An Italian museum is scheduled to lend a fragment of the Parthenon Sculptures back to Greece in what both sides hope will become a permanent agreement, encouraging the United Kingdom to follow suit.
Antonino Salinas Regional Archeological Museum in Sicily announced Wednesday that it had signed a once-renewable, four-year loan agreement with the Acropolis Museum in Athens for a small white marble piece. In exchange, it will receive a statue and vase on loan.
“The return to Athens of this important artifact of the Parthenon goes in the direction of building a Europe of culture that has its roots in our history and in our identity,” said Alberto Samona, Sicily’s councilor for cultural heritage and identity, according to the Associated Press.
The piece returning to Greece is the right foot of a draped figure of Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt, originally located on the eastern side of a 520-foot frieze that ran around the temple.
Italy had previously loaned the fragment to Greece, but only for short periods of time.
The goal of the agreement is an “indefinite return” of the fragment to Athens, with talks being initiated with the Culture Ministry to make the loan permanent.
The piece ended up in Sicily from a 19th century English consul, Robert Fagan, though it remains unknown how he acquired it, according to the museum.
The statement also quoted Greek authorities praising the agreement, hinting that they hope it encourages the British Museum to return its sculptures.
Its sculptures, now located at the British Museum in London, were originally taken from the Parthenon by Thomas Bruce, the Earl of Elgin and the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, in the early 19th century, according to the statement.
Despite pleas from the Greeks, roughly half of the 5th century B.C. sculptures, which once stood at the Parthenon on the Acropolis, remain in London.
British authorities maintain that the sculptures were legally obtained when Greece was ruled by the Ottomans. Meanwhile, the Greek government has openly asked for the pieces to be returned so they can be displayed in the Acropolis Museum, which opened in 2009.
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In return for the fragment, Italy will receive a 5th century B.C. marble statue of Athena and a terracotta amphora in the linear, geometric style that dates from the mid-8th century B.C.
