Archinect - News

Pope Francis announces return of Parthenon fragments in a potential precedent-setter

2022-12-20T18:39:00-05:00

Pope Francis will send back to Greece the three fragments of the Parthenon Sculptures that the Vatican Museums have held for two centuries, in the latest case of a Western museum bowing to demands for restitution of artifacts to their countries of origin.

The bequest was labeled a “donation” from the Vatican by Pope Francis, who also called it “a concrete sign of [his] sincere desire to follow in the ecumenical path of truth.”

The British Museum, meanwhile, is also reportedly in talks with Greece to return parts of its argued-over trove of Elgin Marbles as early as next year. A timeline for the Vatican's return to the Acropolis Museum has not yet been verified by either party.

Previously on Archinect: The British Museum is under fire after refusing Parthenon Marbles 3D scan

The British Museum is under fire after refusing Parthenon Marbles 3D scan

2022-04-04T12:16:00-04:00

The British Museum is facing legal action from one of the UK’s leading heritage preservation organisations over its refusal to allow the 3D scanning of a piece in its Parthenon marbles collection. The Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) said it would serve an injunction against the museum imminently, raising the stakes in the dispute between the two.

The 269-year-old institution is said to have refused a request from the Oxford-based Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) that would have reproduced a metope from the Acropolis’ south-facing facade for an important proof of concept. The scans are supposed to allow for a robotic replication process that can manipulate the original Pentelic marble material to “sub-millimeter” accuracy, according to the IDA.

Previously on Archinect: The UK is once again declining to change its stance on the Parthenon Marbles following a UNESCO statement

“Our aim is to give people a chance to see just how extraordinary a copy can be,” the Institute’s executive director Roger Michel told the Guardian. “Copies [of the Parthenon sculptures] in the past have been low-quality plaster casts. This will be orders of magnitude better. It will help people see and feel the potential of this technology in ways mere words can’t describe.”

The IDA nevertheless attempted last week to create a 3D scan using an “iPad ...

The UK is once again declining to change its stance on the Parthenon Marbles following a UNESCO statement

2021-10-06T16:43:00-04:00

The fate of the British Museum’s heavily contested Parthenon Marbles (also referred to as the Elgin Marbles) has once again come under clout after the UK decided to reject UNESCO’s request to reassess its position on repatriating the 2,500-year-old relics to their country of origin.

The UK is continuing on their insistence that the marbles were acquired through a legal means in the form of a contested firman granted to their namesake the Earl of Elgin by the Ottoman Empire around 1801.

The UN’s cultural arm had issued a statement at a recent ICPRCP meeting outlining its position that the dispute indeed constitutes an “intergovernmental issue” and not, as both the government and museum claim, an institutional one that can be sorted out “independently of the government and free from political interference,” according to UK officials.

Previously on Archinect: Brexit could force British Museum to return Parthenon Marbles to Greece

“The Museum is a unique resource for the world: the brea...

Brexit could force British Museum to return Parthenon Marbles to Greece

2020-02-18T18:39:00-05:00

As the United Kingdom works to strike new trade deals with Europe following Brexit, Greek authorities are using the occasion to try and negotiate a return of the country's long-lost Parthenon Marbles (also referred to as the Elgin Marbles).

Reuters reports that Greek officials have included new language supporting repatriation of the marbles in a document crafted by the 27 European Union nations that will envision the group's new economic and cultural relationship with the United Kingdom following its exit from the EU on January 31, 2020.

A detail view of the statuary. Image courtesy of Wikimedia user Ejectgoose.

The document, according to Reuters, seeks the “return or restitution of unlawfully removed cultural objects to their countries of origin” and comes as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis makes a formal offer to British Museum authorities, where the marbles are currently held, to temporarily trade the Parthenon Marbles for a series of ancient Greek artifacts that "have...

If you have only one day in London go to the British Museum

2016-07-06T11:33:00-04:00

Walking around London it is impossible not to be in awe of the city. Time and time again people have mentioned the energy the city seems to radiate, not just the buildings but the people as well. It is truly my favourite place in the world. The city is steeped in history which can be read through the buildings. You will often find yourself walking down a metropolitan street with tall skyscrapers and glossy storefront windows only to turn into a narrow alleyway with cobblestone pavement and quaint houses. The city is a contradiction of old and new sitting side by side and somehow it works. No place in London showcases this phenomenon more than the British Museum and that’s why it is my favourite place to visit in the city.

Established in 1753 it has been the stage for a number of notable artefacts like, the Rosetta stone, the Lewis Chessmen and the Mummy of Katebet, to name a few. Today, it is still the site of some controversies most notable the Elgin Marbles and where they belong. N...

After over a thousand years underwater, two Egyptian cities will be exhibited at British Museum

2015-12-09T03:58:00-05:00

The [British] museum announced a six-month show that will tell the remarkable story of two lost cities at the mouth of the Nile – Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus – which by the 8th-century AD had been swallowed completely by the sea. [...] the loans will range from the enormous, a 5.4-metre-high granite statue of the Nile flood god Hapi, to the domestic. [...] It represents Egypt’s first major loan of antiquities since the country’s revolution in 2011...

Marx’s Reading Room could stay shut for five more years

2014-12-15T13:48:00-05:00

The British Museum’s round Reading Room might not fully reopen until 2020. One of London’s grandest interiors, it was used by generations of scholars, including Karl Marx, when it housed the British Library. The historic reading desks are currently covered by a platform built in 2007, when the room was temporarily converted into a space for the museum’s major exhibitions.

British Museum extension: 'It does its job but could have been richer'

2014-06-30T13:28:00-04:00

This, if it is a harsh way to describe the British Museum's attempts to update itself over the last two decades, with the help of the most famous architects in the land and hundreds of millions in generous donations, nonetheless reflects what's going on. Like large cultural institutions everywhere, the museum finds itself dealing with similar pressures to those of commercial players in the fields of leisure and entertainment [...] and it reaches for similar solutions..