A Horse, a Bearded Man, and a Boy are Returning Home to Greece

Last December Pope Francis ordered the Vatican Museum to rush the return of three marble fragments– a horse, a bearded man and a boy– that once adorned the Parthenon, back to Greece.

Proving that such agreements of sacred and significant items can be done when there is a will to do so, a transportation agreement is now in place and the fragments will arrive in Greece on March 24th.

The Vatican, which housed the pieces in its museum for almost 200 years, is “donating” the items to the Greek Orthodox Church in Athens, calling the move “a concrete sign of [Francis’s] sincere desire to follow in the ecumenical path of truth.”

“This initiative does help heal wounds of the past and it demonstrates that when Christian leaders work together, they can resolve issues in a practical way,” the church’s envoy Father Emmanuel Papamikroulis told the AP. “It has taken place at a difficult time for our country, and it will hopefully provide some sense of pride and happiness. I hope this initiative is followed by others.”

By “others,” the official is, no doubt, hinting to the British Museum, which has been at loggerheads with the Greek government for years about returning the vast majority of the Parthenon Marbles which have been in London since 1816.

The 2,500-year-old sculptures adorned the exterior of the Parthenon temple on the Acropolis. The temple was extensively looted in the 19th century– most notoriously by the 7th Earl of Elgin, who sold his plunder to the British Museum in 1816.

Although tiny pieces, the Vatican’s move has made international headlines and is sure to spark more talk between Greek and British officials.

The British Museum has refused decades of appeals from Greece to return its much larger collection of Parthenon sculptures, which have been a centerpiece of the museum since 1816.
Earlier this month, however, the chair of the British Museum said the UK and Greece were working on a deal that would see his institution’s Parthenon Marbles displayed in both London and Athens.
About the pieces the Vatican is returning:

According to the Vatican Museum website, these three fragments of Pentelic marble, which came into the Vatican in the 19th century, are part of the decorative sculpture of the Parthenon, the temple built on the Acropolis at Athens by Pericles (447-432 B.C.). The figurative decoration of the temple is the creative genius of the Athenian sculptor, Phidias.

The head of a horse comes from the west front of the building, on which Athena and Poseidon were shown competing for dominion over Attica; the fragment here has been identified as the fourth horse pulling Athena’s chariot.

The relief with the head of a boy has been identified as one of the figures from the frieze that went round the cella of the temple: he is carrying a tray of votive cakes which were offered during the Panathenaic procession in honor of Athena.

The bearded male head, however, has been attributed to one of the metopes from the southern side of the building where there was a battle between the Lapiths and Centaurs.

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