UNESCO Commission calls for solution to the issue of the Parthenon Marbles

The 20th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in case of Illicit Appropriation (ICPRCP) was held in Room II, UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 29 to 30 September 2016. Part of the agenda were the Pathenon Marbles and you all know how invested I am with that issue. The takeaway message of the meeting? We've been trying hard to get you guys to sort it, so sort it, people!

UNESCO did a very nice job summarizing their efforts so far:

"The case of Parthenon Sculptures was submitted to the Committee in 1984. Since then, the Committee has been examining it during its successive sessions and has adopted several Recommendations expressing concern for a mutually-acceptable solution to be reached and inviting the Director-General to facilitate encounters to that effect. On many occasions, UNESCO reiterated its readiness to act as facilitator between Greece and the United Kingdom in this regard.

 

Pursuant to Recommendation No. 5 adopted at the eighteenth session of the Committee (Paris, 22 June 2012), the Director-General assisted in convening the necessary meetings between Greece and the United Kingdom with the aim of reaching a mutually acceptable solution to the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures. On 23 July 2013, the Director-General met the Minister of Culture of the Hellenic Republic. During their discussion the Minister expressed his hopes ‘that UNESCO could use its good offices with the authorities of the United Kingdom as a facilitator in the matter of the Parthenon sculptures. In that regard, he referred to the mediation and conciliation roles UNESCO played in 2010 in the context of this Committee’.

 

Following this meeting, the Assistant Director-General for Culture sent a letter to the United Kingdom authorities, informing them of the will of the Greek authorities to possibly resort to the mediation/conciliation procedure.

 

During the 19th Session, the Committee acknowledged the cooperation between Greek and British authorities, encouraged them to continue the discussions and invited them to consider making use of the mediation and conciliation procedure.

 

According to Article 6 (1) of the Rules of Procedure for Mediation and Conciliation, in order to launch this process, mutual consent of countries concerned is required for the process to be launched. However, on 26 March 2015, United Kingdom informed UNESCO that they did not believe the application of the mediation procedure would substantially carry forward this debate."

The Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin Marbles, is a collection of classical Greek marble sculptures, inscriptions and architectural members that originally were part of the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis of Athens. Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin obtained a controversial permit from the Ottoman authorities to remove pieces from the Parthenon while serving as the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799 to 1803. Since then, there has been great controvercy surrounding the legitimacy of this permit and the validity of the UK's claim to keep the Marbles instead of sending them home to Greece. The UK, however, maintains its claim and it does not look like they will release it any time soon.