Greece welcomes back ancient art amid pressure on British Museum

Greece has welcomed the Vatican’s return of ancient artefacts from the Acropolis, furthering a campaign to press the British Museum to hand back a collection of sculptures taken from the ancient site in Athens more than 200 years ago.

Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni on Friday led a ceremony for the repatriation of three sculpture fragments that had been kept at the Vatican Museums.

The artefacts, representing a horse and two male heads, will be added to the collection at the Acropolis Museum, which opened in 2009 at the foot of the ancient site in the centre of the Greek capital Athens.

Bishop Brian Farrell, a Vatican secretary for promoting Christian unity, headed the visiting delegation and said the return of the three fragments had been discussed during a visit to Athens by Pope Francis in 2021.

(Aljazeera)