Three more vacancies in the priceless archaeological “mosaic” of the Parthenon Sculptures housed in the Acropolis Museum were filled after the highly symbolic donation of the corresponding fragments which had been kept since the 19th century in the precious collections of the Vatican Museums.

A few days after the signing of the donation protocol, the three fragments from the north frieze, the west pediment and the south pediment of the Parthenon returned to Athens, to the Acropolis Museum where, this afternoon, the official ceremony of their reception and incorporation took place.

“The heroic decision of the Primate of the Roman Catholic Church to donate a treasure that may not seem big, but is a great gift to all of us, is something that leaves us indebted. We particularly appreciate the decision of the Roman Catholic Church to offer, to my humble person, the fragments, which we also willingly gave to the Greek state, to be exhibited in the Acropolis Museum”, said the moved Head of the Greek Church Archbishop Hieronymos after welcoming, together with director of the Acropolis Museum, Nikos Stampolidis, the members of the delegation from the Vatican, the Reverend Monsignor Brian Farrell and Monsignor Andrea Palmieri, secretary and sub-secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, as well as Professor Barbara Jatta, director of Museums and Cultural Heritage of the Vatican.

The Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, Hieronymus, pointed out how this decision of the Roman Catholic Church demonstrates in the best possible way how culture can make a decisive contribution to dialogue, to peace, to the reconciliation of communities, to the brotherhood of peoples.

The Minister of Culture and Sports Lina Mendoni, on her behalf, stated that, “this is a gesture with a strong religious, but also political symbolism, which reflects the deep moral conviction that the mangled and mutilated monument itself demands the return of its architectural sculptural members, in order to regain its single and indivisible physical, aesthetic and conceptual entity”.

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The minister also referred to the “determining”, as she described it, contribution of the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew in making the donation. “The Patriarch, before the official request of the Acropolis Museum was formulated, asked himself, sent Elder of Chalcedon as an envoy to the Vatican, and the Pontiff responded to his prayer. Thus, he manifested his sincere desire to follow the path of universal truth”.