How (Not) to Protect the Past? Heritage Protection Efforts and Power Struggles in Early Modern Greece

Abstract

The legislation drafted by Georg Ludwig von Maurer in 1834 in the newly established Kingdom of Greece is generally considered pivotal when it comes to European heritage protection efforts in terms of its comprehensiveness and national agenda. The earlier legislative efforts, however, by Ioannis Kapodistrias and Andreas Moustoxydis are less known particularly outside of Greek scholarship. This paper examines the differences and similarities between these early efforts. Of particular interest is the language used to define what required legal protection and how the ensuing measures were justified and implemented. It is argued that the ineffectiveness and problematic enforcement of the 1834 law in the 19th century was due to its overly prescriptive nature, an aspect that earlier efforts tried to streamline being more pragmatic to the conditions existing in modern Greece and inspired by similar examples in other countries. This paper attempts to contextualise the drafting of these measures politically and economically and to compare them to those taken by the Stato Pontificio. It is argued that the legislators of the Greek measures were primarily guided by concerns and debates already existing in Europe at the time, such as the involvement of the State and of private individuals in antiquities collection and conservation. What therefore emerges as of prime concern to the legislators are the political, economic and cultural benefits of antiquities and of making use of the symbolic capital that they had to offer to those involved in their protection and control.