Greece Appears to Vienna for New Enhance on Parthenon Sculptures

May 2, 2023 admin

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Museums in Austria and Greece are discussing the potential return to Athens of two historical Greek sculptures, a transfer which may have a knock-on impact for the world’s thorniest cultural heritage dispute: the destiny of the British Museum’s Parthenon Sculptures.

The talks introduced by Austria’s overseas minister on Tuesday concern two small items of the two,500-year-old marble works from the Acropolis. The sculptures are actually held in Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum.

If a deal for his or her return is struck, it might be Greece’s third in just a few months with the handful of European museums that personal little bits of the Parthenon Sculptures.

That might enhance stress on the British Museum to return its personal, a lot bigger assortment, among the many international debate on cultural restitution.

Austrian International Minister Alexander Schallenberg mentioned the problem together with his visiting Greek counterpart, Nikos Dendias, in Vienna, the overseas ministry mentioned.

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Schallenberg mentioned that “technical talks are presently underneath manner” between the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Acropolis Museum in Athens “about the opportunity of a mortgage,” in response to Austrian International Ministry spokeswoman Antonia Praun.

Sounding optimistic, Dendias voiced “deep satisfaction” on the growth, however did not present any particulars on the phrases being mentioned. The 2 museums did not instantly reply to requests for remark.

“This may add to a collection of extremely symbolic gestures which will create a optimistic momentum” for the return of the sculptures from the British Museum, Dendias mentioned after assembly with Schallenberg.

“So, (Vienna’s) would be the third one,” Dendias mentioned. “And this, for us, is of big significance.”

In February, the chair of the British Museum mentioned the U.Okay. and Greece had been working on a deal that will see his establishment’s Parthenon Marbles displayed in each London and Athens. Nothing has been introduced since.

The 2 aid sculptures in Vienna measure 26 by 29 centimeters (10 by 11 inches) and 36 by 35 centimeters. The one depicts two bearded males, and the opposite two younger riders and the top of a horse. They had been a part of the 160-meter-long (520-foot) frieze that ran across the outer partitions of the Parthenon, devoted to Athena, goddess of knowledge.

Carved between 447-432 BC, the frieze and different sculptures remained largely intact till the temple — utilized by the Turkish garrison as a gunpowder retailer — was blown up throughout a siege in 1687. About half the surviving works had been eliminated by British diplomat Lord Elgin within the early nineteenth century, whereas Athens was nonetheless underneath Ottoman Turkish rule. Since 1816 they’ve been a key a part of the British Museum’s collections.

Greece claims they had been illegally acquired throughout a interval of overseas occupation. British officers have rebuffed repeated calls for for his or her return to Athens.

Many of the different works are within the Acropolis Museum, with scattered fragments in Paris, Copenhagen, Munich and Wuerzburg in Germany, and Vienna.

Grieshaber reported from Berlin.

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