parthenon Sculptures are a work of art that makes sense only as a whole.

The 'Greek offer' provides a window of opportunity for resolving a long-term dispute that, without resolution, will remain an issue that simply will not go away.

The New Acropolis Museum now being built in Athens will provide the perfect setting for the display of the reunited Sculptures in their historical setting, with state-of-the-art conservation and display facilities not previously available. There they will form an integral part of the artefacts of numerous periods and styles that originate from the Acropolis site.

The British Museum will retain ownership of the Parthenon Marbles and will enjoy new opportunities for establishing international links and a commercial marketing presence abroad.

The British Museum and regional museums throughout the United Kingdom will benefit from exciting new opportunities to exhibit other Greek antiquities, some never seen outside Greece before.

The British Government will gain new respect and international support for its willingness to support the return of the Parthenon Marbles to their rightful home.

By accepting the Greek proposals in 2004, the year when the Olympic Games are being staged in Athens, the British Government will give a major boost to the United Kingdom's own bid to host the Olympic Games in 2012.

HOW THE UNITED KINGDOM GAINS FROM THE 'GREEK OFFER'

i) Gains for UK regions - Art and culture are a major driving force for economic regeneration in the regions and in major UK cities such as Glasgow and Liverpool. The 'Greek offer' will include touring exhibitions and thus help this process by attracting more visitors and income to our major regional cities.

ii) Gains for local museums - By having access to the touring exhibitions of Greek artefacts, regional museums will gain more visitors and more income from the increased interest generated, benefits that are usually available only to major institutions in London.

iii) Gains for cultural understanding - By assisting the British Museum to present a more diverse sample of classical Greek culture alongside other world cultures, the inter-related stories of great civilisations can be told in a more compelling, multi-dimensional way. The Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum do not form the best subject for a comparative study, since holding the unique Parthenon sculptures apart from the approximately other half, which lie in Athens, thus diminishing their value, only casts blame worldwide to the British Museum. On the contrary there are many exquisite sculptures in the British Museum from the classical period such as the famous Bassai Frieze from the Apollo Epikourios Temple in Arcadia created by the same artists as those of the Parthenon. On the other hand, the Greek offer for period exhibitions presented in the Duveen Hall by Greece may cover lacunae of the Museum's collections in Greek Prehistoric antiquities, geometric vases, archaic sculpture, wares concerning household and civic activities, treasures from important sites of northern Greece and other antiquities which are truly useful for comparative studies.

iv) Gains in an international context - The role of the museum in the 21st century - Museums and galleries are being re-evaluated. The elitism and stuffy glass cases are giving way to more open access and interpretation. The internet is opening up more virtual and inter-active possibilities. Museums and galleries are increasingly making loans to one another, and it is now more common for institutions to open annexes in other cities (e.g. Hermitage in the Somerset House Museum in London; Guggenheim in Bilbao and Berlin; the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg who are opening a branch in Amsterdam in 2004; the Boston Fine Arts Museum, which has lent exhibits to its annex The Nagoya Museum in Tokyo, Japan). The 'Greek offer' gives the United Kingdom in general and the British Museum in particular the chance to be part of this new international movement.

v) Gains in international recognition - By accepting the 'Greek offer' and agreeing to the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures in Athens, the British Government will gain respect and admiration throughout the world. Gaining new friends abroad can be of benefit to the British government and British people, especially at this difficult and dangerous time in world affairs. It would be seen as a significant gesture by Prime Minister Tony Blair and the British Government to support the reuniting of the Parthenon Sculptures in Athens, especially in 2004, the year when Athens hosts the Olympic Games. British support for reuniting the Parthenon Sculptures in Athens could only benefit the UK's own bid to host the 2012 Olympics in Britain.