Fifth-century BC statue of Athena arrives in Palermo from Athens. It will remain in Italy for four years

From the Acropolis Museum in Athens comes to the Regional Museum A. Salinas of Palermo the statue of the goddess Athena, where it will remain on public display for four years. The precious headless sculpture of Athena dates back to the fifth century B.C., is 60 centimeters high, and is made of Pentelic marble. It depicts the goddess, dressed in a peplos marked by a belt worn on her waist. She wears a narrow aegis arranged transversely across her chest, originally decorated with a gorgon in the center, which has been lost. The figure supports the weight of his body on his right leg, while with his left arm he probably leans on a spear; the supple pose and the soft, enveloping rendering of the clothing are typical of the Attic style of the last twenty-five years of the fifth century BCE, influenced by the models of the Parthenon sculptures.

The find will be accompanied by Greece’s Minister of Culture and Sports Lina Mendoni and Athenian Museum Director Nikolaos Stampolidis, who will hand it over to the Sicilian Region, in the presence of Regional Minister of Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity Alberto Samonà and Salinas Museum Director Caterina Greco. The handover is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, at the Antonio Salinas Regional Museum in Palermo.

The four-year loan to the Salinas Museum was made possible through anagreement of close cultural cooperation between Sicily and Greece. Based on the memorandum of understanding signed between the two museums, the fragment of the Parthenon frieze (the so-called"Fagan find") arrived in the Greek capital last month and reached the new Acropolis Museum in Athens from the Salinas Archaeological Museum.

Image: Statue of the goddess Athena from the collections of the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

Fifth-century BC statue of Athena arrives in Palermo from Athens. It will remain in Italy for four years

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