British Committee, Parthenon Marbles

Founded in 1983, the BCRPM (www.parthenonuk.com) are a group of British people who having considered the case for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, strongly support it.

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2023: Looking Ahead

New York MMA inv. L.2022.38.47 What stories are likely to dominate LM in 2023? The loan of the Leonard Stern collection of Cycladica to New ...

And to the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles in the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzTDkpnMWkE)

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Reflections on the imperative of reunification

Some reflections on the imperative of reunification of the Parthenon Marbles - the sculptural elements of the Parthenon. This work mainly comprises photographs.…

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Reflections on the imperative of reunification and as we celebrate this Thursday 20 June 2019, the Acropolis Museum’ 10th anniversary.

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Dream team - Dame Janet Suzman Chair of the British Committe for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles with art historian Tom Flynn, Alexi Kaye Campbell playwriting and member of @BCRPM plus historian and writer William St Clair at @ucl' s debating society arguing in favour of the proposition to reunite the #ParthenonMarbles - excellent presentations and student comments - final vote ❎ - those in favour of the proposition were the majority so the proposition was carried 👍🙌🆕 era in diplomacy and understanding of world culture, not least the importance of reuniting a peerless work of art in the @theacropolismuseum https://www.instagram.com/p/BpSpL0MgZTG/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1es3e5hslrmxb

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From Thursday 26 April a special exhibition at the British Museum - 'Rodin and the Art of Ancient Greece'. That Rodin, a modern master, first came to London in 1881 and was captivated by the sculptures from the Parthenon is no surprise.Yet they were brutally sawn off from the building they were once an integral part of and shipped to Britain, then sold to the government and displayed nearly 2, 000 miles away from their other halves in Athens. Edward Enfield once said, the only reason the British Museum will never let them return to Greece, is simply because they are so beautiful. And their beauty has captivated the hearts of many. They continue to attract millions of visitors in the superlative Acropolis Museum in Athens since it opened in 2009 and in the British Museum for the past 200 years. The Rodin exhibition will delight but it will not justify the British Museum's implacable refusal to even discuss with Greece the notion of uniting the surviving pieces with their other halves. This outdated attitude is a relic of colonialism that ought to be reviewed. After all, even Rodin lamented their exile from the 'sweet Attica sunlight beloved of Homer'. “Those sculptures, which we prefer to attribute to the Parthenon from whence they were grabbed rather than to Elgin the grabber, should now be relinquished back to the city they once crowned. They have inspired artists and thrilled the curious in their gloomy rooms in Bloomsbury for long enough and now their country of origin deserves their glory, in the museum built especially to house them facing the Acropolis and still miraculously upright building that they once adorned.” Janet Suzman DBE, Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM). The BCRPM argue that reuniting the Parthenon Marbles in Athens supports world culture by promoting understanding, respect and compassion. #worldculture #honesty #respect #understanding #compassion #culture4all #parthenonmarbles #theparthenon #AcropolisMuseum 🏛 #BCRPM #JanetSuzman #reunitetheparthenonmarbles #greatart #greatsculpture #museums #worldculturalheritage

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FRESH REFUTATIONS TO OLD OBJECTIONS

FRESH REFUTATIONS TO OLD OBJECTIONS The location of the Parthenon Marbles and their acquisition has to be rethought in the light of a different world. If you know a great deal about this subject we hope that what we have written here will continue to engage you, and if you know nothing at all, that this will help you find greater understanding. The Acropolis Museum in Athens is the best place to view the sculptures from the Parthenon and appreciate why so many voices have added their support to the reunification of a peerless work of art that continues to be divided, mainly between the British Museum in London and the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

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For the love of the sculptures, Rodin's BM exhibition is not a justification for keeping them in London

The French artist, Auguste Rodin drew inspiration from the headless ancient sculptures. The Parthenon Marbles were his favourite works of art during his 15 visits to the British Museum from 1881 to 1917. Yet this is no argument for the British Museum's director Hartwig Fischer to justify retaining the sculptures in the British Museum. The new exhibition Rodin and the Art of Ancient Greece (26 April – 29 July 2018) at the British Museum may place the sculptures 'in the context of world cultures' but does not justify the BM's refusal to allow Athens to display the surviving pieces as united as possible, and with views to the Parthenon itself.

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The Time is Right for the Elgin Marbles to Go Home

var infolinks_pid = 3064406; var infolinks_wsid = 0; mark higgins/Shutterstock It’s lunacy to believe you own the moon, so why is cultural heritage any different? TheParthenon sculptures at l…

The time is right to reunite the surviving and fragmented  #ParthenonMarbles  in the Acropolis Museum in Athens, which has received over 10 million visitors from all over the globe since it first opened in June 2009.

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRxN877n6Lc) Professor Paul Cartledge author of ‘Democracy: A Life’ in conversation with Benjamin Ramm. Professor Cartledge is also Vice Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles and Benjamin Ramm is a BCRPM member.

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A conference event will take place on the morning of  07 June 2016 to mark 200 years from the date in 1816 when the British Parliament voted to purchase from Lord Elgin, his collection of sculpted marbles collected from the Parthenon and elsewhere on the Athenian Acropolis.  

Fragmented, the Parthenon Marbles are mainly divided between the Acropolis Museum in Athens and the British Museum in London. Such a peerless work of art deserves our respect. Join the British campaign to reunify these Sculptures in the Acropolis Museum. For a full programme of speakers and to register to attend (as numbers are limited), email [email protected]

Keynote speaker Tristram Besterman will be talking museum, his presentation is aptly entitled ‘Museums: letting the genie out of the bottle’. Placing the debate around the contested Parthenon sculptures in the context of the 21st century museum, Tristram will reflect on the democratically accountable museum, his own involvement in repatriation and how we should open up the museum as a space where other voices are heard. Far from a betrayal of Enlightenment values, museums are true to their roots when they challenge orthodoxy and reframe authenticity.

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07 June 2016 Conference Event at Senate House, London

This event will take place on the morning of  07 June 2016 and will mark 200 years from the date in 1816 when the British Parliament voted to purchase from Lord Elgin his collection of sculpted marbles collected from the Parthenon and elsewhere on the Athenian Acropolis.  

Fragmented, the Parthenon Marbles are mainly divided between the Acropolis Museum in Athens and the British Museum in London. Such a peerless work of art deserves our respect. Join the British campaign to reunify these Sculptures in the Acropolis Museum. For a full programme of speakers and to register to attend (as numbers are limited), email [email protected]

Keynote speaker Tristram Besterman will be talking museum, his presentation is aptly entitled ‘Museums: letting the genie out of the bottle’. Placing the debate around the contested Parthenon sculptures in the context of the 21st century museum, Tristram will reflect on the democratically accountable museum, his own involvement in repatriation and how we should open up the museum as a space where other voices are heard. Far from a betrayal of Enlightenment values, museums are true to their roots when they challenge orthodoxy and reframe authenticity.

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Combining art, history, and archaeology to powerful effect “An Archaeologist’s Eye: The Parthenon Drawings of Katherine A. Schwab,” a new exhibition of drawings by Katherine A. Schwab, Ph. D., Fairfield University professor of art history, provides a glimpse into a world once inhabited by the ancient Greeks. Comprised of thirty-five works on paper, the exhibition opens to the public at the Greek Consulate General in New York on January 16, 2014, and is on view there through February 13, 2014. It then will tour nationally through 2017, marking the first time this collection of drawings travels in the United States

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The Wisdom of the Gods video was presented at the Colloquy 2013 the Parthenon an Icon of Global Citizenship in Sydney, Australia.

#Colloquy13 followed on from the first held in London June 2012.

The Reunification of the Parthenon sculptures / marbles deserves our collective support.

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The Greek community of Australia is keeping alive the issue of the return of the Parthenon Marbles, stolen property housed in the British Museum, which refuses to give them back and claims they bel...

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The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM) is a group of British people who having considered the case for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles strongly support it and have  campaigned for 30 years (1983 - 2013).

    The inspiration came from Melina Mercouri's passionate appeal to help return the Parthenon Marbles to their rightful home in Athens, at the International Conference of Ministers of Culture in Mexico, August 1982. The idea to set up a British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles came from James Cubitt, a distinguished British architect. He firmly believed that the Parthenon Marbles, as integral architectural members of a unique and internationally valuable monument, should be assembled together in a museum as close to the Acropolis as possible. This would restore the beauty and meaning of the Parthenon, as well as its physical and scholarly integrity. The aims of the Committee, as originally defined, are as follows:

"To secure the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece in accordance with the resolution of the UNESCO Conference of Ministers of Culture held in Mexico on 4 August 1982. To this end - we intend to present the case as fully as possible to the British public and to bring the most effective pressure on the Trustees of the British Museum and the British Government. "

The Committee was then set up in 1983 under the chairmanship of Robert Browning, Emeritus Professor of Greek at the University of London, an eminent scholar and polymath, internationally renowned and universally respected. James Cubitt, well known and respected architect was the first honoraty member for the Committee, sadly he died shortly after it was set up. Eleni Cubitt, film producer and wife of James Cubitt became, and continued to be, the Secretary up to 2010.

The first Members that joined the Committee were:

Christopher Price - journalist and broadcaster, former MP who had chaired the Arts and Education Committee for many years at the House of Commons.

Brian Clark - playwright well known for his play Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Professor Sir Michael Dummett

Professor George Forrest

Professor John Gould

Chairmen of the Committee:

Robert Browning , Emiritus Professor of Greek at the University of London (1983-1997)

Graham Binns, arts and broadcasting administrator and campaigner (1997-2002)

Anthony Snodgrass, Fellow of the British Academy, Professor Emiritus of Classical Archaeology, University of Cambridge (2002-2010)

Eddie O’Hara, former MP for Knowsley South, is the BCRPM’s current Chairman

  The Committee is now made up of:

Eddie O'Hara - Chairman

Professor Anthony Snodgrass- Honorary President

Christopher Price - Deputy Chairman

Eleni Cubitt - Founder

Marlen Godwin

George Bizos SC - A distinguished South African Human Rights Lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela. He was appointed Ambassador of Hellenism by the Greek Government in 2006. He is a keen supporter of the Return

Dr Chris Stockdale - fund raising events including swimming between Paros and Delos, cycling from the British Museum in London to the Acropolis in Athens

Keith Hunter - OBE

Professor AAM Bryer - distinguished scholar

Professor Paul Cartledge - distinguished scholar

Professor Judith Herrin - distinguished scholar

Professor Oliver Taplin - distinguished scholar

Maria Tsirodimitri - IT, graphic designer

  As soon as the Committee was established it attracted notable supporters. To name only a few:

Sir John Mortimer - CBE, QC

Lord (Ted) Willis

C.M. Woodhouse DSO - distinguished soldier, scholar and one-time MP

Lord Ponsonby - at that time Labour Whip at the House of Lords

Janet Suzman

Spike Milligan

Stephen Fry

The Committee has also received great support over the years from a number of distinguished actors such as:

Judi Dench

Vanessa Redgrave

Ian McKellen

Fiona Shaw

We could not complete the picture of 'Who Are We?' if we did mention our sponsors  during the first 20 years of our campaign whom we were fortunate to have and who financed our campaigns during that time.

They are too many to mention individually but two must be named:

Nana Mouskouri - for having most generously financed our very successful Travelling Photographic Display. This display has visited a large number of venues in Britain, especially universities, and has also travelled to the European Parliament in Brussels, to the Council of Europe in Strasburg and to the Olympic stadium in Australia - everywhere winning friends and supporters.

John Polyzoides - an eminent orthopaedic surgeon and his English wife Jean who have founded the "Friends of the British Committee "and very successfully organised a Marathon swim from Delos to Paros in 2000, by the indefatigable Dr. Chris Stockdale, to raise both the profile of the Marbles as well as some funds.

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I want you to imagine:

New York without the Statue of Liberty

Paris without the Eiffel Tower

London without Big Ben

Rome without Colosseum

Rio de Janeiro without Christ the Redeemer

Sydney without the Opera

Agra without Taj Mahal

Giza without the Pyramids

and then tell me it’s irrational that we want to get back the Parthenon Marbles.