The Greek prime minister, deploying the strongest language yet for the return to Greece of the Parthenon marbles, on Thursday said that Britain had run out of "feeble excuses" to retain the treasures.
At a ceremony to mark the return to Athens of two art works Greece has long claimed from the Getty Museum -- and the imminent completion of a US$184.5 million Acropolis museum -- Costas Karamanlis said it was only a matter of time before the sculptures' repatriation.
"The universal demand for uniting the marbles of the Parthenon is gaining in strength and reach," he said as the 4th century BC golden wreath and marble statue were unveiled at Athens' National Archaeological Museum.
"This and the completion of a new, super-modern museum ... will foil all the feeble excuses that are put forward for their non-return. It is our urgent priority to reclaim every ancient artefact that was illegally exported to museums and collectors abroad," Karamanlis said.
The 5th century BC marbles were removed from the Acropolis by Thomas Bruce, seventh Earl of Elgin, in 1801. They were bought by the British government from Lord Elgin for ?35,000 (US$68,700), after a parliamentary vote in 1816 in favor of acquiring them for the nation, and vested "in perpetuity" in the trustees of the British Museum.
Over the past year the Greeks have been emboldened by the return to Athens of a host of treasures, including artefacts from the Acropolis that ended up in Germany and Sweden. The Greeks have also taken heart from polls that have shown the majority of Britons supporting the marbles' return.
However, Hannah Boulton, a spokeswoman for the British Museum, said yesterday that while the museum recognized the 1970 UNESCO convention deploring illicit trade in antiquities, the Parthenon sculptures could not be seen in the same light.
"They were acquired lawfully after detailed parliamentary scrutiny at the time, and have been on public display for free for 200 years," she said.
Meanwhile Pope Benedict has decided to turn down a request from Greece's religious leader to hand back pieces of the Parthenon housed in the Vatican museums, the Italian news agency Ansa reported yesterday. Quoting Vatican sources, the agency said the Holy See's rejection would soon be communicated officially.
The Orthodox archbishop of Athens and all Greece, Christodoulos, asked for the sculpture fragments to be returned at a meeting with the pope last December. The Vatican has in the past refused a similar petition from the Greek government.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS