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Anastasia Balezdrova

Two centuries after the first formal request, and 32 years after the start of the global campaign of the Greek Minister of Culture of the time, Melina Mercouri, for the return of the Parthenon Marbles, a new campaign entitled "Return the Marbles. Restore the Parthenon. Restart History" has been launched in Athens.

The campaign is organized by the Marianna V. Vardinogianni Foundation with the cooperation of the Melina Mercouri Foundation and it was presented at the Acropolis Museum.

In her inaugural speech, Mariana Vardinogianni, the president of the foundation that is named after her, said that "the campaign is another attempt to raise awareness among Greek citizens of the country's attempts to return the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum, to promote the cause more widely abroad and attract more followers to it."

For several years now, UNESCO too has supported the Greek request. In her address on occasion of the launch of the new campaign, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said that "through its cooperation with UNESCO for the return of the Parthenon Marbles within the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in case of Illicit Appropriation, Greece embodies the spirit of international cooperation that is at the heart of the United Nations."

Honorary adviser to the organization and director of the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage in Bahrain Mounir Bouchenaki stressed that UNESCO’s main objective is to protect the visible forms of cultural heritage. "The Parthenon in Athens is the bearer of the spirit and ideas that have influenced the development of all mankind. Therefore, the organization has always supported the efforts of Greece to return the Marbles." He said that, during its creation after World War II the organization was, and is still, faced with the challenge to protect the cultural heritage in countries where there are armed conflicts, especially in the Arab world.

Director of the Acropolis Museum Dimitris Pandermalis said that it was not an easy decision to put plaster casts of the sculptures that are in the British Museum next to the marble sculptures from the Parthenon frieze that are in Greece. Subsequently, the archaeologists and restorers scanned the sculptures in the British Museum and today visitors to the Acropolis Museum can see the Parthenon in its entirety, but only virtually.

"Since 2005, 16 countries have supported Greece’s request for the return of the sculptures. This is not a national issue but a request relating to the protection of international cultural heritage. Even the majority of UK citizens support Greece. Both the research conducted in 1988 and a recent poll by Guardian, according to which 88% of Britons are "for" the return of the sculptures, prove this," said chairman of the International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles David Hill.

In a video address, chairman of the British Commission Eddie O 'Hara once again rejected the argument of those who oppose the return of the Parthenon Marbles that this would be a precedent that would empty museums throughout the world.

"The Parthenon is a unique monument and is recognized as a model of the world cultural heritage by UNESCO. This is not about the return of individual exhibits but about the reunification in its entirety," he said.

In support of his words, Fabrizio Micalizzi from the Swiss Committee added that Greece does not put a claim on the other exhibits, "even on the iconic sixth Caryatid".

The authors of the campaign rely on the impression produced by the optical connection of the parts of the Parthenon that are in Athens with those in London. The presentation was attended by Ministers of Tourism Olga Kefalogianni, and Culture and Sports Konstantinos Tasoulas.

The Acropolis Museum offers a virtual tour of the Parthenon on http://www.parthenonfrieze.gr/#/home