The event was organized on Sunday afternoon by the British Commission for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM) on the occasion of the upcoming 14th anniversary of the opening of the Acropolis Museum (June 20).
London, Thanasis Gavos
Lord Byron’s poem ‘The Curse of Athena’, which punctuates Elgin’s removal of the Parthenon’s sculptural decoration, was recited inside the Sculpture Hall at the British Museum in London by great Britons and other actors.
The event was organized on Sunday afternoon by the British Commission for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM) on the occasion of the upcoming 14th anniversary of the opening of the Acropolis Museum (June 20).
The recitation, before a crowd of visitors to the Museum, was made by the Oscar nominee for the first male role at this year’s awards Bill Nye, the famous theater and film actor Simon Callow, the journalist, TV presenter, author, member of the House of Lords and “Humanist of the Year » for 2017 Dame Joan Bakewell, American actress of Grease and The West Wing and also former Oscar nominee Stockard Channing, well-known British TV actress Anna Savva, as well as BCRPM president and famous Shakespearean actress Dame Janet Suzman (also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1972).
The British Commission was set up in 1983 as a result of Melina Merkouri’s visit to London, when as Minister of Culture she again demanded the reunification of the Sculptors.
The 30-member Commission is made up of leading British academics, artists, journalists, lawyers and human rights activists.
With Sunday’s initiative, the British Commission put forward once again the request for reunification, which is increasingly supported by British public opinion.
Dame Janet said in a statement that “the ripples of changing public opinion in Britain will become a tsunami” and “ultimately, politicians here will be forced to go with the flow of public opinion”. As he noted, the British Museum should not fear that it will be empty of exhibits in case of the return of the Parthenon Sculptures. “Similar requests will be minimal. These (the Sculptures) are of central importance for Greek cultural history and identity and the monument they belong to is still standing and this constitutes a unique case”, said the president of the British Commission.
Messrs. Nai and Callow said that although they are not members of the Commission, they accepted the invitation to participate in this artistic event because they consider the request to reunite the Sculptors to be fair.
“Byron’s poem shows that from the first moment the people understood that the removal of the Sculptures from Elgin was something wrong. Personally I would like to think that the British Government would be generous enough to allow the restoration of one of the world’s greatest monuments in one of the greatest cities in history,” added Mr Callow, who for the event wore, as himself he pointed out, a tie with the owl, symbol of the goddess Athena, given to him by the mayor of Athens,
Anna Savva, of Greek origin, described what was happening “there in front of the Sculptures as not only moving, but also a very powerful experience of a revolutionary act”, which she hopes sent a resounding message in favor of reunification.
Source :Skai
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