On the occasion of the decision to return to Greece and the Acropolis Museum the Fagan fragment from the Antonino Salinas Museum in Palermo, which was announced this week by Culture Minister Lina Mendoni, the Prime Minister tells The Telegraph that the agreement with the Museum of Italy could provide a roadmap for the deal with Britain.
The discussion touched a sensitive chord, the Greek Prime Minister notes about what followed his meeting with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 16 November.
My sense is that there is indeed a dynamic being built and certainly the `elephant in the room' is the discussion we should have with the British Museum he stresses in his remarks to the British newspaper. The Prime Minister notes that the visit to Downing Street and the publicity the issue received helped create a large wave of international support for this cause, given that public opinion in Britain also supports the demand for the return of the sculptures (based on the latest poll conducted after the November visit).
This is an important fragment, a part of the frieze representing the gods, which was in Sicily for about two centuries, notes Kyriakos Mitsotakis. He underlines that the return of the fragment from Italy is an important step and stresses that it is not being returned as a loan but as a deposit for eight years with the prospect of remaining in the country indefinitely.
As the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, explained on 5 January, announcing the agreement, the specificity and importance of the case of the Fagan fragment from Stone VI of the Eastern Frieze of the Parthenon, lies not in the long-term deposit (deposito) for exhibition of the fragment in the Acropolis Museum, but in the prospect of its remaining on a permanent basis (sine die) in the Acropolis Museum, reunited forever with the Parthenon Frieze.
The Telegraph report notes that the Parthenon fragment from the Antonino Salinas Museum in Palermo, Italy, will be unveiled on Monday at its new home, the Acropolis Museum, and will take its place in the Parthenon frieze, which is becoming more complete with each part returned. Earlier, on 3 January, in a gesture of symbolism and substance, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Culture sent a message of reunification of all parts of the Parthenon, with the return of the sculptures from the British Museum, on the occasion of the event for the return of ten fragments of the Parthenon Sculptures from the National Archaeological Museum to the Acropolis Museum.
Source: CNA
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