ATHENS: A sculpted marble fragment picked up on the Acropolis by a Swedish seaman over 100 years ago was returned by his great niece on Friday, boosting Greece's campaign to reclaim its ancient heritage from abroad.

Birgit Wiger-Angner, 89, said she decided to give back the hand-sized piece from the 5th century B.C. Erechtheion temple after a public appeal by a Swedish lobby group for the return of the Acropolis sculptures to Greece.

''I really hope this will be a signal to many people in Europe, tourists and especially the British Museum, that has so many things from ancient Greece, to give them back to the Greek people where their real home is,'' she said.

The British Museum possesses a large collection of sculptures and building fragments from the Erechtheion and its more famous sister, the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple, which Greece has unsuccessfully fought for decades to reclaim.

The marbles were removed by Britain's Lord Elgin in the early 19th century.

Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis voiced hopes the donation would boost the repatriation campaign.

''Mrs Wiger-Angner's decision to make this extremely significant gesture is linked with advancing our request for the return of the Parthenon sculptures,'' Voulgarakis said.

Measuring roughly 20 by 8 centimetres (8 by 3 inches) the Erechtheion fragment is decorated with oval and floral motifs, and originally belonged to a 60-meter (197-foot) frieze that ran round the temple just below roof level. It was picked up by Wiger-Angner's great uncle, a naval officer, during a Christmas visit in 1896.

Wiger-Angner, a retired gym teacher, inherited the marble piece from her father in 1972 and kept it on a bookshelf in her Uppsala home until early last year, when it went on temporary display in a Stockholm museum.

''We didn't really see its value,'' said Wiger-Angner's son, Jan Angner. ''We didn't keep it in a special case.'' Angner said he did not regret his mother's decision.

''It has less value in Sweden than in Greece, '' he said. ''My mother has had a lot of fun with this, she was interviewed on TV and came to Athens.''

Completed in 405 B.C., the all-marble Erechtheion was dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom and patron of the ancient city, as well as the sea god Poseidon and lesser deities linked with the city's first kings.

Built over the palace of Athens' Mycenaean kings, the Erechtheion has also served as a Christian church, a Turkish garrison chief's harem and a gunpowder store.

It is famous for a porch supported by six female statues, known as Caryatids.—AP