«Dates will be searched through the diplomatic channel»Των talks between Greece and the United Kingdom on the Parthenon Sculpturessaid the Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni, in her interview with the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency. The minister explained that our country “She is fully prepared” for a positive result, while he also referred to the reasons that the Greek claim moves the rest of the world.
“The international community has the right to see the masterpiece of art in its entirety, reunited here at the Acropolis Museum, and not divided between Athens and London”he underlined.
Also comment on recent statements by representatives of the British Museum and pointed out the most important “stations” in the case of the repatriation of the Parthenon Sculptures, such as the Decision of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Commission, in September 2021, and the spectacular transformation of British public opinion.
The following is the full interview of the Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni, to APE-MPE and the journalist Eleni Markou:
You recently welcomed the agreement between Greece and the United Kingdom to start talks on the Parthenon Sculptures, in line with the Recommendation of the 23rd UNESCO Session (ICPRCP) which recognizes the importance of starting a dialogue between the two sides, at the level of Ministers of Culture, immediately near future. What steps have been taken in this direction? Has a date, place or content of talks between the Greek and British sides on the issue been set? Is there a deadline, albeit an informal one, for the duration of these talks?
The Recommendation, issued by the 23rd Session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Commission for the Return of Cultural Property to Their Countries of Origin, urges Greece and the United Kingdom to intensify their efforts to resolve the dispute, taking into account the historical, cultural, legal and ethical dimensions of the issue. As of April 29, there has been correspondence between the two sides – at the initiative of the British side – in which the intention for talks is expressed. Prior to the Intergovernmental Commission Summit, despite the efforts made by both sides, it was not possible to find a common appropriate time. Dates will be searched through the diplomatic channel.
How well prepared is Greece for a positive result? Do you think that international pressure – whether it is the efforts of the Committees around the world for reunification or public opinion – can reduce the resistance of the British Museum?
Greece is fully prepared. It claims cultural goods that were stolen from the Greek land. It demands the reunification of the architectural sculptures of a unique monument. In the Parthenon, the dialogues of Plato, Aristotelian logic, mathematical science, the political thought of Pericles, all the later values of humanism and finally of the Western World are transformed into art. The frieze of the Parthenon is the reflection of the Athenian democracy, whose supreme values are Peace and Creation. Greece has all the scientific, archaeological and historical evidence that substantiates the law of our request. The Acropolis Museum, one of the best and most beloved museums in the world, is ready to welcome the Sculptures. The systematic work that has been done in the last three years by the Greek Government, first by the Prime Minister, but also by the International Committees, which I want to thank for their continuous and selfless struggle, has prepared the international public opinion, which now requires the reunification of the Sculptures in their birthplace. Pheidias’s creation radiates incomparable power, perfection and beauty. Humanity is entitled to see this unique composition of Creation, Freedom, Democracy in its entirety. The international community is entitled to see the masterpiece in its entirety, reunited here at the Acropolis Museum, and not divided between Athens and London.
How do you comment on statements by representatives of the British Museum that either question the magnitude of Elgin’s looting (his deputy told him that much of the frieze was actually pulled from the ruins around the Parthenon) or the conversations themselves and their content (“have not no new talks are planned with the Greek government for the repatriation of the Parthenon Sculptures “, a representative of the British Museum recently stated in” Kathimerini “); How do you explain the “failure” of the statement of the deputy director of the British Museum, when published evidence clearly proves that the removal of the Sculptures was done in the most violent way? “I will continue to saw the reliefs,” wrote in a letter to Elgin the Italian painter Giovanni Battica Luzieri, who supervised the posting of the Sculptures on behalf of the lord, to mention one of them.
The deputy director of the British Museum, a historian himself, should have known that the violent removal of the Sculptures from Elgin with saws and other extreme means is not just “an opinion”, but a historically and archaeologically well-documented event. One of the proofs is the letter of Luzieri, which you mentioned. The sawn metopes are indisputable witnesses. Elgin behaved like a common antiquarian. Such statements are apparently another example of the British side’s proactive policy, along with table tennis between the UK Government and the British Museum on the responsibility and responsibility for the Sculptures. As you know, the Ministry of Culture responded that obviously the representative of the British Museum has a lack of information.
You have said many times – and very recently as well – that Greece only claims these specific Sculptures from the British Museum. Do you think that in the future there should be a Greek initiative for the other sculptures and architectural members on the Acropolis that were also looted by Elgin, such as the Caryatid of the Erechtheion?
Greece claims only the Parthenon Sculptures. The monument itself claims its mutilated members. The Parthenon Sculptures are organic and integral members of a complex architecture and artistic creation, as they constitute a single and indivisible physical, aesthetic and semantic entity. At the same time, the Parthenon is in direct dialectical relationship and relevance with the buildings that surround it and -which as a whole- form an inseparable unit, which is defined and highlighted by the Rock and the natural landscape of the Acropolis. This is the reason why the Greek claim moves the rest of the world and has led to generous moves, such as that of the Government of Sicily and the Italian Republic, with the permanent return of the Fagan fragment to Greece.
Which “stations” in the Greek case of the repatriation of the Parthenon Sculptures do you consider the most important and why?
Not many people know that the request for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures was made for the first time, immediately after the founding of the modern Greek state in 1830. Melina Mercouri, in the 80’s, raised the issue and made it international. Since then, the most important milestone for me is the Decision of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Commission, that this is a fair request of Greece, which concerns the two governments and not the two Museums, the British and the Acropolis Museum, as claimed by the British side. , in September 2021. This Decision put the issue on a completely different footing. I also consider the spectacular transformation of British public opinion as a milestone, as reflected in the polls, but also in the British media. The most striking examples are the well-known Times article – which after 50 years of support from the British Museum unequivocally states that the Sculptures must return to Athens – as well as the YouGov poll, according to which 59% of Britons – and the 49% of Conservatives – argue that the Sculptures should be reunited in Greece, while only 12% believe that they should remain in the British Museum. An extremely important milestone is the official visit of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to London, where he directly raised the issue with Boris Johnson, placing the national demand at the highest possible political level.
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