An impressive diorama with reconstructed playmobil figures, has been hosted since last Saturday at the Rupel Fortress Museum, donated by the talented Thessaloniki collector and creator Tassos Pantazopoulos.
This unique diorama that arouses the admiration of young and old was initially exhibited in the war museum of the 3rd Army Corps, having gathered the laudatory comments of hundreds of visitors.
Tassos Pantazopoulos on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the battle of the fortresses of the Metaxa Line, wanting to honor the heroic fighters of the forts and to keep alive an important moment of Greek history, created a diorama of unique beauty, which found a prominent place in the great hall of the Rupel Fort Museum.
It took many months of effort, patience and perseverance, a large enough budget, detailed work, but most of all a lot of appetite and passion to complete the diorama, which is moving as it captures the unequal struggle of the Greek soldiers against the iron-clad German armies. “Honestly, if it were not for my wife, Kiki Faka, to support me in this effort and work many hours, maybe the project would not have been completed,” Tassos Pantazopoulos told APE-MPE.
“Through the diorama,” he continues, “I wanted to capture the second day of the Battle of the Fortress, that is, April 7, 1941, when the Germans were already counting heavy losses and called for reinforcements to go to the front line. This diorama teaches the younger ones and reminds the older ones of the bravery and self-denial of the Greek soldiers, who, although fewer, managed to repel the German attacks with faith. I carefully studied the history of those days and tried to capture it in the best possible way, giving all the figures a different character “.
A diorama like a real work of art
The diorama has a dimension of 2×3 meters, has 176 playmobil figures (160 Germans and 16 Greeks), three tanks, two personnel carriers (semi-tracked), two trucks, a German jeep, two planes, an official vehicle, a cannon and motorcycle with basket. But what steals the show is the detail in the depiction of the mountain mass of the forts (the soil, the stones, the mountains), the anti-tank barriers, composing together an impressive image. One of the most moving details of the diorama is the Greek flag that flies on the hill of the cannon, but also the medical care provided in the fortress clinic to the wounded Greek soldiers!
Tassos Pantazopoulos does not hide that the creation of this special diorama trained him for a long time since it took almost five years to complete. “I confess,” he notes, “that after the visit I made with my children to Rupel I was very moved and so I set a goal to do the diorama. I started by assembling and shaping the figures of the German soldiers who were most of them. Where I had a hard time finding dummies of the type of German tanks used at that time. After much searching, I finally bought them from the US through an auction. I bought some pieces from London. The truth is that I am always looking for the best accessories to perform the dioramas. “I do not want to compromise, because, as they say, detail makes the difference and in the end it is the detail that impresses people.”
This diorama was initially exhibited in the war museum of the 3rd SS. and then transferred to the Rupel Fort Museum with the help of the Engineer. “Initially,” he notes, “the exhibition at the war museum was scheduled to last two months. But the response from the public was so great that it was eventually extended to seven whole months. Last Saturday, on the day of Saints Constantine and Helen, we carried it to the forts of Rupel. I want to thank the staff of the Engineer for their effort to safely transfer the diorama to pieces. In fact, they made special cases to put it inside so that a piece would not be broken or damaged “.
The donation of Tassos Pantazopoulos to the Greek Army on the one hand, the response and the wish of the commander of the 3rd SS. to move the whole process quickly on the other, they offered the world a diorama that captures in the slightest detail the heroism of the Greeks. So, now, next to the historical relics of the historic Battle of the Forts that are kept in the museum, there is a diorama that goes beyond the simple game and is a history lesson, so that the little ones learn and the older ones remember.
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