VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis is to return to Greece three fragments of Athens’ Parthenon temple, in what the Vatican referred to as Friday a gesture of friendship.
The fragments from the Parthenon on the Acropolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, have been held for hundreds of years within the papal assortment and Vatican Museums.
Francis has determined “to donate” them to the Orthodox Archbishop of Athens, “as a concrete sign” of his need to nurture interreligious relations, the Vatican mentioned.
No date was given for the return of the fragments.
The Parthenon is without doubt one of the most well-known historic monuments on the planet.
The temple was initially devoted to the goddess Athena, earlier than being remodeled right into a church after which a mosque.
The marble fragments embrace the pinnacle of a horse, one of many 4 horses drawing Athena’s legendary chariot, based on the Vatican Museums web site.
It comes from the west entrance of the constructing, on which Athena and Poseidon — the god of the ocean — had been proven competing for dominion over Attica.
The second is the pinnacle of a younger boy, believed to be depicted carrying a tray of voting muffins, which had been supplied throughout a procession to commemorate the founding of Athens.
The final is a bearded male head from an space of the constructing that includes a battle between the Lapiths, a legendary group of individuals, and Centaurs — creatures half horse, half man.
The Parthenon has not been a spot of worship because it was partially destroyed throughout an assault by the Venetians in 1687, then looted.
Its fragments had been scattered all through the primary museums of the world.
Since the start of the twentieth century, Greece has been attempting to get better them.
In 2008, the Vatican returned a fraction from the North frieze of the Parthenon, which it had been given within the early nineteenth century.
But others are much less keen to set what some see as a harmful precedent on returns.
The UK authorities warned the British Museum in London this month in opposition to a doable plan at hand again key items, saying it was legally forbidden to interrupt up its huge assortment. — Agence France-Presse
