The protection, restoration and rehabilitation of Mytilene Castle, including the Saplitza Warehouses and the Ottoman Seminary, the maintenance and restoration of the emblematic monument of Mytilene town, the Church of St. Therapontas, the Valide Mosque, the rocky slopes of the Castle of Mitimna and the Church of Panagia Petra are among the cultural projects, with a total budget of 80. 000.000.000 euros, implemented in the North Aegean islands by the Ministry of Culture.

The Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni, head of a team of the Ministry of Culture, made a two-day working visit to the projects carried out by the Ministry of Culture, in Mytilene Mendoni and chaired a meeting during which the projects implemented and implemented from 2019 to date were examined, with funding from the North Aegean Regional Operational Programme – 2014-2021 and the resources of the Recovery Fund managed by the Ministry of Culture, as well as the projects already funded or about to be included in the ESPA 2021-2027.
Among others, it was decided to include new projects in the 2021-2027 programming period, such as the restoration of the Fortress in Sigri, the restoration of the towers and meta-towers of the Castle of Molyvos, the restoration of the powder magazine and the large enclosure in the Upper Castle (Queen’s Tower) and the restoration of the sea wall and the Ottoman House 11, in the Kato Castle of Mytilene, the modernisation of the building of the Old Archaeological Museum of Lesvos and the second phase of the consolidation of the archaeological sites of Mytilene and the restoration and rehabilitation of the earthquake-affected Church of the Life-Giving Spring in Vrissa.

“Our cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, as well as modern creation”, Lina Mendoni told the media at the end of the meeting, “is a huge economic and development lever, which gives particular dynamism to the local and regional economy. Greece, internationally, is a great power in the field of culture, respected in international organisations and international fora. The North Aegean islands have a unique cultural heritage, which is being restored for the benefit of local communities. With the Regional Governor of the North Aegean, as part of our close cooperation, we reviewed the projects funded by the Ministry of Culture from the Recovery Fund and reviewed those funded by the North Aegean Regional Operational Programme 2014-2020. Since July 2019, we have launched and are implementing a coherent programme in our islands, of approximately 80 million, mainly from European funds, the NSRF and the Recovery Fund. In the city of Mytilene, with resources from the Recovery Fund, the Valide Mosque, a very important monument, is being restored. In Molyvos, the castle, the walls and the rocky slopes are being interfered with. The same in Chios, in Samos, in Ikaria, in all our islands, which are endowed and blessed to have a huge reserve, places that we love and serve with great pride and empathy.

We had the opportunity to sign two Programme Agreements for two important monuments, the Virgin Mary of Vatousa and the Taxiarches of Agia Paraskevi. In addition to the NSRF and the Recovery Fund, national resources are also available from the Region and the Ministry of Culture, precisely to protect and enhance our cultural heritage. A few days ago, I signed the decision to include the ceramic art of Dimitris Kouvdis in Agios Stefanos Mantamados Lesvos, as it has been served for many decades. We ought to preserve, protect and enhance it. The revival, in a modern form, of our traditional arts can contribute to development, job creation and the economic and social well-being of our islands, just like all of culture.

During her visit, Lina Mendoni inaugurated the Saplitza Warehouses at Kato Castle in Mytilene, a 2.9 million euro project implemented by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesvos. The project involves the restoration of the Saplitza warehouses and the construction of a modern metal building, which houses the ceramics workshops and serves as a storage area for the excavations of the Lesvos Antiquities Ephorate.

In her address at the inauguration ceremony, Lina Mendoni said: “The Castle, a true witness of the various rulers and regimes that Lesvos has known successively, is an element integrally linked to its recent history. It is this inseparable historical unity that we wanted to highlight when we initiated its restoration and promotion, while looking forward to its presentation to the residents and visitors of Mytilene, not only as a static monument with a rich past, but also as a living modern complex with enormous potential for the future.

Having secured, the Ministry of Culture, funding of more than 15.000.000 euros from the European Union funds for the restoration, restoration and regeneration of the Castle, included in its program through the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesvos, and the work of fixing and restoration of the Saplitza Warehouses.
The restoration of the Saplitza Warehouses is added to the wider project of promoting and improving the visitability of the Castle, so that it can be organically linked to the historic centre of the town and transformed into an urban space of culture and recreation, with multiple functions. The Castle of Mytilene therefore becomes a welcoming focus for contemporary creativity and the continuation of the much sought-after modern tradition of Lesvos in Arts and Letters. It reflects our vision of cultural heritage as an obvious element of the everyday life of citizens, a constant source of inspiration for modern creation, a multiplier of development that interacts with economic activity. Mytilene has acquired a new cultural centre, which is part of the dense network of cultural landmarks of the city and the island”.

Lina Mendoni, at the Town Hall, had a working meeting with the Mayor of Mytilene Panagiotis Christofas, pointing out the need to mature studies concerning important monuments of the Municipality, through Programmatic Contracts for Cultural Development, so that in the coming years, even more projects will be implemented by the Ministry of Culture, in the Municipality of Mytilene. At the end of the cooperation, the Minister made the following statement:

“We had a very constructive discussion with the Mayor and his colleagues, in the presence of my colleagues, Directors and Directors General of the Ministry of Culture. In the Municipality of Mytilene, the Ministry of Culture, through the NSRF and the Recovery Fund, is carrying out a number of very important projects. The urban fabric is an area of particular interest to us, because citizens, in their daily lives, must see their standard of living improve every day. We looked at the projects that the Ministry is already implementing in the Castle, in the Valide Mosque, in St. Therapontas. We also planned the maturation of further studies for important monuments of the Municipality of Mytilene. The maturation will be done through Programmatic Contracts for cultural development, so that with the revision of the NSRF 2021-2027, around the end of 2025- beginning of 2026, we are ready for the Ministry of Culture to implement, through its services, further projects in Mytilene.

This was followed by an inspection of the Ministry of Culture’s team at the restoration and maintenance project in Agios Therapontas, which is being implemented by the Directorate of Restoration of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesvos, as well as the restoration and restoration project of the mosque of Valide, which is being carried out by the Ephorate of Antiquities.

Afterwards, Lina Mendoni inaugurated the opening of the temporary exhibition “Cults of Gods in Lesvos”, at the New Archaeological Museum of Mytilene, organized by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesvos at the New Archaeological Museum of Mytilene. In her address, the Minister said:

“The very important findings of the exhibition “Cults of Gods in Lesvos” reconstruct, to a large extent, the religious, social and ultimately economic history of Lesvos in antiquity. I will say nothing more than to congratulate and thank Pavlos Triantafyllidis and all the staff of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesvos, because, along with the great work of restoration and promotion of the archaeological sites and monuments of the entire Regional Unit, they made sure that this particular periodic exhibition exists. Periodic exhibitions are the comparative advantage of our museums.

Obviously, the permanent Exhibitions declare the archaeology and history of each region: We are taught our past, our roots, because without their knowledge there can be no promising future. However, the temporary exhibitions complement our knowledge, renewing the interest, first and foremost, of citizens and townspeople, but also of visitors. Our aim is that people should not visit a museum or an archaeological site once, but that they should return. In this way, they can perceive values and meanings, the history of art, the economy and society, carried by the works on display”.

The visit of the Minister of Culture concluded with a working meeting with the Mayor of Lesvos, Taxiarchis Verros, during which projects and studies concerning the cooperation between the Ministry of Culture, the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesvos and the Municipality were discussed. The meeting was attended by the church council and the parish priest of Zoodochos Pigi Vrissa. The Minister assured that the project of restoration of the earthquake-affected church, which will be funded -from the North Aegean Regional Development Plan 2021-2027- is included in the new NSRF programming period.