Collections present and absent at the New Acropolis Museum, Athens

Tonight at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, Director of the New Acropolis Museum Dimitrios Pandermalis will hold a what promises to be a fascinating lecture. 'Collections present and absent at the New Acropolis Museum, Athens' will no doubt touch on the 'missing marbles', the Parthenon Friezes currently held in the British Museum. Will Pandermalis launch another call for their return? Brian Dolan will be there to find out for Heritage Key. (update: the lecture) The lecture is organised by the IMA - Irish Museums Association - and will start at 18h30.

When Greece opened the long-anticipated new Acropolis Museum, it was a huge boost for the decades-old campaign for the return of the Parthenon Friezes (even Lord Byron was in on this), removed by British diplomat Lord Elgin in the 19th century. Lord Elgin, pried them off the building in the early 1800s while Greece was still an unwilling part of the Ottoman Empire. Facing bankruptcy, he eventually sold the artworks to the British Museum, where they have been displayed ever since.

A huge glass hall in the new Acropolis Museum displays the section of the Parthenon frieze that Elgin left behind, next to plaster casts of the works in London — which Greece hopes one day to replace with the originals from the British Museum.

"This was an act of barbarism that can be corrected," museum director Dimitris Pandermalis said at the opening. "It's not an issue of pointing a finger at the British Museum, but of building bridges ... that can correct the unfortunate historic event of 1800."

The British Museum in general takes the position that the Elgin Marbles belong to all of us. "But ... here in the British Museum, they can tell this equally important, although different story about ancient Athens' place, in world cultures" said British Museum spokeswoman Hannah Boulton. Neil McGregor, Director of the British Museum, has made some more crude statements:

"The Greek government has simply continued Elgin's practice [!?!] and removed the rest [of the Parthenon Marbles] now from the building, because you can't see them on the building. When those sculptures came to London, for the first time they were at a height where people could see them and they were in a place where tens, hundreds of thousands of people could see these were great objects. That's part of the purpose of a great museum to enable huge numbers of people to examine closely things that they wouldn't otherwise have been able to examine closely."

What do you think? Should the Elgin Marbles be returned to Greece to join their siblings in the New Acropolis Museum? Or do they serve their purpose - engaging the world with ancient Greek culture - better when in London? Take our survey on museums returning artefacts, or join the discussion.

Collections present and absent at the New Acropolis Museum, Athens will be presented by Professor Dimitrios Pandermalis Director, New Acropolis Museum in the National Museum of Ireland - Archaeology, Kildare Street, Dublin 2 on Wednesday 18 November 2009 at 6.30pm. To book a place contact Ms Carla Marrinan, IMA Administrator at +353-1-4120939 or office@irishmuseums.org

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About The Author

Ann Wuyts

Ann 'Vint' Wuyts is looking after the Heritage Key community and avatar health & entertainment. She is slightly fascinated by everything to do with 3D technology and what's commonly defined as 'Web 2.0'. When she grows up, Ann - eventually - wants to be a mummy.
Favourite game: Buzzword Bingo / Favourite book: 56 different ways to draw Mummies / Favourite toy: her DSLR / Worst fears: MySpace & Google data-world-domination / Favourite website: Heritage Key & Flickr.

Last three pieces by this author: Ancient Egyptian Artefact, Returned by Met Museum, to be Reunited with Statue at Karnak, Restoring The Avenue of Sphinxes and Protecting it for the Future, Remake of Epic 'Clash of the Titans' will be in 3D

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How the Elgin Marbles Got to the British Museum

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Give it Back! The Ethics of Repatriation

Gung-ho explorers of the age of discovery blasted, pillaged and hoarded antiquities from around the world. With the British Museum still controversially holding many of the world's ancient relics, including the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles, issues of repatriation are hotly debated.