art
noonFebruary 9, 2022 – 13:13
The find from the 5th century BC. C., fragment of the Parthenon frieze, was exhibited in the Acropolis Museum in Athens
from Roberto Chifari
The sculpture of the goddess Athena will now remain on display for four years at the Antonino Salinas regional archaeological museum in Palermo. The official handover took place this morning in the presence of the Minister of Culture and Sport of the Hellenic Republic, Lina Mendoni, and the director of the Acropolis Museum in Athens, Nikolaos Stampolidis, who have entrusted this precious find to the Sicilian Region.
The Greece-Sicily agreement
The arrival in Palermo of the statue of Athena was possible following the agreement, wanted by the councilor Samon and signed between the two museums under Italian law, according to which Sicily granted the Acropolis Museum (for four years, renewable for an equal period) the fragment of the Parthenon frieze dating back to the 5th century BC. C., which belonged to the English consul Robert Fagan and which, after being sold in 1820, was kept in the Salinas museum. A gesture, with which Sicily wanted to make its own effective contribution to the international debate on the subject of the return to Greece of the finds from the Parthenon. Furthermore, the transfer to Palermo of the sculpture depicting the goddess Athena marks a record: in fact, the first time that from the famous Acropolis Museum arrives in Sicily, for a long-term exhibition, an original testimony of Athenian history . Thanks to the agreement, the two museums are starting a path of collaboration in the name of culture, thanks to which exhibitions, cultural initiatives and research activities will be organized in partnership.
The statue
Made of Pentelic marble like others that come from the Parthenon area, the headless statue of Athena which from today will be accessible to all at Salinas Museum, portrays the goddess in this supple position, in the manner of the Attic style of that era. The sculpture supports the weight of his body on his right leg, while with her left arm he probably leans on a spear. Originally decorated with a grgone in the center of her, now lost, it shows Athena dressed in a peplum marked by a belt worn on her waist and with a narrow aegis placed transversely on her chest.
Samon: symbolic gesture
This moment, which follows last month’s ceremony in Athens – underlined the regional councilor for Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity, Alberto Samon – represents an opportunity for us to write a new page of history. a symbolic gesture, but of great value. Today we are putting together an important piece that goes in the direction of a Europe, new and old at the same time, which has its roots in our culture and in our thousands of years of identity. The stipulated agreement, the result of 14 months of intense collaboration and consultations – highlighted the Minister of Culture and Sports of Greece, Lina Mendoni – provides for the sending (for four years plus four) to the Palermo museum of two important and precious finds from the collections of the Acropolis Museum. This agreement indicates the main road that London and the British Museum will be able to follow. Today Athens delivers to the Salinas Museum, a statue of its patron goddess, Athena. Also sculpted in Pentelic marble, like the sculptures of the Parthenon, it adorned the Sacred Rock of the Acropolis in the 5th century BC From today and for the next four years, Athena will live here, in Panormo, in the fertile land of Sicily, to symbolize the long and fruitful bond that unites Sicily and Greece.
The arrival in Palermo of the statue of the Goddess Athena is part of the close collaboration between Italy and Greece and continues on the path of respect for each other’s histories and cultures, which even Unesco has recently looked favorably upon. Returning art to its original context: in this key that the synergy between the two countries must be interpreted, which thus exchange a gesture with a strong symbolic and, even more so, political value – declared the Undersecretary of State for Culture, Lucia Borgonzoni. I thank Sicily, its Government, Councilor Alberto Samon and the Director of the Salinas Museum, Caterina Greco – said Louis Godart, Honorary President of the International Committee for the Return of the Parthenon Marbles in Greece – for having listened to the prayers of many who in the world believe in the values promoted by the ancient Greeks, allowing the fragment of the frieze of Phidias kept at the Salinas Museum in Palermo to find its rightful place in the new Acropolis museum. Having allowed this find to return to Athens and connect with the statue of the goddess Artemis, Sicily and the Salinas Museum have shown the world the path that the British Museum should follow. I thank them on behalf of world culture.
February 9, 2022 | 13:13
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