Pope Francis Orders Return To Greece Of Parthenon Sculptures Held In Vatican

Pope Francis Orders Return To Greece Of Parthenon Sculptures Held In Vatican

Pope Francis has decided to return to Greece three 2,500-year-old Parthenon pieces that have been in papal collections at the Vatican Museums for over a century.

In a brief statement issued on Friday, the Vatican stated that the pope was presenting them to Ieronymos II, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, as a gesture of ecumenical dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church.
The Parthenon, located on Athens’ Acropolis, was finished in the fifth century BC as a temple to the goddess Athena, and its decorative friezes contain some of the finest examples of ancient Greek sculpture.

It was unclear what plans Ieronymos had for the small sculptures.
One piece is the head of the horse that was pulling Athena’s chariot on the west side of the building, according to the Vatican Museums website. The others are from the heads of a boy and a bearded man.
It is past time for museums to return stolen treasures.

They’ve been at the Vatican since the nineteenth century.
The pieces are being returned to Greece as the battle over the so-called Elgin Marbles continues between London and Athens.