page_title: Melina Mercouri
section_title: Minister for Culture: 1981–1989
hierarchical_section_title: Melina Mercouri / Political career / Minister for Culture: 1981–1989
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Bezoek van de Griekse minister van Cultuur Melina Mercouri aan de tentoonstelling De Akropolis van Athene in Amsterdam. Melina Mercouri tijdens haar toespraak 21 december 1985
context_page_description: Maria Amalia "Melina" Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer, and politician. She received an Academy Award nomination and won a Cannes Film Festival Award for her performance in the 1960 film Never on Sunday. Mercouri was also nominated for three Golden Globes and two BAFTA Awards in her acting career.
  As a politician, she was a member of the PASOK and the Hellenic Parliament. In October 1981, Mercouri became the first female Minister of Culture and Sports.
context_section_description: When PASOK won the elections of 1981, Mercouri was appointed Minister for Culture of Greece, being the first female in that post. She would serve in that position for two terms until 1989, when PASOK lost the elections and New Democracy formed a cabinet. As Minister for Culture, Mercouri took advantage of her fame abroad and got in contact with great European leaders in order to promote Greece. She strongly advocated the return to Athens of the Parthenon Marbles, that were removed from Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis of Athens by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, and are now part of the British Museum collection in London. In 1983, she had a famous live television spat with then British Museum director David M. Wilson, which was widely interpreted as a public relations disaster for the British museum. In anticipation of the return of the marbles, she held an international competition for the construction of the New Acropolis Museum, designated to display them and finally established in 2008.
  One of her greatest achievements was the establishment of the institution of the European Capital of Culture within the framework of cultural policy of the European Union, that she had conceived and proposed in 1983, with Athens inaugurating this institution being the first title-holder in 1985, while she was a devoted supporter of the Athens bid to host the Centennial Olympic Games. In 1983, during the first Greek presidency of the Council of the European Union, Mercouri invited the Ministers for Culture of the other nine member states of the European Union at Zappeion, in order to increase the people's cultural awareness, since there was not any reference to cultural questions in the Treaty of Rome, which led to the establishment of formal sessions between the Ministers of Culture of the European Union. During the second presidency of Greece in 1988, she supported the cooperation between Eastern Europe and the European Union, which was finally implemented one year later with the celebration of the Month of Culture in Eastern countries.
  Mercouri commissioned a study for the integration of all the archaeological sites of Athens to create a traffic-free archaeological park to promote the Greek culture. She introduced free access to museums and archaeological sites for Greek citizens, organized a series of exhibitions of Greek cultural heritage and modern Greek art worldwide, supported the restoration of buildings of special architectural interest and the completion of the Athens Concert Hall, backed the project of the Museum of Byzantine culture in Thessaloniki and established annual literary pizes.
  In June 1986 Melina Mercouri spoke at the Oxford Union, a world-famous debating society, on the matter of the Parthenon Marbles and whether they should remain in London or be returned to Greece. She argued passionately for the Marble's reunification. As she explains, the Marbles are more to Greece than just works of art: they are an essential element of Greek heritage, which ties directly into cultural identity. She said: "You must understand what the Parthenon Marbles mean to us. They are our pride. They are our sacrifices. They are our noblest symbol of excellence. They are a tribute to the democratic philosophy. They are our aspirations and our name. They are the essence of Greekness."
  Her stance on the matter has inspired a new wave of activism on the issue, and inspired pride in Greek culture and history.
caption: Melina Mercouri (1985)
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