The Acropolis Museum received the renowned “Fagan fragment” for at least eight years, from the Antonino Salinas Museum in Palermo. The significance of this return does not lie in the long-term nature of the deposit of the fragment to the monument to which it belongs, the Parthenon frieze at the Acropolis Museum, but in the prospect of remaining here permanently (sine die), following the initiative launched by the Independent Regional Authority of Sicily towards the Italian Ministry of Culture.

This piece belongs to block VI of the east frieze of the Parthenon that portrays the seated gods of Olympus watching the Panathenaic procession and the presentation of the woven veil (peplos) to Athena, the city’s patron goddess. The fragment depicts the legs’ extremities of Artemis, goddess of hunting among others, as she is gazing the procession approaching the great temple.

The fragment was temporarily placed in a special showcase in the Parthenon Gallery, and will remain there until its adaptation on block VI where it belongs, following the appropriate interventions by the Museum’s conservators for its secure attachment.

The reception of the fragment from Palermo took place on Monday 10 January 2022 in an official ceremony in the Acropolis Museum, in the emblematic Parthenon Gallery, presence of the Prime Minister, Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Minister of Culture, Mrs. Lina Mendoni, the President of the Board of Directors of the Acropolis Museum, Prof. Dimitris Pandermalis, the Assessore of Cultural Heritage and Identity of Sicily, Dr. Alberto Samonà, the Director of the A. Salinas Museum, Dr. Caterina Greco and the General Director of the Acropolis Museum, Prof. Nikos Stampolidis.