“We don’t want their return and reunification for Greece only, but for everyone in a way that will be understandable for both children and adults and for ‘foreigners’ and for Greeks,” he pointed out.
“The issue of Sculptors of the Parthenon it is not a conflict between the British Museum and the Acropolis Museum. It is not even a conflict between Britain and Greece. The reunification of the Parthenon Sculptors, to whose body these architectural sculptures belong, is a global request,” the professor told APE-MBE Nikolaos Stampolidis, general director of the Acropolis Museum following the recent statements of the deputy director of the British Museum Jonathan Williams in the Sunday Times newspaper.
“Humanity desires the restoration of the monument, which is the universal symbol of democracy. We don’t want their return and reunification for Greece only, but for everyone in a way that will be understandable for children and adults and for ‘foreigners’ and for Greeks” pointed out the general director of the Acropolis Museum.
“The issue of the Sculptors is not bilateral. It is a matter of global Western civilization, not only of Europe but also of Australia, New Zealand, North and South America, etc., of the democracies everywhere,” he pointed out. N. Stambolidis also referred to the loans that the deputy director of the British Museum told the British newspaper: “Loans are already being made between the two museums, but not for the disputed Parthenon sculptures. What I want to say is that we claim the architectural sculptures of the Parthenon, which are parts of the body of a monumental ensemble. I don’t call them Marbles because marble is the material from which they are made, but architectural sculptures of the Parthenon that are an integral part of the monument,” he explained to APE-MPE. As for Jonathan Williams’ argument that the Sculptures are an “absolutely integral part” of the British Museum’s collection, he noted: “All civilized people who argue that the British Museum is universal because it contains all cultures, besides that a museum does not should teach theft, in addition to what Lord Byron and other British thinkers have already written to this day, the fact that the Parthenon Sculptures are an integral part of the universal symbol of democracy should make those who disagree rethink what they are after all fair enough. They argue that the Sculptures form 200 years of integral history of the British Museum. So, I ask, is the 200 years of history of a museum stronger than the 2,500 years of the creation of the Parthenon and its unity?”, the general director of the Acropolis Museum emphasized to APE-MBE.
The rapture of the Sculptors is like a great force coming at the time of the parade and ‘stealing’ half the marching party, taking them to a foreign land as captives
And he pointed out regarding the question of the Parthenon’s integrity: “All the ancient temples up to the time of the Parthenon reproduced mythological themes on the metopes, friezes, pediments: centaur battles, Amazon battles, giant battles, local myths… Until the Athenian republic Until Pericles no one had dared to think, design and render artistically on marble sculptures that referred to their time, that is to say, to democracy and its praise and especially to its figurative representation. The 160 meters of the Parthenon’s frieze is a parade of Athenian democracy. Old and young, men, but also women – and we are talking about a male-dominated society –, horsemen, gallantrymen, and even the third class of godfathers are depicted in it, in addition to priestesses, workshops, etc. All social classes are represented in the frieze. And so that this act of theirs is not considered an insult, they place it at a height of 10-12 m. on the upper part of the wall of the nave of the temple. They do not place it there for the eyes of mortals so much as they elevate their democracy to the eyes of the gods. The grabbing of the Glyptos is like a great force coming at the time of the parade and ‘stealing’ half the line of marchers, taking them to a foreign land as prisoners,” noted the professor.
And if someone suggested that part of the Sculptures be returned? “If they cut off a man’s hands and feet leaving his torso crippled and decide to return only one or some of the removed limbs, I ask, who wouldn’t want all their limbs back?” N. Stampolidis answered the question of APE-MEP.
He continued: “When the Parthenon Sculptures were bought by the English government in 1816, 30 members of the British Parliament came out against this purchase. That is, 30 British MPs did not want this purchase to take place because they considered it to be a stolen product even then. This is not our invention. The British themselves said so. After all, only in 1963, with an act of the British Parliament, it was forbidden to leave objects from the British Museum. But was this true from 1963 to today? No. The British Museum has given back Aboriginal bones to Australia and New Zealand and of course you will tell me that these are human remains. But they also returned the works stolen by the Nazis. In fact, Britain was also calling on other countries to return items from the Holocaust. Therefore, the British Museum has taken steps despite the prohibition of the 1963 Act. You will tell me that these are special cases, but the case of the Parthenon is also special. And in any case they will be wonderfully able by a simple act of the British Parliament to return them to be reunited with the body to which they belong, the Parthenon. Let them follow the example of Sicily and Italy, who deleted the Fagan fragment from the state’s assets and sent it to join forever in the eastern frieze of the Parthenon, in the Acropolis Museum”, underlined Mr. Stampolidis to APE-MPE, concluding:
“In the times we live in, with the economic crisis, the pandemic, the wars, the political crisis of democracy worldwide, it would be a dream come true for any British Prime Minister to set himself the goal of being written by History as a protagonist of law and ethics. That is, to star with an optimistic and moral person and to create a different kind of ’empire’, not that of the 19th, but of the 21st century. That’s the important thing.”
RES-EMP
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