A marble fragment of the Parthenon temple has been returned to Athens from a museum in Sicily, a transfer officers hope will advance efforts to have the British Museum ship again historic sculptures from Greece‘s most famous historic landmark.
Athens’ Acropolis Museum offered on Monday the “Fagan fragment”, a 35-by-31-centimetre (12-by-14-inch) marble fragment displaying the foot of the seated historic Greek goddess Artemis introduced dwelling from the Antonio Salinas Archaeological Museum in Palermo.
“It’s marvellous that Sicilian and Italian mates thought to deliver it again the place it was born,” Acropolis Museum Director Nikolaos Stampolidis mentioned of the fragment, as soon as a part of the temple’s japanese frieze.
It’s to be positioned within the Parthenon Gallery – a glass-walled chamber with a view of the Parthenon that shows sculptures of the temple’s 160-metre-(520-foot)-long frieze in the identical place as they have been on the unique monument, with plaster copies changing items that at the moment are primarily within the British Museum.
“We hope that this primary step taken by Sicily can encourage an analogous resolution in different international locations,” mentioned Antonio Salinas Museum Director Caterina Greco.
A part of Sicily’s cultural heritage settlement, which gives for transfers and exchanges of artefacts between museums, the Parthenon fragment will probably be loaned to Athens for 4 years with a renewal possibility for an additional 4, however talks are underway between governments for the piece to stay completely.
In return, the Acropolis Museum will mortgage Palermo a fifth century BC headless statue of the goddess Athena and an eighth century BC amphora from the Geometric interval for 4 years.
The “Fagan fragment” is part of a bigger sculpture within the Acropolis Museum that’s principally a plaster copy, whose unique items are within the British Museum.
The fragment was as soon as a part of the gathering of the nineteenth century British consul normal to Sicily, Robert Fagan, a diplomat and archaeologist, earlier than it was bought by the Royal College of Palermo in 1820 from his widow after his dying. It isn’t clear how Fagan first acquired it.
LONG DISPUTE OVER ‘ELGIN MARBLES’
The “Fagan fragment” is the primary piece of the sculptures of the Parthenon – Greece‘s most famous fifth century BC monument – to return to Greece from a international museum.
Athens has campaigned to have the “Elgin Marbles”, as they’re usually identified – 75 metres of Parthenon frieze, 15 metopes and 17 sculptures – returned from the British Museum since they have been eliminated by British diplomat Lord Elgin within the early nineteenth century when he was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire then ruling Greece.
The British Museum purchased the marbles in 1816 and British officers say that they had been acquired legally by Elgin, a declare Greece denies. The British Museum says there are not any present discussions with the Greek authorities on their return.
“They’re primarily offering the street map on how the everlasting return of the Parthenon marbles to Athens might be organised,” mentioned Greek Tradition Minister Lina Mendoni, referring to the mortgage by Italy.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has provided to mortgage vital artefacts to Britain in return for the marbles, after a long time of rejected appeals.
“(This) paves the best way for the British Museum to enter into severe discussions with the Greek authorities in an effort to discover a resolution that might be mutually acceptable,” Mitsotakis mentioned throughout the presentation.
When Mitsotakis visited Downing Road in November, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson informed him that the problem was one for the British Museum and never for his authorities.
“I did increase the problem once I visited,” Mitsotakis mentioned on Monday. “I felt inspired by (Johnson’s) assertion…that the British authorities wouldn’t oppose a attainable settlement that might be reached between (Greece) and the British Museum.”
In March final 12 months Johnson informed a Greek newspaper that Britain was the authorized proprietor of the marbles.
Just lately European international locations akin to France, Spain and Germany have stepped as much as return looted artefacts of their museums again to their African international locations of origin.
“When there’s a will, there’s a method. In the end this may occur,” Mitsotakis mentioned of the marbles coming back from Britain.
(Reuters)