Italy returns long lost Parthenon fragment to Greece
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Italy has returned to Greece "the Palermo fragment", a marble piece of Athens's Parthenon missing for nearly 200 years.
The sculpted fragment of the ancient Greek hunt goddess Artemis, part of the eastern Parthenon frieze depicting the 12 gods of Olympus, had been in the collection of the Antonio Salinas Archaeological Museum of Palermo.
The fragment depicts the goddess's right foot and part of her long robe.
"For the first time in nearly two centuries, a valuable fragment of the Parthenon's sculpted decoration returns to be embodied where it belongs," Culture Minister Michalis Liapis told reporters.
The fragment was brought back on loan by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who is on an official visit to Greece.
It will be restored to the frieze on Wednesday (local time).
It had been removed by Lord Elgin, the 19th century British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire occupying Greece at the time, and given to the British consul-general of Sicily in 1816.
Lord Elgin also took to Britain a large collection of sculptures known as "The Parthenon Marbles", which Greece has campaigned to have returned from the British Museum in London for decades.
- AFP
