Marbles Reunited

Marbles Reunited : Friends of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles is a campaign group, governed by charter & funded by donations from members and supporters, affiliated to the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles which lobbies and raises awareness about the case for the return of the Parthenon (Elgin) marbles to Athens, Greece. Prior to 2006, the campaign was known as Parthenon 2004.

The campaign is based in London and were set up in 2001 by Richard Allan, Liberal Democrats Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam and Archaeologist.

The other original members of the Committee were:

  • Ms Nicky Artemi, campaign manager
  • Mr Peter Derow, ancient historian
  • Mr David Hill, Australians for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures
  • Ms Clare Makepeace, Parliamentary researcher
  • Mr Christopher Miles, film director
  • Mr Jerome Monahan, educationalist and journalist
  • Mr Edward O'Hara, Labour member of Parliament for Knowsley South
  • Mr William G. Stewart, broadcaster
  • Mr Matthew Taylor, architect
  • Mr Geoffrey White, barrister
  • Mr Malcolm Wright, internet consultant

Current committee members include:

  • Honorary President - Mr Edward O'Hara, Labour member of Parliament for Knowsley South
  • Chair - Mr Andrew George, Liberal Democrat member of Parliament for St Ives
  • Secretary - Mr Lazaros Fillippidis, evacuation modelling consultant
  • Treasurer - Mr Matthew Taylor, architect
  • Mr David Hill businessman, chair of Australians for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures
  • Mr Christopher Miles, film director
  • Mrs Suzannah Ritch, communications consultant
  • Mr William G. Stewart, broadcaster
  • Mr Christopher Stockdale, doctor
  • Mr Dimos Vlachos, foreign exchange administrator
  • Mr Malcolm Wright, internet consultant


Marbles Reunited has created publicity through various events the need to reunite the Parthenon Sculptures. In 2009 Edward O'Hara set out an EDM (Early Day Motion) to lobby members of Parliament.

'That this House notes the forthcoming opening of the new Acropolis Museum in Athens in the spring of 2009; congratulates the Greek government on the completion of a truly world-class new home for the treasures of the Acropolis hill; recognises the unique beauty of the top floor gallery of the museum, built to the same size and orientation as the Parthenon itself and designed specifically for the display of the surviving Parthenon sculptures as an artistic unit and in the best possible location and light with the Parthenon itself in full simultaneous view; regrets the fact that for as long as the surviving Parthenon sculptures are kept separately in the British Museum and in Greece they cannot be viewed in this optimum context; and calls on the Government to encourage and facilitate the opening of discussions between the British Museum and the Greek authorities with the purpose of the reunification of the Parthenon sculptures in Athens with responsibility for their display, curation and study being shared between the British Museum and the new Acropolis Museum in accordance with the best contemporary museum practice.'


In 2008, Marbles Reunited joined the International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures

Members of the campaign often collectively refer to themselves (or other supportive campaigners) as Marbalistas

Famous quotes containing the word marbles:

    These marbles, the works of the dreamers and idealists of old, live on, leading and pointing to good. They are the works of visionaries and dreamers, but they are realizations of soul, the representations of the ideal. They are grand, beautiful, and true, and they speak with a voice that echoes through the ages. Governments have changed; empires have fallen; nations have passed away; but these mute marbles remain—the oracles of time, the perfection of art.
    Herman Melville (1819–1891)