Three Parthenon sculpture fragments that have been a part of the Vatican Museums' permanent collection for 200 years will now be returned to Greece. This deal could put pressure on the U.K. and other nations to send artwork back to Athens.
The three 2,500-year-old fragments, which depict the heads of a boy, a man, and a horse, were officially signed on Tuesday at the Vatican following a preliminary announcement of the agreement in December.
The Vatican announced that the shards will be formally presented to Greek officials on March 24 during a ceremony in the nation's capital, Athens.
Parts of the Parthenon that over the years ended up in museums all around Europe have been returned to Greece with some success in recent years.
Credit: Yiorgos Karahalis/Reuters
An item from the Parthenon's permanent collection was long-loaned to Greece by an archaeological museum in Palermo, Italy, last year.
The collection at the British Museum, which has been on display since the 19th century and is one of the institution's most famous collections, is most often cited for housing parts of the Parthenon, but there are also pieces of the ancient Greek temple at the Louvre in Paris, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and in other museums.
For many years, the Greek government has fought for the recovery of the marbles from the Parthenon's frieze. Greek officials and George Osborne, the chairman of the British Museum and a former director of the U.K. Treasury, have been in regular contact for more than a year. The British Museum has so far rejected the suggestion that the marbles be permanently restored to Greece.
The three fragments of the Parthenon Sculptures that are being returned by the Vatican. [AP]
Greece has requested that the marbles be returned in full, claiming they were stolen, despite the British Museum openly stating that it is looking to form a new "relationship" with the country. The Parthenon's marbles were taken out and transferred to London in the 19th century by British ambassador Lord Elgin.
The Vatican described its action as a donation that was motivated by religion first in December and again on Tuesday. The Pope's meeting with the Greek Orthodox Church's archbishop in Athens in 2021, according to the Holy See, was the catalyst for the action.
The donation is intended to be "a concrete symbol of the heartfelt desire to continue on the ecumenical journey of witness to the truth," the Vatican stated on Tuesday.
