The “Fagan fragment” returns to Greece from the Antonino Salinas Museum in Palermo, Italy, to be exhibited at the Acropolis Museum for eight years. The peculiarity of this return does not lie in the long-term deposit (‘deposito’) of the fragment in the monument belonging to it, the Parthenon, and in the Acropolis Museum, but in the perspective started by the Sicilian regional government to the Italian Ministry of Culture, so that to remain on a permanent basis (‘sine die’) at the Acropolis Museum.
This is an excerpt from the stone VI of the eastern frieze of the Parthenon, which depicts the gods of Olympus sitting, watching the delivery of the veil to Athena, the Patron Goddess of Athens. It depicts the lower extremities of the Goddess Artemis, including the Goddess of hunting, who looks at the procession of the Panathenaeans, which approaches the great temple.
As stated by the Minister of Culture and Sports Lina Mendoni:
“I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Regional Government of Sicily and its President Nello Musumeci, as well as to the Regional Councilor for Cultural Heritage and Identity of Sicily Alberto Samonà. Our cooperation in order for the fragment from the eastern frieze of the Parthenon, which is today in the Regional Archaeological Museum “A. Salinas ”by Palermo, to be exhibited for a long time in the Acropolis Museum together with its context, was impeccable and constructive. Above all, however, I express my gratitude for the tireless and systematic efforts of the Government of Sicily and Councilor A. Samona for the legal settlement under the Code of Cultural Heritage of the Italian Republic, so that this fragment can be returned to Athens for good. From November 2020, when the discussions between us started, until today, Assessore Samona declares in every way his love for Greece and its Culture. Overall, the intention and aspiration of the Sicilian Government to permanently repatriate the Palermo section to Athens, confirms the long-standing ties of cultural relevance and brotherhood of the two regions, as well as the de facto recognition of a common Mediterranean identity. In this context, the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports with great pleasure begins its cooperation with the Museum “A. Salinas “, not only for the exhibition of important antiquities from the Acropolis Museum, but also for general actions and initiatives. With this gesture, the Government of Sicily indicates the way for the final return of the Parthenon Sculptures to Athens, the city that created them “.
The Assistant of Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity, Dr. Alberto Samonà made the following statement:
“This is a cultural agreement of outstanding international importance, signed by Sicily with Greece, and which provides for the transfer to Athens of the fragment of a slab belonging to the eastern frieze of the Parthenon, which is now kept in the Regional Archaeological Museum A. Salinas in Palermo. This is the so-called “Fagan” plate, a Pentelic marble fragment depicting the foot of the Goddess Artemis (Goddess of Hunting) sitting on a throne. A move that the signatory Regional Councilor for Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity, Alberto Samonà, wanted and shared with the Greek Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni, is a move of strong symbolic value for Greek culture: Sicily, in this way, becomes, in in fact, a pioneer in the issue of the return to Greece of the Parthenon marbles, contributing decisively to the debate that has been taking place for a long time worldwide.
The agreement, which resulted from the fruitful dialogue between the Sicilian government Musumeci – with Councilor Samonà – and the government of Athens – with Minister Mendoni – was signed between the A. Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum of Palermo and the Acropolis Museum of Athens, according to Article 67 of our Code of Cultural Heritage, which provides for the multi-year transfer and exchange of archaeological finds between the two reputable museums, which are respectively under the direction of Caterina Greco and Nikolaos Stampolidis.
The signed agreement stipulates according to Italian law that for a period of 4 years, with the possibility of renewal for another 4 years, Salinas transfers to the Acropolis Museum in Athens the fragment of the Parthenon, which is now kept in Palermo as part of the archeological collection of the English consul Robert Fagan, purchased from the Royal University of Palermo in 1820. In return, two very important items from the Acropolis Museum collections will reach Palermo, each for a period of four years: this is an important headless statue of Athena dating to the end of the 5th century BC. and a geometric amphora of the first half of the 8th century BC. The agreement also provides for the organization of joint initiatives that will be implemented in partnership between the two museums on issues of cultural interest of international scope.
The will of Sicily, in fact, is that of the finding of indefinite return to Greece. In this regard, the Region of Sicily, in addition to promoting the reciprocal development agreement between the two museums, has asked the Ministry of Culture of the Italian Republic for a path leading to the successful outcome of this possibility (return): the process has begun and at the moment the issue is under discussion in the framework of the “Committee for the Recovery and Restoration of Cultural Heritage” set up at the Ministry.
The return to Athens of the fragment confirms the feeling of cultural brotherhood that connects Sicily and Greece, in the context of recognizing the common Mediterranean roots and the ancient and deep ties between the two countries. The signed agreement is, in fact, an exceptional seal of the Mediterranean community, which, having its origins in the era of classical Greece with its colonies in southern Italy and Sicily, still indicates today the close cultural ties between Italy and the Hellenic Republic. An agreement, which comes after the end of the year in which the anniversary of the beginning of the struggle for the independence of Greece was celebrated and just over three months after the Decision of 29 September 2021, by which the UNESCO Intergovernmental Commission for the Promoting the Return of Cultural Heritage to Their Countries of Origin (ICPRCP) called on “the United Kingdom to reconsider its position and enter into a dialogue of good faith with Greece”, which since 1984 has called for the return of the Parthenon sculptures. which are still housed in the British Museum in London.
The return to Athens of this important object of the Parthenon moves in the direction of building a Europe of Culture that has its roots in history and in our identity: a Europe of peoples that finds us deeply united with Greece, both carriers of ancient and universal values. . In addition, the multiple testimonies of Greek culture that exist in Sicily are the confirmation that our bond is inseparable and deep. The cooperation agreement with the Acropolis Museum in Athens will also allow us to create joint cultural initiatives of great depth and international importance that will give due prominence to our Region.
The General Director of the Acropolis Museum, Professor Nikos Stampolidis, stated the following:
“Marble is a hard material to withstand and keep the beauty and the worldview of the respective creators and the societies that imprinted on it ideas and beliefs, myths and realities.
From this material, the Pentelic marble, was created on the sacred rock of the Acropolis, the symbol of piety to the gods, the Athenian tribute to the patron goddess, the symbol of the Athenian democracy, the Parthenon, today a monument – symbol of the world culture.
These stones, which constituted the masterpiece of architecture and sculpture decoration and for which the Greeks fought, bear on them the history of a people, at a time of culmination of its culture, which has since been characterized as classical as it is the transfiguration of the spirit. on matter in an insurmountable way.
And the decay of the centuries on these stones keeps their timeless truth, the alpha deprivation of oblivion.
But since “evil rust does not catch on these marbles here”, it was time to gather the fragments of the monument, small or large, in order to render it again, in the eyes of the people in its natural space, to render its members down from the light that gave birth to them, the marbles to shine in the sun in their former form.
The beginning started a few days ago from where it should have started. From the performance at the Acropolis Museum of the ten Parthenon fragments kept in the ark of our Culture, at the National Archaeological Museum, identified by my late teacher George Despinis, a well-known connoisseur of ancient Greek sculpture (sculpture).
These 10 Parthenon fragments from our own country in the Acropolis Museum are an example of articulation and other fragments and stones, which have been scattered from time to time in other European capitals and museums.
In this series of reunions of the Parthenon architectural sculptures, the so-called “Fagan fragment” at the A. Salinas Museum in Palermo, Sicily is extremely important. Not because it is the first to come in the next few days to the Acropolis Museum, nor because it comes from one of the central stones of the frieze on the east side of the temple, where the gods of Olympus are depicted sitting. I would not even say why it is one of the oldest distant pieces of the Parthenon sculptures, as old as the ones that Elgin brought to old Albion in the early 19th century, since it is known that the fragment reached the Royal Museum of his University Palermo between 1818 and 1820 and existed in the Fagan collection long before. In my opinion, the way in which the Sicilian authorities handled the deposit of the fragment at the Acropolis Museum and the initiation of the procedure with the Italian Ministry of Culture for his permanent stay in Athens is important. The whole manipulation, apart from the good mood, the recognition of the affinity of our culture, essentially of the European culture, which unites and does not divide, that acknowledges our common roots and values, values of at least the whole western world, which started from ancient Greece and Athens, is at the same time an excellent example of how other European capitals will proceed, culminating in London and the British Museum, in the return and reunification of the architectural sculptures of our common world monument, the Parthenon, as it is reflected in the will of the majority of the British people but also in the global will, as expressed in the UNESCO Decision of 29 September 2021 “.
For her part, the Director of the Antonino Salinas Museum, Caterina Greco made the following statement:
“I would like to express my utmost satisfaction with achieving a goal I set when I arrived at the Salinas Museum two years ago. The return to Athens of the fragment of the Parthenon frieze, whose Attic origin was only recognized by Walter Amelung in 1893 and which was mistakenly confused with the marbles discovered by Fagan during his excavations at Tindari in 1808, means not only a return to Greece a piece of the most prominent of its archeological history, but also a new light in the complex and fascinating history of the collection of the 19th century that distinguishes the oldest of our museums and whose testimony of the presence in Palermo of the “Fagan plaque” represents one of most interesting episodes “.
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