of Cultural Treasures
The Acropolis Sculptures
By Maria Vergou
Legal
Assistant at the State Legal Council - Ministry of Culture and Sports
PhD Cand.
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
LLM Public
International Law
LLM Civil Law
 |
| Ο Παρθενών σε επιστολικό δελτάριο των Πάλλη-Κοτζιά, που εστάλη το 1903. |
Abstract
States worldwide have used all possible legal
instruments and diplomacy to show their belief that cultural treasures must be protected
and returned to their country and people of origin who created them and
consider them as a part of their proper identity.
Cultural Treasures have been victims
of destruction and illicit trafficking during Wars and armed conflicts since the Antiquity.
According to the official elements of UNESCO “…Together with the trafficking in drugs and arms, the black market of
antiquities and culture constitutes one of the most persistent illegal trades
in the world”.
From
illegal excavation to final sale, the value of the most beautiful masterpieces
increases 100 fold, a greater growth than that of drugs.
As
for the online purchases, it is estimated that 80 percent of the 100,000
antiquities available online at any given moment have no recorded provenance—which
means they are probably looted or fake. These objects have a combined total
asking price of more than $10 million.
The
ISIS looting across the Middle East in recent years, bringing a wave of illicit
objects into the marketplace and the easy access to the antiquities through
Facebook, WhatsApp, eBay, and Amazon, have contributed to the increase of fake
and looted antiquities
The State practice on the Repatriation of
Cultural Treasures is evident from the number of
International and Bilateral Conventions and Protocols adopted, as
completed by soft law rules and guidelines, the administrative acts or
attitudes, in particular in the diplomatic field, the national legislations and
the judicial acts. This practice, already stable and uniform, is confirmed by
the explosion of the repatriation of antiquities during the last years.
The most famous and still pending case before the UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return
of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in case of
Illicit Appropriation (ICPRCP) concerns the Hellenic Government’s demand
for the return by the United Kingdom of the Parthenon Sculptures.
According to international
law there is:
·
Duty of Repatriation of
cultural treasures – symbols of cultural and historic heritage
·
Duty of Unification of
Monuments
·
Duty of Repatriation of
Cultural Treasures wrongfully acquired during war, occupation or colonization.
These
principles apply to the case of the Acropolis Sculptures that must be
repatriated in the name of Justice and Truth.
Bibliography
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ΠΗΓΗ: 7th Balkan Symposium on Archaeometry, 22-25.9.2020. ΑΡΧΕΙΟΝ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ, 7.2.2021. see the full text here
Βεργου, επαναπατρισμος, γλυπτα, Παρθενωνας, Παρθενων, Ακροπολις, Ακροπολη, Παλλης, Κοτζιας, 1903, καρτ ποσταλ Παρθενωνα, επιστολικο δελταριο Παρθενωνα
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