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Elginism

@elginism.bsky.social
1.1K followers 2.4K following 311 posts

Parthenon Sculptures (AKA Elgin Marbles) plus other cultural property disputes, museums, art law, archaeology, architecture & Greece. Formerly London based, now in Sydney.

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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Of all the people they could pick to invite to a private viewing, why him? What do they want from him or what does he want from them? The British Museum hosted Palantir founder Peter Thiel in private viewing of Bayeux tapestry. share.google/IAu3ipt8Jgs1...
share.google
British Museum hosted Palantir founder Peter Thiel in private viewing of Bayeux tapestry
Concern among staff that fragile artwork’s scarce ‘light hours’ given to someone with no known interest in museum
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
The Digital “Kidnapping” of the Marbles The British scientists from the Institute of Digital Archaeology, created their application to achieve this (only not in the real world - yet) by “marrying” virtual reality with geotagging technology. www.tovima.com/stories/the-...
tovima.com
The Digital “Kidnapping” of the Marbles - tovima.com
The British scientists created their application by “marrying” virtual reality with geotagging technology
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
The Digital “Kidnapping” of the Marbles The British scientists from the Institute of Digital Archaeology, created their application to achieve this (only not in the real world - yet) by “marrying” virtual reality with geotagging technology. www.tovima.com/stories/the-...
tovima.com
The Digital “Kidnapping” of the Marbles - tovima.com
The British scientists created their application by “marrying” virtual reality with geotagging technology
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Hi. Welcome to Bluesky. Great to reconnect.
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Australia's High Court has upheld the forfeiture of a pre-Columbian artefact illegally exported from Bolivia over 70 years ago, under the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986, despite the recipe happening more than 30 years before the Act came into force. www.linkedin.com/redir/redire...
linkedin.com
Australia’s Top Court Affirms Government’s Broad Powers to Seize Cultural Artefacts
An artefact taken from the ruins of Tiwanaku and illegally exported from Bolivia more than 70 years ago has been seized by Australian customs officers and found by Australia’s highest court to be l…
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Perhaps more surprisingly, his successor, Malcolm Fraser was also a supporter of restitution - an area in which he and Whitlam, normally ideologically opposed to one another, shared common ground. www.elginism.com/elgin-marble...
elginism.com
Former Australian PM calls for return of Elgin Marbles
Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Frazer, has been speaking in New Zealand about why he feels the Elgin Marbles should be returned. From: The New
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Today is the 50th anniversary of the dismissal of Gough Whitlam by the governor general - a dark moment for democracy in Australia. It's worth recalling a less known fact about the man though - Whitlam was a staunch supporter of the return of the Parthenon Marbles. www.elginism.com/elgin-marble...
elginism.com
RIP Gough Whitlam - Parthenon Marbles reunification supporter
Former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was a long time supporter of the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures. I was fortunate enough to see
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tomminogue.bsky.social @tomminogue.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
Parliament accepted the firman may have allowed Elgin to denude the Parthenon, but certainly didn't allow him to carry out the ancient Scots Law crime of Violation of Sepulchre. Elgin knew that, but t'was only Greek graves & they didn't matter! @elginism.bsky.social www.tomminogue.com/tom/?p=2350
tomminogue.com
Elgin's Grave Robbery largely unreported [Long read..but worth it we think!] - Tomminogue.com
Opposing @PoliceScotland view of Turkish gold wreath I find to my £cost Elgin's Memorandum was pure fiction. But I knew that so more fool me
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
77-year-old Chilean engineer Enrico Tosti-Croce thought he had a fragment of the Parthenon, picked up by his father Gaetano in 1930. Hearing a radio program about the Elgin Marbles prompted him to return it, & he discovered it was older than he had supposed. www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...
smithsonianmag.com
A Man Brought His Father’s ‘Piece of the Parthenon’ to Greek Officials. They Said It Was From an Even Older Temple in the Acropolis of Athens
The engraved marble fragment likely came from an archaic temple called the Hekatompedon, making it around 2,600 years old
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
A new documentary by David Wilkinson titled The Marbles claims to settle the long-standing debate over the legal status of the Parthenon Sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, stating unequivocally that these ancient sculptures were stolen from Greece. greekreporter.com/2025/11/09/n...
greekreporter.com
New Documentary Says Parthenon Sculptures Stolen in "Greatest Heist in Art History" - GreekReporter.com
A new documentary claims "beyond a shadow of a doubt" that the Parthenon Sculptures were stolen, according to the director.
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tomminogue.bsky.social @tomminogue.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
World premiere of THE MARBLES opening night film at the Central Scot. Documentary Festival sold out. We have people attending from Glasgow, Aberdeen, Manchester, Birmingham & London, & Nick Drossos/ family & friends coming from Melbourne, Aus. Q&A Dame Janet Suzman & Neil Curtis.
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
LSE dropout son of Tory party activist & PE teacher has no opinion about the Parthenon Marbles. greekcitytimes.com/2025/11/04/m...
greekcitytimes.com
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
The Bayeux tapestry is so fragile that transporting it risks irreparable damage, French experts have said, in a petition urging Emmanuel Macron to reverse a “catastrophic” decision to loan the unique embroidery to Britain. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
theguardian.com
‘La tapisserie, c’est moi’: Macron accused of putting politics first in Bayeux tapestry loan
Organiser of petition says French president ignoring expert advice that artefact too fragile to be transported to UK
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Times change. So, too, do people. Human sensitivities evolve with age and self-education and understanding. Unlike some institutions like the British Museum, however, which seem to remain largely intransigent. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Times change, so do people. So why does the British Museum still think it’s OK to display human remains? | Paul Daley
Bodies and body parts have long been part of collections of imperial plunder over the years – but museums must understand that attitudes have moved on
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
A small marble fragment believed to be from a 6th-century B.C. temple on the Acropolis (before the Parthenon) has been voluntarily returned to Greece by a family in Chile that had held it for nearly a century, the Greek culture ministry announced. www.iefimerida.gr/english/anci...
iefimerida.gr
Ancient Acropolis Fragment Repatriated to Greece from Chile - iefimerida.gr
A small marble fragment believed to be from a 6th-century B.C. temple on the Acropolis has been voluntarily returned to Greece by a family in Chile that had held it for nearly a century, the culture m...
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MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
New Case: The Cleveland Bronze, contributed by Michela Herbert Today the Cleveland Museum will take its iconic Roman bronze sculpture off display and return it to Türkiye after a failed attempt to deny its origins in the heavily looted site of Bubon. mola.omeka.net/items/show/2...
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Dan Hicks @profdanhicks.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
good evening to everyone except the hard-right culture warriors and those who would appease them 🔥✨❤️
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Dan Hicks @profdanhicks.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
an important documentary about returning the dead from German museums, I am in there somewhere around minute 22 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
bbc.co.uk
BBC World Service - The Documentary, The kidnapped dead: Germany’s stolen skulls
Thousands of human remains are held in German museums. Why can’t they go back?
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Press release from yesterday's Reuniting the Parthenon Marbles event organised by Andrew George MP. I wasn't able to attend, but it was good to see a lot of familiar faces in the photos. www.elginism.com/elgin-marble...
elginism.com
Reuniting the Parthenon Sculptures event
Andrew George MP, the chair of the British Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures, hosted a reception in Portcullis House yesterday
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Chasing Aphrodite @chasingaphrodite.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Relooted, one of the most anticipated video games of 2025, allows players to take stolen African artifacts from Western museums and return them to their home countries. AJ+ talked to one of the creators... www.instagram.com/reel/DMETOk6...
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
The looting of Iraq post fall of Saddam was more high profile - but we could be seeing a similar situation in slow motion, where large amounts of ancient heritage is illegally excavated and sold in plain sight. Organisations that are facilitating sales of such artefacts need to do more to stop this.
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Nigel Farage's support for keeping the Parthenon Marbles in the UK ought to help convince many who were on the fence (often through lack of in depth knowledge of the issue) that returning them is clearly the right side to take.
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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Here starts the campaign for Britain to repatriate the plundered acronym "PAC", in fact the whole concept. It belongs in the US of A. "Great British Pac calls for an end to any negotiations to return the Parthenon sculptures or risk legal challenges." www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
Screenshot of Guardian article: "Liz Truss and hard-right group accused of scaremongering over Parthenon marbles.
Ex-PM among those saying they will take legal action over ‘covert’ plans to return sculptures to Greece,"
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Worrying podcast from @theguardian.com about the rapid rise of metal detecting in Syria lost Assad - and what it means for the preservation of the country's heritage. www.theguardian.com/world/audio/...
theguardian.com
Syria’s treasure hunting fever - podcast
What can be done to stop Syria’s unprecedented scramble for antiquities? William Christou reports
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
John Huntley went further, pointing out that there is no credible dispute over the legal ownership of the tapestry - only discussion of where it should best be displayed: www.elginism.com/similar-case...
elginism.com
Can the Parthenon Sculptures be compared to the Bayeux tapestry?
John Huntley, follows my line of reasoning, in suggesting that any comparisons drawn between the Elgin Marbles & the Bayeux Tapestry are at best very
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Now that I've previously written about how this case is nothing like that of the Parthenon Marbles (and indeed this loan is not in response to any sort of ownership valuation from Britain): www.elginism.com/similar-case...
elginism.com
England also wants artefacts returned
It is usually the other way round - that the UK is faced with restitution claims for the artefacts in its museums & institutions, whether they are
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
The Bayeux tapestry will return to the UK for the first time in more than 900 years as part of a landmark reciprocal loan agreement by Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron - a great example of cultural cooperation. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
theguardian.com
Bayeux tapestry to return to Britain for first time in 900 years
Tapestry to go on display in British Museum next year, with treasures from Sutton Hoo lent to France in exchange
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
I've written half of a piece in City AM today on the Parthenon Marbles and whether they should return to Greece - it won't surprise you that I'm the one arguing on the Yes side. www.cityam.com/the-debate-s...
cityam.com
The Debate: Should the British Museum return the Elgin Marbles?
As rumours about talks to repatriate the Elgin Marbles to Greece resurface, we get two experts to make the case for and against their return.
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
I'd assume that it was insured and that the payout was made on this - which would tend to mean that it would be the property of the insurers if recovered?
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
In terms of the outcome though, stuff is of limited value without provenance - there would need to be proof it was the same sculpture and not just a copy that got bashed up to make it look like it had been in a building collapse.
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Feels like a fair bit of overlap with @marcfennell.bsky.social's Stuff the British Stole. Maybe there needs to be a Stuff the Americans Lost series.
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Sorry
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Oops. Thanks.
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Interesting story just cropped up on @mattbevan.bsky.social's ever fascinating ABC - If You're Listening podcast. What happened to the original bronze cast of Rodin's The Thinker from Cantor Fitzgerald's World Trade Center offices after 9-11? www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...
abc.net.au
Howard Lutnick and The Gates of Hell - ABC listen
When two planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers on September 11 2001 Howard Lutnick lost 658 of his colleagues. It was a tragedy of unthinkable proportions which we covered in last week’s e...
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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
I can’t believe this isn’t a spoof article. It seems to be supporting a very questionable approach to human remains. @babao2025meeting.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
thetimes.com
Drinking from skulls is a noble tradition
Accusations of a tasteless custom by Oxford dons overlook a rite that has been going on in Britain since the Stone Age
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
HT: the inimitable @danhicks.bsky.social for raising this story.
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
It's isn't just museums who normalise colonial era acquired human remains: Oxford academics drank from a chalice made from a human skull for decades, a book that explores the violent colonial history of looted human remains has revealed. www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
theguardian.com
Oxford academics drank from cup made from human skull until 2015, book reveals
Decades-long use of chalice at Worcester College highlights violent colonial history of looted human remains, says Prof Dan Hicks
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Andrew Tobolowsky @andytobo.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
It's kind of nice that they had to put this in explicit form I guess, but this has been the argument since the election - if the electorate elected Trump to do it, Trump is therefore allowed to do it. It ignores that the electorate didn't explicitly say what it wanted and that the mandate is small
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
"In the end, one is at a loss at whom to fault more: Jenkins for her views, or Oxford University Press for allowing such a book [...] to bear its name. Jenkins’s right to free expression of her views should certainly be protected, but that does not mean that OUP must be the one to disseminate them."
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
On the other hand, is someone who receives this sort of bad reviews from academic publications for their anti-repatriation works really a good choice to be a trustee of a major public institution anyway? bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2016/2016.12...
bmcr.brynmawr.edu
Keeping Their Marbles: How the Treasures of the Past Ended Up in Museums…and Why They Should Stay There – Bryn Mawr Classical Review
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
At a time when the British Museum is catching up with international museum practices on return of cultural property, appointing someone who made writing about not returning stuff her shtick seems a deliberately disruptive move by those involved in the decision. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
theguardian.com
British Museum is right to keep Parthenon marbles, says new trustee
Historian Dr Tiffany Jenkins is one of the lineup of new appointees that has raised cultural and historical hackles
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Not that wowed by one of the new British Museum Trustee choices TBH. It seems an odd time to be appointing to the board people who are decidedly non-neutral on matters relating to the restitution of cultural artefacts. www.gov.uk/government/n...
gov.uk
The Prime Minister has appointed 5 Trustees to the British Museum
The Prime Minister has appointed Lord Daniel Finkelstein OBE, Tom Holland, Dr. Tiffany Jenkins, Martha Kearney and Claudia Winkleman as trustees of the British Museum; their four year terms started o...
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Claims on the Guelph Treasure stretch back nearly two decades, and Germany’s plans to change how restitutions are evaluated are now adding new wrinkles. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/a...
nytimes.com
A $300 Million Art Trove and the Labyrinth of Nazi-Era Art Claims
Claims on the Guelph Treasure stretch back nearly two decades, and Germany’s plans to change how restitutions are evaluated are now adding new wrinkles.
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
The first episode of this new podcast series on the Greek Myths by @sturdyalex.bsky.social is well worth a listen. whether it not you are familiar with the stories already, there is still a lot to learn about them and their contemporary relevance / interpretation.
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Greece should do this... Until the marbles are returned... 🤔😜
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Alistair Brown @alistairbrown.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Great discussion here about the future of museums with @benansell.bsky.social @tonybutler1.bsky.social @stephenkb.bsky.social Sara Wajid and Sharon Ament. Culture, community and cash at the heart of the debate. Give it a listen. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
Rethink - Rethink... museums - BBC Sounds
What are museums for?
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Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
The opening lines of the 1959 King Penguin book on 'The Sculpture of the Parthenon' "It is possible to enjoy and appreciate the sculpture of the Parthenon without regard to its setting, but such an approach is needlessly limited..." Quite
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Elginism @elginism.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
The discussion meeting to the at conclusion raises a lot of questions anyway - people were not without their reservations at the time. publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/...
publications.parliament.uk
House of Commons - Culture, Media and Sport - Minutes of Evidence
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