The Vatican on Friday termed the gesture a “donation” from the pope to His Beatitude Ieronymos II, the Orthodox Christian archbishop of Athens and all Greece.
ATHENS, GREECE - DECEMBER 4: Pope Francis meets Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and All Greece, at Holy Archdiocese of Athens in Athens, Greece on December 04, 2021.
The 5th century B.C. sculptures are mostly remnants of a 160-meter-long frieze that ran around the outer walls of the Parthenon Temple on the Acropolis, dedicated to Athena, goddess of wisdom. Much of the frieze and the temple's other sculptural decoration was lost in a 17th-century bombardment, and about half the remaining works were removed in the early 19th century by a British diplomat, Lord Elgin.
Greece’s Culture Ministry said it welcomed the pope’s donation, which it said followed a request by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians. Jos van Beurden, who administers the "Restitution Matters" Facebook group that tracks the global restitution debate, suggested the use of the term "donation" for specifically religious purposes and "not a government to government affair" was deliberate and could inspire other groups to seek the return of items on similar grounds.
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