Pope Francis returns Parthenon marbles from Vatican Museums to Greece

Pope Francis has returned to Greece the three Parthenon marbles kept in the Vatican Museums. They are part of the extensive decorations from the great temple in Athens, much of which are now in the British Museum and are at the center of a long-standing dispute between the UK and Greece. The fragments returned are a boy’s head, a man’s head, and a fragment of a horse’s head. They have been in the papal collections since the 19th century, although the events that brought them to Rome are unclear, and represent all the Parthenon fragments in the possession of the Vatican collections. The decision follows by a few months that of Sicily, which in turn returned to Greece the Palermo Fragment, another fragment of the Parthenon decoration.

“The Holy Father Francis, as a concrete sign of the sincere desire to continue on the ecumenical path of bearing witness to the Truth,” reads a Holy See note, “has decided to give to His Beatitude Ieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, the three fragments of the Parthenon, which for centuries have been carefully kept in the Pontifical Collections and the Vatican Museums and exhibited to millions of visitors from all over the world.”

The horse comes from the Parthenon’s western pediment (it is one of the horses that pulled Athena’s quadriga in the scene of the dispute between the goddess of wisdom and the sea god Poseidon for dominion over Attica), the child’s head is what remains of an offerer that was effigyed on the frieze of the temple cella, while thebearded man probably comes from one of the metopes on the southern side, where a centauromachy was depicted.

Satisfaction from authorities in Greece: “The Ministry of Culture and Sports welcomes Pope Francis’ decision, announced by the Vatican, to return to Greece the three fragments of the Parthenon frieze and metopes that have been kept in the precious collections of the Vatican Museums since the 19th century,” a statement read. “In Pope Francis’ donation, which is made to Archbishop Ieronymos, the spiritual and friendly character of the papal gesture toward the Orthodox Church of Greece is emphasized. The gratitude of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, and personally of the Minister of Culture and Sports Lina Mendoni, for Pope Francis’ generous decision is expressed. This decision comes in aid of the diligent effort made by the Greek government and Kyriakos Mitsotakis personally, as of July 2019, for the return of the Parthenon sculptures from the British Museum and their reunification with those exhibited in the Acropolis Museum.”

Pope Francis returns Parthenon marbles from Vatican Museums to Greece

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