In a statement released on Friday, the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports express gratitude for the pope’s “generous” decision and hopes the move will put pressure on the British Museum, which has dozens of Parthenon fragments, to return the controversial Elgin Marbles. Avoiding burning questions of restitution and repatriation, Pope Francis presented the return as a “gift” to Greek Archbishop Ieronymos II and “a concrete sign of his sincere desire to follow the ecumenical path of truth”, the Associated Press. reported.
Conversation has swirled around the Parthenon fragments in recent weeks after a Greek newspaper article said the The British Museum was in secret talks with the Greek government on the return of the Elgin Marbles.
During the Venetian siege of the Acropolis in 1687, many friezes and decorative elements of the Parthenon were destroyed. At the start of the 19th century, British diplomat Thomas Bruce, better known as Lord Elgin, sent more than half of what was left to Britain – a move that critics, including Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, consider it a theft. (Elgin wrote sadly that such artifacts would look great in his home.)
Today most of the surviving marbles are in the British Museum or the Acropolis Museum, while a handful remain elsewhere.
The British Museum has denied claims that it will return the artifacts, saying in a report that although he is open to “partnership” with Greece, “we are not going to dismantle our great collection because it tells a unique story of our common humanity”. The museum has for decades chastised efforts to have the marbles returned to it, citing policies against alienation.
What makes a “great” collection and who gets that “single story” is hotly debated in museums these days. For some institutions, like the Smithsonian, which recently updated its collection policy — the moral imperative to return certain objects outweighs other concerns. The pope’s decision to return Greek artifacts is one of many similar acts around the world.
Recently, several museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonianreturned to Nigeria artefacts known as the Benin Bronzes, which were stolen by the British during a deadly invasion in 1897. Last year, the Gilgamesh Dream Tabletwhich was once on display at the Museum of the Bible and believed to have been looted from an Iraqi museum, was returned.
This is not the first time that the Vatican Museums have returned objects from their collections. In October, the museums gave three ancient mummies back to Peru, and in 2008 they revenue a Parthenon marble to Greece on a one-year loan. It might not be the last either. When the Pope visited Canada this summer, Indigenous groups across the country pleaded for the restitution of several objects preserved in the Ethnological Museum Anima Mundi of the Vatican.
For now, however, the pope’s decision appears to focus on repairing relations with the Greek Orthodox Church. Pope Francis last met Archbishop Ieronymos II during a visit to Greece in December 2021, during which he apologized for the role of the Catholic Church in fomenting division with the Greek Orthodox Church. Tensions were high on this trip; a A Greek Orthodox priest was filmed screaming “Pope, you are a heretic,” the Catholic leader said, reflecting historic mistrust between the churches.
Artifacts the pope plans to return to Greece include a marble head of a boy, a horse’s head and a bearded man’s head. The Acropolis Museum in Athens has a Parthenon Gallery which was built to house the Marbles, but it is not yet clear where they will go once they are. back to Greece. The date of their return has not been announced.
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