The Parthenon Marbles Dispute

The Parthenon Marbles Dispute
Author: Alexander Herman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2023-09-21
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1509967192

Why are we still arguing over the Parthenon Marbles? This book offers a fresh take on the history of those famous pieces of ancient sculpture removed from the Acropolis in Athens by Lord Elgin's men in the early 19th century. It explains how they became the cause célèbre of the larger debates around cultural heritage and restitution now taking place. The subject is one that is currently embroiling museums, governments, universities and the public at large. Herman provides a balanced, thorough and critical account of the history of the Marbles, while considering the legalities of their initial removal and the ethics of their retention by the British Museum. It incorporates the views of curators, museum directors, lawyers, archaeologists, politicians and others in both London and Athens. It explains why this particular dispute has not been satisfactorily resolved, and suggests new ways of seeking resolution – for the Parthenon Marbles and for the many other cultural treasures held in museum collections outside their countries of origin. The book sets out a way forward for this famously intractable dispute, one based on evidence of past practice, legal rules around the transfer of cultural objects and the role of museums in negotiating international exchanges.

The Parthenon Sculptures

The Parthenon Sculptures
Author: Ian Dennis Jenkins
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2007
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780674026926

The Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum are unrivaled examples of classical Greek art, an inspiration to artists and writers since their creation in the fifth century bce. A superb visual introduction to these wonders of antiquity, this book offers a photographic tour of the most famous of the surviving sculptures from ancient Greece, viewed within their cultural and art-historical context. Ian Jenkins offers an account of the history of the Parthenon and its architectural refinements. He introduces the sculptures as architecture--pediments, metopes, Ionic frieze--and provides an overview of their subject matter and possible meaning for the people of ancient Athens. Accompanying photographs focus on the pediment sculptures that filled the triangular gables at each end of the temple; the metopes that crowned the architrave surmounting the outer columns; and the frieze that ran around the four sides of the building, inside the colonnade. Comparative images, showing the sculptures in full and fine detail, bring out particular features of design and help to contrast Greek ideas with those of other cultures. The book further reflects on how, over 2,500 years, the cultural identity of the Parthenon sculptures has changed. In particular, Jenkins expands on the irony of our intimate knowledge and appreciation of the sculptures--a relationship far more intense than that experienced by their ancient, intended spectators--as they have been transformed from architectural ornaments into objects of art.

Restitution

Restitution
Author: Alexander Herman
Publisher: Hot Topics in the Art World
Total Pages: 104
Release: 2021-09-30
Genre:
ISBN: 9781848225367

Debates about the restitution of cultural objects have been ongoing for many decades, but have acquired a new urgency recently with the intensification of scrutiny of European museum collections acquired in the colonial period. Alexander Herman's fascinating and accessible book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the restitution ......

The Parthenon Marbles Dispute

The Parthenon Marbles Dispute
Author: Alexander Herman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023
Genre: Cultural property
ISBN: 9781509967216

Why are we still arguing over the Parthenon Marbles? This book offers a fresh take on the history of those famous pieces of ancient sculpture removed from the Acropolis in Athens by Lord Elgin's men in the early 19th century. It explains how they became the cause célèbre of the larger debates around cultural heritage and restitution now taking place. The subject is one that is currently embroiling museums, governments, universities and the public at large. Herman provides a balanced, thorough and critical account of the history of the Marbles, while considering the legalities of their initial removal and the ethics of their retention by the British Museum. It incorporates the views of curators, museum directors, lawyers, archaeologists, politicians and others in both London and Athens. It explains why this particular dispute has not been satisfactorily resolved, and suggests new ways of seeking resolution - for the Parthenon Marbles and for the many other cultural treasures held in museum collections outside their countries of origin. The book sets out a way forward for this famously intractable dispute, one based on evidence of past practice, legal rules around the transfer of cultural objects and the role of museums in negotiating international exchanges.

Who Owns History?

Who Owns History?
Author: Geoffrey Robertson
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2019-11-05
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1785905422

The biggest question in the world of art and culture concerns the return of property taken without consent. Throughout history, conquerors or colonial masters have taken artefacts from subjugated peoples, who now want them returned from museums and private collections in Europe and the USA. The controversy rages on over the Elgin Marbles, and has been given immediacy by figures such as France's President Macron, who says he will order French museums to return hundreds of artworks acquired by force or fraud in Africa, and by British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has pledged that a Labour government would return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. Elsewhere, there is a debate in Belgium about whether the Africa Museum, newly opened with 120,000 items acquired mainly by armed forces in the Congo, should close. Although there is an international convention dated 1970 that deals with the restoration of artefacts stolen since that time, there is no agreement on the rules of law or ethics which should govern the fate of objects forcefully or lawlessly acquired in previous centuries. Who Owns History? delves into the crucial debate over the Elgin Marbles, but also offers a system for the return of cultural property based on human rights law principles that are being developed by the courts. It is not a legal text, but rather an examination of how the past can be experienced by everyone, as well as by the people of the country of origin.

The Elgin Marbles

The Elgin Marbles
Author: Christopher Hitchens
Publisher: Verso
Total Pages: 164
Release: 1997
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9781859842201

The Elgin Marbles, designed and executed by Phidias to adorn the Parthenon, are some of the most beautiful sculptures of ancient Greece. In 1801 Lord Elgin, then British ambassador to the Turkish government in Athens, had pieces of the frieze sawn off and removed to Britain, where they remain, igniting a storm of controversy which has continued to the present day. In the first full-length work on this fiercely debated issue, Christopher Hitchens recounts the history of these precious sculptures and forcefully makes the case for their return to Greece. Drawing out the artistic, moral, legal and political perspectives of the argument, Hitchens's eloquent prose makes The Elgin Marbles an invaluable contribution to one of the most important cultural controversies of our times.

The Real Life of the Parthenon

The Real Life of the Parthenon
Author: Patricia Vigderman
Publisher: Mad Creek Books
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2018
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9780814254585

Ruminates on ancient remains and antiquities, illuminating an important element of contemporary cultural life: the dynamic between loss and delight.

The Elgin Marbles

The Elgin Marbles
Author: Dorothy King
Publisher: Hutchinson Publishing Group
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2006
Genre: Classical antiquities
ISBN: 9780091800130

Oxbow says: This book's author does not shy away from expressing her opinions on the destruction of ancient sites in Greece and her belief that the Elgin Marbles are best left in the care of the British Museum, or at least for the time being.

Thinking about the Elgin Marbles:Critical Essays on Cultural Property, Art and Law

Thinking about the Elgin Marbles:Critical Essays on Cultural Property, Art and Law
Author: John Merryman
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 488
Release: 2000-05-19
Genre: Law
ISBN:

This book begins with a critical reexamination of the rival Greek and British claims to the Elgin Marbles. That case study identifies the questions that still dominate the growing international debate about cultural property policy and are explored in subsequent essays: Why do people care about cultural property? Is cultural nationalism a sound organizing principle for dealing with cultural property questions? Or is it a relic of 19th century romanticism, kept alive by the power of Byron's poetry? How can cultural nationalism be rationalized with the idea that works of art and antiquities are 'the cultural heritage of all mankind?' What alternative ways are there of thinking about cultural property policy and law? The author examines in particular the law and policy relating to cultural property export controls and the evolution and development of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on the Return of Stolen and Illegally Exported Cultural Property. In the second part of the book the author addresses a number of contemporary art law issues in essays on counterfeit art, the moral rights of artists, the artist's resale right (droit de suite), the litigation over the Mark Rothko estate, and problems of museum trustee negligence, conflict of interests, and misuse of inside information. The author, a Professor of Art Law at Stanford University, is a leading international figure in cultural property and art law circles.

The New Acropolis Museum

The New Acropolis Museum
Author: Dēmētrios Pantermalēs
Publisher: Skira Rizzoli
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2009-09-29
Genre: Architecture
ISBN:

A comprehensive look at the eagerly anticipated New Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece, and the celebrated collection it houses. Marking the opening of the New Acropolis Museum, this book examines both its architecture and the archaeological treasures it was built to house. The building addresses the dramatic complexities of the collection and the site with minimalist simplicity by using three main materials—glass, stainless steel, and concrete. "There’s no way at the beginning of the twenty-first century you can try to imitate even superficially the art of 2,500 years ago," Tschumi says. The "precision of the concept was really what counted." The book provides an in-depth look at the creation of the building, set only 280 meters from the Parthenon, as well as the restoration, preservation, and housing of its exhibits through over 200 photographs, drawings, and texts.