Greece, Italy exchange works of art / Greece demands that Great Britain return the works of art it received in the 19th century

Meanwhile the museum of Sicily will take for a short period of time a marble statue of Athena of the 5th century BC and a terracotta amphora in the linear, geometric style dating from the middle of the 8th century BC.

“It is a very important exchange, because this small but significant fragment of the Parthenon goes to Athens and in return will come an important sculpture of the goddess Athena from the Acropolis Museum, which will enrich the collections of the Salina Museum” – said lberto Samona, Regional Counselor of Sicily for cultural heritage.

The piece of marble known as the “Fagan Fragment” will be exhibited on loan for 8 years initially in the museum of Athens, but there is the will of the Sicilian authorities to give it indefinitely to the Acropolis Museum.

It is part of the curvature of the right foot of a sculpture of Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting, located on the east side of a 160-meter-long frieze that ran around the temple, and it is not known how the English consul Robert Fagan got it. brought to Palermo in the 19th century and later his widow sold it to the Regio Museum of the University of the city.

“This exchange unites these two structures under the banner of a cultural cooperation that connects and further strengthens the cultural identity that connects Sicily with Greece from many perspectives: the exchange of artifacts, the growth of joint initiatives and a whole process that will connect the museum. ours with that of Athens for several years “- said Caterina Greco, Director of the Museum.

Greek authorities praise the initiative in the hope that it encourages the British Museum to return his sculptures, which were taken from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century, an attempt by Athens to resist rejection. of London since 1980.

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