The legal team that is set to take on the case, is comprised of Amal Alamuddin, high-profile Australian lawyer Geoffrey Robertson,
and Norman Palmer, will also meet with the Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Wednesday, followed by a tour of the Acropolis Museum. The Greek State has been hesitant to go to court s and has requested legal consultation on its options before escalating its claims against the British Museum.
is going to provide the Greek government with legal advice on its efforts for the return (and reunification) of the Parthenon Marbles. She is accompanied by two British lawyers
The newly married Alamuddin, is accompanied by well known Geoffrey Robertson and Norman Palmer (both experts in cultural restitution). The team will be received by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras at the Maximos Mansion on Wednesday and will hold a discussion on how Greece can best pursue its claim to win back the treasures,. Following this, the legal team will take a tour of the world-class Acropolis Museum.
Geoffrey Robertson’s prior experience in helping Tasmanian Aborigines in their claims against the British Natural History Museum says that Alamuddin's recent marriage to Hollywood actor George Clooney will most definitely generate plenty of international interest -and publicity- on Greece’s claims and should be considered as a huge advantage by the Greek side.
It should be reminded that the Parthenon Marbles were STOLEN from the Parthenon in the early 1800s by Lord Elgin, who was the then British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. He then sold them (illegally) to the British government. The marbles have been a bone of contention between the UK and Greece ever since their illegal removal and have been widely criticised by scholars, prominent Academicians and the Greek people. Even Byron characterized Lord Elgin as a vandal for this very act and the famous writer had even dedicated a poem to him for his greed: "dull is the eye that will not weep to see, Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed, By British hands ..."
In the past the UK argued that the Greeks were unable to look after the marbles because they did not have a suitable museum in which to house them in. Arguments such as the above are laughable today because a new museum, which opened its doors at the Acropolis in 2009, was constructed specifically to accommodate the marbles.
Editor's Note: Any type of publicity, negative or positive, should be considered publicity. We should all welcome this initiative and only hope for the best. Melina Mercouri's lifelong struggle to reunite the Parthenon Marbles must continue.
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