The “Fagan fragment” was officially reunited on June 4 with the east frieze of the Parthenon at the Acropolis Museum, the Acropolis Museum has announced.
The Antonino Salinas Museum in Palermo has permanently returned the renowned piece, which depicts the legs’ extremities of Artemis, goddess of hunting, as, positioned among the other goddesses and gods of Olympus she observes the Panathenaic procession approaching the great temple.
The fragment is part of block VI of the east frieze of the Parthenon, where the museum says, “it (now) belongs forever”.
Through long-held endeavors by museum authorities in Sicily and Greece, the reunification raises hope for more of its kind.
The Acropolis Museum described the efforts that have been made between Greece and Sicily as the result of “love and friendship the two countries share, their faith in the contribution of the classical Hellenic civilization in the history of humanity, and the Parthenon as a monument symbol of world cultural heritage…without the mention of words such as grant, loan or purchase, terms always rejected by the Greek State.”
The permanent reunification of the fragment was accompanied by a ceremony in the emblematic Parthenon Gallery, in the presence of the Minister of Culture and Sports, Mrs. Lina Mendoni, the Secretary General of Culture, Mr. George Didaskalou, the Italian Ministry of Culture’s General Director of Museums, Prof. Massimo Osanna, the Acropolis Museum President of the Board of Directors, Prof. Dimitris Pandermalis, the General Director of the Acropolis Museum, Prof. Nikos Stampolidis and the Director of the A. Salinas Museum, Dr. Caterina Greco.
