The 'Fagan' fragment, a part of the Parthenon's eastern frieze that the Sicilian government exchanged with Greece last January, will definitely stay in Athens. This was announced this Friday by the Greek Ministry of Culture, which has advanced that, in exchange, an important headless statue of the goddess Athena from the Acropolis Museum, dating from the end of the 5th century BC, will be offered. C. to the Antonino Salinas Museum in Palermo for four years.
The fragment, which represents the ankle of the goddess Artemis, had returned to the Acropolis museum at the beginning of the year for a provisional period of eight years thanks precisely to an agreement with the Antonino Salinas museum in Palermo, where it had been on display since 1836.
The announcement comes after the regional government of Sicily gave the green light a few weeks ago to the "release" of the fragment, allowing the gradual return of the pieces of the Parthenon to their place of origin. However, the authorization of the Italian Ministry of Culture is still pending, which is expected to be given in the coming days.
However, Lina Mendoni, the Greek Minister of Culture and Sports, has gone ahead and thanked the Sicilian Government for the gesture, assuring that "it shows the clear and moral path for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures to Athens". "The political will expressed confirms the most enduring ties of cultural relevance and the tangible recognition of our common Mediterranean identity," she concluded.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the fragment ended up in the hands of the English consul Robert Fagan and after his death it was inherited by his wife, who later sold it, between 1818 and 1820, to the Royal Museum of the University of Palermo, whose current successor is the Museo Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Site. Specifically, in the archaeological piece, the lower extremities of the goddess Artemis, goddess of the hunt, can be distinguished while she watches the Panathenaic procession.
The permanent return of this piece paves the way for the return of other Parthenon marbles, such as the well-known Elgin marbles, which the Greek Government has requested on numerous occasions from the United Kingdom Government.
At the beginning of the 19th century, these marbles traveled to Great Britain when the British ambassador of the Ottoman Empire, Thomas Bruce, better known as Lord Elgin, -who defined himself as a lover of antiquities-, obtained permission from the Sultan to take part of the metopes and the interior frieze of the Parthenon.
He later sold them to his Government for 35,000 pounds and since 1939 these jewels have been exhibited in the British Museum, while the Acropolis Museum only exhibits copies.
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