Palermo Fragment
The Palermo fragment, also known as Fagan slab from the name of the artist and British consul Robert Fagan who owned it, is a 2,500-year-old marble sculpture fragment of the foot and dress of the ancient Greek goddess Artemis.[1]
The Palermo fragment was taken by Lord Elgin from the Parthenon in the early 19th century and given to the British Consul to Sicily in 1816.[2] For the past two centuries, the fragment had been kept at the Salinas Archaeological Museum in Palermo.[3] Greece's 13-year campaign for the return of the fragment ended on 24 September 2008, when Italian President Giorgio Napolitano delivered the fragment to Athens on a temporary loan.[4] This move was anticipated to strengthen Greece's request for the British Museum to return the Elgin Marbles.[5] In 2022, the fragment was loaned again to the Acropolis Museum and reunited with the rest of the Parthenon frieze. The fragment is again on a temporary loan of four years, with an option for another four, but the intention of the Sicilian authorities is to keep extending the loan indefinitely.[6]
References
- ^ Italy returns Parthenon marble fragment to Greece. CBC News. 24 September 2008. Archive.
- ^ "AFP: Italy returns long lost Parthenon fragment to Greece". Archived from the original on 2008-09-27. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Greece welcomes home Parthenon marble from Italy". Reuters. 24 September 2008.
- ^ "Italy returns missing foot to Greece". 25 September 2008.
- ^ "Parthenon fragment from Italy can stay in Greece 'forever,' Greek ministry says". Reuters. 20 May 2022.