Vatican returns fragments of Parthenon sculptures to Greece

A man takes a photo of a horse sculpture at the Acropolis Museum, during a ceremony for the repatriation of three fragments of sculpture, in Athens, Friday, March 24, 2023. AP - Petros Giannakouris

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In Greece, the Vatican returned this Friday, March 24, three fragments of sculptures that belong to the Parthenon, this temple symbol of ancient Greece, perched on the hill of the Acropolis in Athens. The three fragments had been kept in the Vatican Museums for more than 200 years.

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With our correspondent in Athens, Joël Bronner

This symbolic restitution echoes Athens' repeated requests for another return, that of the Parthenon marbles: a set of sculptures currently on display at the British Museum in London.

Three heads carved in marble are now back in Greece: that of a horse, that of a boy and that of a man with a beard. These three fragments, which belong to the frieze of the temple of the Parthenon - called frieze of the Panathenaia - were shaped some 2500 years ago during the "th century of Pericles". They are now on display at the Acropolis Museum in Athens, a short walk from the Parthenon where they come from.

This return to their place of origin is also and above all what Athens ardently wishes about the sculptures in London. The British Museum has a gigantic fragment of the same Parthenon frieze, which is 75 metres long.

The London museum believes that it acquired these marbles legally from the Ottoman Empire before the birth of modern Greece at the very beginning of the 19th century. For its part, Greece, which speaks of "looting", sees in these marbles a part of its national identity. In January, the latest negotiations on this highly political issue ended up being cut short.

►To listen also Parthenon Friezes: Greece's ruined hopes

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  • Greece
  • Vatican
  • History