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Greece is Buoyed by Turkish Official's Comments about Parthenon Sculptures Taken by Britain

The antiquities, also known as the Elgin Marbles, were removed in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin - The AP
The antiquities, also known as the Elgin Marbles, were removed in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin - The AP
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Greece is Buoyed by Turkish Official's Comments about Parthenon Sculptures Taken by Britain

The antiquities, also known as the Elgin Marbles, were removed in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin - The AP
The antiquities, also known as the Elgin Marbles, were removed in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin - The AP

One of the world’s most intractable cultural disputes is back in the spotlight after a Turkish official cast doubt on the existence of proof long cited by Britain that it had legally acquired the Parthenon Marbles, 2,500-year-old sculptures taken from the Acropolis in Athens.

Greece's culture minister said the comments made at a UNESCO meeting in Paris last week on the return of cultural property bolster Greece's argument that the sculptures were illegally removed from the Parthenon temple on the Acropolis and should be returned.

The antiquities, also known as the Elgin Marbles, were removed in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin, Britain's ambassador to the Ottoman Empire which ruled Greece at the time, and are housed in the British Museum in London. Greece has long campaigned for their return.

The museum maintains Elgin removed the sculptures legally after Ottoman authorities granted him an imperial edict, or “firman,” allowing him do so.

But Zeynep Boz, the head of the Turkish Culture Ministry’s anti-smuggling committee, said at a meeting of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property in Paris that no such document has been found.

As the successor to the Ottoman Empire, "Türkiye is the country that would have the archived document pertaining to things that were sold legally at that time,” Boz told The Associated Press Wednesday. “Historians have for years searched the Ottoman archives and have not been able to find a ‘firman’ proving that the sale was legal, as it is being claimed.”

Boz added she felt obliged to intervene during the UNESCO meeting after a British participant said in his speech that the Elgin Marbles were bought legally during the Ottoman era.

“To have remained silent would have amounted to acknowledging the British claim,” she said. “I had to say: ‘We are not aware of such a document’.”

The only known existing document referring to the imperial edict is an Italian translation.

However, Boz said it has “no signature, no stamp, no tughra (official seal of the sultan). Nothing to make it official. The document it allegedly refers to is nowhere to be found.”

While ties between Greece and Türkiye are often strained and the two countries are at odds over a wide series of issues, including territorial claims, both seek the return of cultural artifacts removed from their territories and currently housed in museums around the world.

Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said the comments bolstered Greece’s argument that Elgin illegally removed the sculptures.

“There never was an Ottoman ‘firman’ granting Elgin the permission to treat the Parthenon Sculptures with the brutality with which he did,” Mendoni said Tuesday. “Türkiye's representative (at the UNESCO meeting) confirmed what the Greek side has been arguing for years. That there was no ‘firman’.”

Mendoni said Greece remained “open to dialogue” and would continue its efforts for the return of the sculptures, which have a place set aside for them in the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

While the British Museum is banned by law from permanently returning the sculptures, its leaders have held talks in the recent past with Greek officials about a possible compromise that could see the sculptures displayed in both Athens and London.

Those efforts suffered a setback last November, when a diplomatic spat erupted over the marbles and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak abruptly canceled a planned meeting with his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Asked about Boz's comments, the British Museum referred to a statement it gave to the UNESCO meeting reiterating its desire for a “Parthenon partnership” to resolve the dispute, and said it had nothing more to add.

“The British Museum recognizes the strong desire of Greece for the Parthenon Sculptures in London to be returned to Athens,” the statement said. “This is a question with a very long history, and we understand and respect the strong feelings that this debate commands."

It said it was “keen to develop a new relationship with Greece — a ‘Parthenon partnership’ — and to explore the possibility of innovative ways of working (with our Greek friends) in the hope that understanding of the Parthenon Sculptures deepens and continues to inspire people across the world.”

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Los Angeles Artists, Collectors Reel from Wildfires

An aerial view of the fire damage caused by the Palisades Fire is shown in the Pacific Palisades, California, US January 22, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake
An aerial view of the fire damage caused by the Palisades Fire is shown in the Pacific Palisades, California, US January 22, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake
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Los Angeles Artists, Collectors Reel from Wildfires

An aerial view of the fire damage caused by the Palisades Fire is shown in the Pacific Palisades, California, US January 22, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake
An aerial view of the fire damage caused by the Palisades Fire is shown in the Pacific Palisades, California, US January 22, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake

As the Los Angeles area begins the formidable task of rebuilding after the most destructive wildfires in its history, the city's artists and art collectors are mourning what could amount to billions of dollars in irreplaceable art that went up in flames.
The wildfires have altogether destroyed more than 13,000 structures, with many among those located in the affluent Palisades neighborhood -- home to many priceless art collections -- and the town of Altadena, which was home to a flourishing artist community.
Some of those art collectors likely lost many of their acquisitions as the fires burned out of control for weeks, while local artists have watched as their studios and homes burned, destroying their work and jeopardizing their livelihoods.
"There's part of me that's numb or in shock," said Brad Eberhard, an artist who ran Altadena's Alto Beta gallery, which also housed his own studio. Both burned down in the Eaton Fire. "Every half hour I remember another thing gone."
Alto Beta, a 550-square-foot (51-sq-meter) space in an Altadena shopping center, hosted exhibits focused on artists who had not had a showing in Los Angeles in the past three years.
Eberhard lost between 50 and 70 of his own sculptures as well as about two dozen pieces of art from his friends and colleagues.
When he returned to visit the gallery, "all I recognized was an aluminum door frame," he said.
Just days before the gallery burned down, Alto Beta had opened a show called "Quiver" exhibiting paintings from Mary Anna Pomonis, a Los Angeles-based artist. Pomonis described the work in the show as female-centered paintings rooted in devotional imagery.
"It felt like it was an appropriately dramatic response to work that I felt dealt on that scale of an epic narrative," Reuters quoted her as saying.
Many in the Los Angeles area have heard the fates of their homes but have been unable to return to see what's left, as tens of thousands of Angelenos remain under evacuation orders.
Kim McCarty, a watercolor painter and owner of the Michael's Santa Monica restaurant with her husband, lost her home to the Palisades fire. Like many, she has not been able to return to assess the damage in person.
Through their restaurant, which opened in 1979, the McCartys became acquainted with local artists and housed many pieces in their Malibu home from friends such as Roger Herman, a German-born artist who teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Pippa Garner, an American artist who died in Los Angeles in December.
"(I'm) sad to lose that all because it's such a loving thing," said McCarty, who added she was not able to salvage any of her own artwork before she was forced to evacuate.
Experts have estimated that the LA wildfires could be the most expensive disaster in US history. AccuWeather has estimated at least $250 billion in losses due to the fires, although that figure could still change.
It is too early to estimate much of the losses that are art-related, but there were perhaps "billions" of dollars worth of fine art in properties in affected areas, said Christopher Wise, vice president at Risk Strategies, an insurance broker and risk management consultancy.
"If you take a look at the size of the areas that are under threat or have burned, the scale of it really is staggering," he said.
Still, Wise cautioned that the amount of losses remains unclear, as many collectors have yet to return to their homes.
Despite the uncertainty created by the wildfires, the organizers of Frieze Los Angeles made the decision last week to go ahead with the international art fair, scheduled for late February.
Frieze, which also holds annual fairs in London, New York and Seoul, has presented the Los Angeles edition since 2019, elevating the city's status as an art capital. The fair attracts galleries and collectors from around the world, especially those from the US West Coast.
"Since the fair's founding six years ago, Frieze has been proud to support and be part of this vibrant community," said a Frieze spokesperson. "The challenges the city is currently facing only strengthen our commitment to work alongside the community to rebuild and recover together."
Frieze Los Angeles, in conjunction with several smaller art fairs, aims to send a message to the local art community by going forward despite the fires, said Marc Selwyn, the owner of Marc Selwyn Fine Art in Los Angeles.
"I think it's important that people know that LA is open for business and art is something that can be a boost for people in these kinds of times," the gallery owner said. The world-famous Getty Museum, which survived the fires, led several major art organizations in standing up a $12 million LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund, which is set to provide emergency relief to artists and others who work in the arts.
If there is a silver lining to be found in the disaster it may lie in how the Los Angeles artistic community has pulled together to help one another, said Eberhard. He has already been able to find homes in other galleries for most of the shows that Alto Beta was set to exhibit this year.
"I didn't know that the artist community was this caring. I really didn't, because artists are notoriously, and accurately, independent, self-reliant, like little islands," he said.