The image of abandonment presenting a building integrated in the central archaeological site of its city Argosas a large and costly plan of cultural works in the area is underway, triggered the strong reaction of the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni with the recipient of the Head of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Argolida, Alkisti Papadimitriouwhich she publicly reprimanded, in high tones, during her scheduled visit to the site yesterday.
Upon facing a building the exterior of which was covered by graffiti And slogans with inappropriate expressions, with his roof presenting significant problems and with mops in public views, the Minister of Culture asked, apparently annoyed, the superior because it was not repaired. She replied: “We haven’t repaired it because it costs 45 thousand.” “And who denied you? You have taken millionsLina Mendoni replied. “I would ask these recommendations not to make me publicly,” Papadimitriou told the minister, provoking her intense reaction: “Please very much. It is not possible in the heart of the city to be this spectacle. It is not possible to have mops outside … Alkisti be careful! Please too much. ” “I’m not saying about anything else, I don’t deny the work you have done. … You’ve got more money from 2019 than ever. Not only you, all of Greece … I do not argue anyone “to receive from the Registrar of Antiquities:” You are fighting me in the worst way possible to me. “
See the excerpt recorded by his camera Argonauts TV:
Alkistis Papadimitriou is a graduate of Historical and Archaeological Department of the University of Athens and a Ph.D. of Classical Archeology at Albert Ludwing University in Freiburg, Germany. She has worked for many years at the excavation of the German Archaeological Institute in the Lower Acropolis of Tiryns and was a scientific assistant of her late excavator Klaus Kilian. Since 1991 he has been serving in the Archaeological Service of the Ministry of Culture as the curator of antiquities and responsible for the archaeological sites of Tiryns, Argos and Ermioni and later as head of the Argos Antiquities Ephorate. With Lina Mendoni she has all these years very good cooperation and are associated with a personal relationship of years as they were classmates. Had even been on her side in the dispute she had with Greek archaeologists, About the building that housed its headquarters, asking for its deletion from the members of the SEA.
The Ministry of Culture has been conducting a wide program of cultural works in Argos and Nafplio in recent years, with a total budget 23 million euros. For the Municipality of Argos-Mycenae, 13 million euros have been allocated mainly from European resources but also from the budget of the Ministry. Among them is the construction of the new Archaeological Museum in the remodeled house of General Kalergi and the new epigraphic museum that will be housed with the Byzantine Museum in Kapodistrias barracks, with a budget of 5,100,000 euros and funding from the recovery fund. In addition, last year, the Ministry of Culture allocated a € 100,000 budget for the restoration work of the Roman Thermos masonry.
The Mendoni Visit to Argos – Nafplio
During her scheduled visit, Lina Mendoni carried out an autopsy at the Archaeological Museum of Argos, which is expanding, modernizing and gaining a new permanent exhibition, as well as in the city’s epigraphic museum in the city’s building complex. The task of upgrading and expanding the Archaeological Museum is implemented by the Department of Studies and Execution of Museum Works and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Argolida. The work it implements today Ministry of Culture, It has a total budget of EUR 6,500,000, from resources from the Recovery and Resilience Fund, which manages the Ministry of Culture and by the Regional Operational Program “Peloponnese 2021-2027”, and the National Resources of the Ministry of Culture, with a timetable of completion by the end of 2025. the archaeological investigations of Mycenae and Lerna.
When visiting the Ancient Theater of Argos and Roman Thermi, Lina Mendoni gave instructions to the Department of Restoration of Ancient Monuments for immediate launch of the Thermos Restoration Project and to the Ephorate of Antiquities of Argolida to ensure the functionality and security of the site, in order to investigate whether it is possible to host events in the summer.
“We are here today, with the Ministry of Culture, the Secretary General, the Director General of Antiquities and the relevant Directors, in order to see closely the evolution of the projects implemented by our services and which are gradually completed. Our goal is the Archaeological museum It can be attributed to the local community and visitors to Argos in the first months of 2026. The same applies to the epigraphic museum in the eastern wing of the Kapodistrias barracks, which was granted by the municipality. We must honor the concession and complete this museum infrastructure over a specific period of time.
With the establishment of the Epigraphic Museum in the Kapodistrian barracks – in the western wing of which is hosted by the Museum of Byzantine Culture – and with the upgrading, expansion and re -exposure of the adjacent archaeological museum, the city of Argos acquires the city of Argos. Timeless and create a new development resource for the city and Argolida. Argolida is the only regional unity of our country, which hosts three major archaeological sites, included in its World Heritage List UNESCO. Your municipality belongs to the archaeological site of Mycenae, in which the Ephorate of Antiquities completes another project, with a budget of 500,000 euros from the Peloponnese Regional Operational Program- NSRF 2021-2027. The great pendulum in space is the restoration of the old booth of “Xenia”, a permanent demand of the local community. The task of restoring and reuse as a site of promotion and highlighting the archaeological site of Mycenae and the history of the Atridites is in our immediate planning, ”the minister said.
In Nafplio, the Ministry of Culture under Lina Mendoni conducted an autopsy on the building of the Old Customs, at the Church of Agios Nikolaos and in the Viga building. In all three monuments, projects performed by the services of the Ministry of Culture are underway.
“It is the first time that so many projects are being done at the same time with these budgets in the Municipality of Nafplio. Customs, a building we have been discussing at least 15 years that it must be attributed to the city, is completed and will be accessible to the Nafplians and visitors since the beginning of summer. The Church of St. Nicholas, an important monument that the inhabitants, who had huge problems, were almost in collapse, is restored and maintained to be attributed to worship in the summer.
The Venta buildingwhich has been a wound in Syntagma Square for years, and in 2025, the Ephorate of Antiquities will be moved there, thereby allowing the Archaeological Museum building, a Venetian building to be studied properly. A difficult task that needs to be launched immediately. Our goal is to invest as much as possible in a city with a huge cultural and historical burden. The projects must be completed in their timetables, with correct studies and secured budgets, “she said.
In closing her visit to Nafplio, Lina Mendoni visited the Arvanitia path, where they are set to launch immediately work stabilizing the rocky slopes, based on a research program implemented by the Department of Restoration of Byzantine and Post -Byzantine Restoration. The project, budget of 4,750,000 euros, is implemented with resources of NSRF 2021-2027 In collaboration with the Peloponnese Region and the Municipality of Nafplio, with the aim of security and upgrading the route, which is one of the most popular walks in the area. At the same time, the Ministry of Culture is studying a study on the restoration of over -fortifications when the rocks are completed.