On Friday, March 24, it will take place in Acropolis Museum the ceremony of receiving and uniting the three fragments of the Parthenon, as previously announced by the Ministry of the Interior, confirming today’s publication of “K”. The fragments, which have been in the collections of the Vatican Museums for two centuries, were “donated” by Pope Francis to Archbishop Jerome last December.

The relevant agreements on the transfer of the three fragments and the protocols for their transfer and receipt were signed today at 11.30 at the Gregorian Museum of Secular Art of the Vatican (Museo Gregoriano Profano) in the presence of Cardinal Fernando Verges Altaghi, President of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican, Father Emmanuel Papamikroulis, an employee of the Synodal Committee for Orthodox and Inter-Christian Relations of the Church of Greece, Minister of Culture Linas Mendonis and Director of the Vatican Museums Barbara Ghiata. The ceremony was attended by Director General of the Acropolis Museum Professor Nikos Stampolidis, Greek Ambassador to the Holy See Katia Georgiou and Greek Ambassador to Rome Eleni Surani.

Three fragments of the southern metopes, the northern frieze and the western pediment of the Parthenon depict two male heads and a horse’s head. Pope Francis “gifted” them on December 16, 2022 to Archbishop Jerome “as a tangible sign of his sincere desire to follow the ecumenical path of truth.” Responsibility for the fragments will now pass to the Acropolis Museum, where they will be displayed.