Parthenon Fragments Won't Go Back Home

March 30, 2007 — The Vatican is expected to announce its decision to keep some fragments of the Parthenon housed in the Vatican Museums, dashing Greek hopes that the artifacts would be returned to their homeland, according to the Italian press.

Greece officially requested the fragments last December, in a renewed attempt to resolve the longstanding dispute.

The country's top religious leader Christodoulos, the Orthodox archbishop of Greece, asked for the sculpture fragments to be returned at a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI.

According to press reports at the time, the Pope appeared a little perplexed by the request, but said he would consider it.

The horsemen, deities and other creatures — carved by Phidias in the 5th century B.C. — are scattered throughout several European museums, including the Louvre in Paris.

Greece has been demanding the return of 17 figures and 56 panels, which have come to be known as the Parthenon marbles, since the country's independence from Turkey in 1829.

But most of the marbles are kept in London's British Museum. Greece contends they were stolen in 1801 by Lord Elgin, a British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

Britain claims Lord Elgin had permission from the ruling Turkish authorities to take them.

The British also contend the marbles have received better treatment at the British Museum, where they are safe from the polluted Athens air, which has damaged other Greek artifacts.

Greece's desire to unify its artistic heritage took an unexpected turn last September, when the University of Heidelberg in Germany decided to return a fragment taken nearly 200 years ago from the Parthenon's northern frieze.

The unprecedented move was done in an attempt to promote "the unification of the Parthenon as a unique monument of world culture," the University of Heidelberg said in a statement.

The Vatican's decision is likely to cause controversy — a gesture in favor of the reunification of the marbles would have held huge symbolic meaning.

The Vatican believes returning the marbles would create a precedent that could destabilize the entire museum system.

"Returning an artwork can create dangerous precedents. True, there is a territorial property, but we should not forget the cultural property which has been now acquired," Vatican sources told the Italian press.