Friday, January 14, 2011

Greek Antiquities in Times of Crisis

The IADAA has publicized a report from a Greek Journalist that asks an obvious question about a taboo subject for archaeologists and cultural bureaucrats: Why not sell off some of the duplicates of the hundreds of thousands of artifacts sitting in storage around Greece? For more, see
http://www.iadaa.org/en/greek-antiques-times-economic-crisis

The Greek cultural bureaucracy certainly needs to rethink its priorities. Last October, it sent a large delegation on a junket to the United States to petition the State Department to impose import restrictions on Greek cultural artifacts that would only discriminate against American collectors. Meanwhile, museum guards who had not been paid for months were rioting on the Acropolis. For more, see
http://culturalpropertyobserver.blogspot.com/2010/10/oversized-greek-cultural-delegation.html

No comments: