At a special ceremony held at our embassy in Rome, the grandson of former Italian Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi presented the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, with an ancient vase donated to his grandfather by the Greek government in 1953.
Specifically, it is a crater of the 5th century BC, preserved in excellent condition, which was donated by Prime Minister Alexandros Papagos to his Italian counterpart Alcide de Gasperi during his visit to Greece, as a sign of friendship, following Italy’s decision to return the Dodecanese to Greece.
Mendoni thanked Paolo Catti De Gasperi, a descendant of the Italian Christian Democrat prime minister, and presented him with an exact replica of the goddess Artemis from the Parthenon’s zoo, which is in the Acropolis Museum. At the same time, he also thanked our ambassador in Rome, Eleni Surani and her colleagues, for their efforts that led to this momentous handover ceremony.
Today and tomorrow, in parallel, the Culture Minister is attending the G7 Culture Conference, which is taking place in Naples. In addition to the countries of the G7 group, Greece, Brazil and India have been invited to participate in the conference.
In a statement to APE-MPE, Mendoni, referring to the return of the valuable ancient crater to our country, stressed:
“I must say, first of all, that this is not an ordinary repatriation. We usually repatriate cultural goods which – in an alpha or beta way – have been illegally exported from our country. In the world there are always, of course, sensitive citizens who voluntarily return cultural goods, antiquities, to Greece, as in Italy. Our two countries have cooperated a lot and have achieved important repatriations. Here, however, the situation is different. Mr. De Gasperi, grandson of the Italian Prime Minister, is returning to Greece a classical crater. It is a 5th-century vase, on which there is not the slightest deterioration. Believing that despite the fact that it is a family heirloom (it was given as a gift by the Prime Minister and General Alexander Papago to the Italian Prime Minister De Gasperi) all these treasures should return to the land that gave birth to them, that created them. It is therefore a more than symbolic gesture. It shows the education, the culture of a man who really believes that culture not only unites, but who recognises the enormous importance of each cultural good being in the context to which it belongs.”
In response to a question from APE-MPE about her participation in the “G7 of Culture” summit, which is being held in Naples, and the particular importance of the invitation addressed to our country, Lina Mendoni replied:
“I could not be more pleased. It is a special honor, which is being done by the Italian Presidency and by the “G7″ team in our country. Greece is being honoured and honoured, precisely, for its enormous contribution to the Western world.”
“Culture unites. Although it is a deeply political concept – everyone, depending on their attitude and ideology, can give it the relevant nuance – it does not cease to function as a bridge for the peaceful coexistence of peoples. It is through dialogue on cultural issues that peoples succeed in living better. Through reconciliation, through faith in what Western, Greco-Roman and Greek culture stands for: peace, democracy and solidarity.”
