The presence of Amal Clooney in Athens is drawing significant attention, arriving at a time when Greece’s longstanding demand for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures is once again in the spotlight and negotiations with the British Museum continue at an unrelenting pace. The 48-year-old British-Lebanese human rights lawyer landed at Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” late yesterday afternoon, on a flight from Nice, France, where she had attended the international Lumière Sommet summit in Saint-Paul-de-Vence alongside her husband, George Clooney, hosted by Emmanuel Macron.
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Amal Clooney: Meeting with the President of the Hellenic Republic
One day after her arrival, the internationally acclaimed lawyer is expected to cross the threshold of the Presidential Palace, where she is scheduled to meet at 12:00 with President of the Hellenic Republic, Konstantinos Tasoulas. According to sources, their discussion will cover the legal developments that have emerged over the past decade regarding the repatriation of cultural treasures.
The meeting carries its own symbolic weight, as the two are longtime acquaintances, having previously sat at the same table over the Parthenon Sculptures issue. Their first meeting dates back to 2014, when Amal Clooney visited Athens and met with then-Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and then-Minister of Culture Kostas Tasoulas. At the center of that visit were the potential legal avenues Greece could pursue in its effort to reclaim the Parthenon Sculptures from the British Museum.
At that time, the renowned human rights lawyer had come to Athens alongside the legal team from Doughty Street Chambers to advise the Greek government on the possibilities of a legal claim. “Greece’s claim is just and the British Museum must acknowledge it,” Ms. Alamuddin had stated at a press conference held at the Acropolis Museum, where she was given a guided tour. “Today I welcomed to our country and to the Ministry of Culture a team of distinguished London lawyers who firmly believe in the just demand for the return and reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures,” Mr. Tasoulas had noted at the time.
The dinner at the Acropolis Museum
The interest, however, extends well beyond the Presidential Palace. On Thursday afternoon at 18:30, a special, closed-door UNESCO event is scheduled at the Temple of Olympian Zeus, featuring Amal Clooney — alongside President Tasoulas, Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni, and other prominent figures from politics, business, and the arts — followed by a dinner at the Acropolis Museum at 20:30.
The initiative belongs to UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Protection and Promotion of Culture, Constantza Spocou-Constantacopoulou, who has effectively succeeded the late Marianna Vardinoyannis. Ms. Spocou currently serves, among other roles, as President of Endeavor Greece and President of the Phāea hotel group.
Specifically, the gathering of UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors will take place at the Columns of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, featuring addresses by Ms. Clooney and Ms. Spocou, followed by a panel discussion on “Artificial Intelligence and Culture,” moderated by well-known Economist journalist Alasdair Ross. The subsequent dinner, at which the wife of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Mareva Grabowski-Mitsotakis, will deliver a keynote address, aims to boost the UNESCO Culture Fund in its mission to combat the illegal trafficking of cultural property.
It is worth recalling that last June, Ms. Grabowski-Mitsotakis participated in a Parthenon Project event at Westminster in London, where she emphasized, among other things, that “the time has come for the severed members to be reunited and for the integrity of the monument to be restored.”
