Parthenon fragment from Italy can stay in Greece ‘forever,’ Greek ministry says

ATHENS, Could 20 (Reuters) – A marble fragment of the Parthenon temple will likely be completely returned to Athens from a museum in Italy, a big transfer for Greece which has stepped up its marketing campaign for the return of the sculptures from its most famous historic monument.

The “Fagan fragment” is a 35-by-31-centimetre (12-by-14-inch) marble fragment displaying the foot of the seated historic Greek goddess Artemis. It was a part of the fifth century BC temple’s japanese frieze.

It was included within the assortment of the nineteenth century British consul common 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 demise.

It’s not clear how Fagan first acquired it.

The fragment was loaned to Athens in January for 4 years by the Antonio Salinas Archaeological Museum in Palermo, with a renewal choice for one more 4 years. learn extra

“The so-called Fagan fragment … can keep in Greece perpetually,” Greece’s tradition ministry mentioned on Friday, thanking the Sicilian authorities. “Sicily paves the way in which for the return to Greece of the Parthenon marbles,” it mentioned.

Remaining approval by Italy’s tradition ministry is anticipated quickly, it added.

The transfer is important for Athens, which has repeatedly referred to as for the everlasting return from the British Museum in London of the two,500-year-old sculptures that Britain’s Lord Elgin faraway from the Acropolis temple within the early nineteenth century, when Greece was underneath Ottoman Turkish rule.

The British Museum, custodian of the marbles which embody about half of the 160-metre frieze that adorned the Parthenon, has dominated out returning them, saying “the sculptures are a part of everybody’s shared heritage and transcend cultural boundaries”.

Greece has stepped up its marketing campaign for his or her return lately after opening a brand new museum in 2009 on the foot of the Acropolis hill that it hopes will someday home them.

In March, the United Nations’ cultural company UNESCO urged Greece and the UK to carry talks and attain a settlement on the problem.

On Friday, Greece’s Tradition Minister Lina Mendoni welcomed UNESCO’s advice, saying the nation is prepared for an trustworthy dialogue with the UK in good religion, “considering the historic, cultural, authorized and ethical dimensions of the problem.”

Reporting by Renee Maltezou and George Georgiopoulos; Enhancing by Toby Chopra, Bernard Orr

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