On Thursday 20 June, singer and songwriter Hellena sang for the reunification of the sculptures from the Parthenon in the Acropolis Museum (www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en), celebrating this world-class museum’s 10th anniversary.

This peaceful protest began in the British Museum’s Parthenon Gallery and continued in the courtyard. Hellena supported the campaign for the return of the Parthenon Marbles, and their reunification in Greece by performing her song 10 times – once for every anniversary year of the Acropolis Museum.

On 7 June 1816, British Parliament voted to purchase from Lord Elgin his collection of sculpted marbles from the Parthenon and elsewhere on the Athenian Acropolis, despite repeated requests from Greece and elsewhere to find a way to reunite them; these have remained in the British Museum.

On 20 June 2009, the Acropolis Museum in Athens was opened to the public and since it opened, it has welcomed over 14 million visitors from all over the world. The missing sculptures, those still here in the UK are exhibited as casts. These were made by the British Museum and bought by Greece. Underneath these casts are the words: ‘BM’.

After 2,500 years of history, 70% of the Parthenon Frieze is preserved, much of it in good shape. The sculptures already in Athens, especially the West Frieze, show much more detail than the over-cleaned London ones.

Hellena’s song, “The Parthenon Marbles (bring them back)” was released on Thursday 20 June 2019 to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Acropolis Museum – where the songwriter believes the marbles should safely be housed once they are returned to Greece.

Hellena contacted the British Committee for the Reunification for the Parthenon Marbles (www.parthenonuk.com) in October 2018, and over the months, she has had moral support from this UK based campaigning committee as well as International Organising Committee Australia for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles (https://iocarpm.wordpress.com).