An egg-and-leaf sculpted architectural fragment from the Erechtheion temple on the Acropolis in Athens will be voluntarily returned to Greece by the Prefecture of the Rhone, in France.
The artefact was voluntarily given to the Rhone Prefecture in Lyon by art historian Jean-Claude Mossiere on behalf of an elderly French citizen, Jacqueline Junelles, who owned the fragment since the 1970s.
The Greek Ministry of Culture said in a statement that the marble fragment was removed from the Acropolis in the 1930s and comes from the Erechtheion, Temple of Athena Polias, which is on the north side of the Acropolis.
“The repatriation of cultural goods illegally exported from our country is a political priority and a constant pursuit of the Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Service,” said the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni, on the delivery of the marble fragment.
“Every voluntary return of antiquities, to the land of birth, gives us special joy and great satisfaction.”
The Prefect of Rhone Emmanuelle Darmon and Regional Director of Cultural Affairs of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Region Marc Drouot delivered the marble fragment to the Ambassador of Greece, Dimitrios Zevelakis, in Paris.
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Source: Amna.gr
