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yannisSo, this morning the monument to Alexander the Great was officially inaugurated in the center on Athens, a few meters from the monument to Lord Byron (which in its turn dates from 1896).
In fact, the monument had been placed at the pedestal two days ago, but it was immediately covered with black cloth, so when I was at this place yesterday, I wasn't able to see anything but this black cloth.
I also had no chance to see the inauguration myself, since it happened early in the morning. And the weather was pretty shitty, by the way, today's temperature is not supposed to surpass +18C, and at night it will be just +10C or even colder. FUCK.
Well, anyway, now the weather is a little better, at least clouds are gone, so I went to see the fresh monument and to take some pictures.
Although, ughh, the monunent is not that fresh indeed: it had been created by sculptor named Γιάννης Παππάς in 1973 (!) and since then stored in different places, the last of which was the garden of his workshop, which now belongs to Μουσείο Μπενάκη.
The sculptor, Γιάννης Παππάς, himself died in 2005, and presented the statue to the city of Athens as a gift. For all these decades it was supposed to be placed as a monument somewhere in Athens, but usual problems of Greece postponed that moment till today.
And why today, you may ask? What's all this fuss around Alexander the Great today about?
Well, the reason is politics, as usual.
Alex Tsipras signed the treaty of Prespe, despite huge protests in Greece, and since many people after that consider him a traitor for recognizing the name of "Northern Macedonia", he decided to put up this monument urgently, in an effort to give some relief for those who oppose his actions towards this question.
So, that's why in a matter of months the issue which had beed pending for decades was resolved, and now we have a statue of Alexander the Great in the center of our city.
But will it help Alex, will it improve his political career?
I guess not, lol.
And I hope not.
So, anyways, two recent articles about the statue, both in Greek, of course: one, two.
And finally my today's pictures lol.
In fact, the monument had been placed at the pedestal two days ago, but it was immediately covered with black cloth, so when I was at this place yesterday, I wasn't able to see anything but this black cloth.
I also had no chance to see the inauguration myself, since it happened early in the morning. And the weather was pretty shitty, by the way, today's temperature is not supposed to surpass +18C, and at night it will be just +10C or even colder. FUCK.
Well, anyway, now the weather is a little better, at least clouds are gone, so I went to see the fresh monument and to take some pictures.
Although, ughh, the monunent is not that fresh indeed: it had been created by sculptor named Γιάννης Παππάς in 1973 (!) and since then stored in different places, the last of which was the garden of his workshop, which now belongs to Μουσείο Μπενάκη.
The sculptor, Γιάννης Παππάς, himself died in 2005, and presented the statue to the city of Athens as a gift. For all these decades it was supposed to be placed as a monument somewhere in Athens, but usual problems of Greece postponed that moment till today.
And why today, you may ask? What's all this fuss around Alexander the Great today about?
Well, the reason is politics, as usual.
Alex Tsipras signed the treaty of Prespe, despite huge protests in Greece, and since many people after that consider him a traitor for recognizing the name of "Northern Macedonia", he decided to put up this monument urgently, in an effort to give some relief for those who oppose his actions towards this question.
So, that's why in a matter of months the issue which had beed pending for decades was resolved, and now we have a statue of Alexander the Great in the center of our city.
But will it help Alex, will it improve his political career?
I guess not, lol.
And I hope not.
So, anyways, two recent articles about the statue, both in Greek, of course: one, two.
And finally my today's pictures lol.
