[CPProt.net] Pressure over Elgin Marbles as piece of the Parthenon goes back to Greece

[Ton Cremers]

Pressure over Elgin Marbles as piece of the Parthenon goes back to 
Greece
By Hannah Cleaver in Berlin
(Filed: 11/01/2006)

Greece announced yesterday that a German university intended to 
return a piece of the Parthenon, increasing pressure on the British 
Museum to do the same with the Elgin marbles.

According to the Greek culture ministry, Heidelberg University was 
"disposed" to give back the heel of a male depicted in the frieze 
which originally adorned the Parthenon.

It said the assurance had been given to the Greek prime minister, 
Kostas Karamanlis, by the university's vice chancellor Angelos 
Haniotis, who is of Greek origin.

A ministry statement said the university's offer to hand back the 
heel was "judged as a measure of exceptional symbolic importance in 
so far as it is the first part of the Parthenon frieze returned to 
Greece".

The ministry added that the university considered the return of the 
artefact "a matter of duty towards humanity".

Much of the eastern frieze of the Parthenon, which stands on the 
Acropolis overlooking Athens, was removed by Lord Elgin in 1806, 
while Greece was dominated by the Ottoman empire. He later sold the 
marbles to the British Museum.

The Greek government has been demanding that Britain return them for 
more than two decades.

The Heidelberg heel comes from the north section of the Parthenon 
frieze, a 525-foot strip of marble slabs decorated in relief with 
figures from a religious procession.

Parts of the Parthenon sculptures are also held in the Louvre in 
Paris and in museums in the Vatican, Vienna, Munich, Copenhagen and 
Palermo.

The Parthenon temple on the Acropolis, dedicated to Athena, goddess 
of wisdom, was built between 447 and 432 BC.

Such is the sensitivity surrounding the topic that Heidelberg 
University refused to confirm or deny the report yesterday. 

Mr Haniotis also declined to comment.