Rome, March 8 (BNA): The Vatican and Greece have struck a deal to return three sculptural fragments of the Parthenon that have been in the Vatican Museums’ collection for two centuries, the latest case of a Western museum bowing to it. Reply demands.
The Vatican has described the return as an ecumenical “donation” to the Orthodox Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece, not necessarily a state-to-state transfer. But it is nonetheless putting pressure on the British Museum to strike a deal with Greece over the fate of its largest collection of Parthenon sculptures, according to the Associated Press (AP).
The Vatican’s Head of State, Cardinal Fernando Verges, signed an agreement for the implementation of the “donation” during a ceremony for the Vatican Museums with the Greek Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni and the representative of the Archbishop of the Orthodox of Athens and of all Greece, His Beatitude. Ironimus II.
The envoy, Father Emmanuel Papacrolis, told the Associated Press that the Greek Orthodox Church and the archbishop are grateful to Pope Francis for the deal.
He said in a phone interview from the Vatican, where he was touring the gardens after the signing ceremony.
“This initiative helps heal the wounds of the past and shows that when Christian leaders work together, they can solve problems in a practical way,” Papacrolis added.
The fragments are expected to arrive in Athens later this month and are scheduled to be received on March 24.
The British Museum has rejected decades of pleas from Greece to return its largest collection of Parthenon sculptures, which have been a focus of the museum since 1816.
Earlier this month, the head of the British Museum said the UK and Greece were working on a deal that would have his foundation’s Parthenon Marbles on display in both London and Athens.
The 5th-century BC statues are mostly the remains of a 160-meter (520-foot) frieze that once ran around the outer walls of the Parthenon on the Acropolis, dedicated to Athena.
Much of the frieze and other sculptural decoration of the temple was lost in the 17th-century bombing, and about half of the remaining works were removed by the British diplomat Lord Elgin in the early 19th century.
WWA