In an extraordinary meeting held on Wednesday, June 28, at the Maximos Palace, under the leadership of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with the participation of the Minister of Culture Linas Mendonis and the Deputy Minister of National Defense, former mayor of Byron, Nikos Hardalia, “a final solution was given to the issue that arose regarding with the ownership status of the lands on which the “Anna Synodinou” and “Melina Merkouri” theaters are located,” informs a statement from the Ministry of Culture.

In particular, “by decision of the prime minister and after a proposal by the two ministers, the government will proceed with the immediate acquisition of the 104 acres, with the necessary legislative initiatives and through the procedures provided for in the relevant laws and decrees. Afterwards, they will be granted free of charge to the two Municipalities. In this way, the public nature of the area is definitively and irrevocably ensured and a definitive end is put to decades of legal and other adventures”.

The process, the announcement continues, will proceed immediately after the notification of the relevant decision of the Supreme Court, which is expected to be finalized in the coming days. According to her, “the Supreme Court rejects the appeal of the Greek State and the Municipalities of Byron and Dafni-Ymittos against the decision of the Court of Appeal and essentially opens the way for the 104-acre area on Kopanas hill, where the emblematic theaters are housed, to be transferred to a private individual Vrachon and other sports and leisure facilities”.

As pointed out, the acceleration, coordination and monitoring of the procedures for acquiring the area and granting it to the Municipalities of Byron and Ymitto-Dafni will be done under the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture and in cooperation with co-competent ministries.

In her statement, the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni states:

“The interest of the government and personally of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Culture, but also in the quality of life of the citizens, is confirmed by his immediate reaction and the definitive solution given to the ownership regime of a significant area, with infrastructures of culture, recreation and sports for the citizens of Byron and Hymettus, but also of the whole of Athens. The 104 acres of land are home to the “Anna Synodinou” and “Melina Merkouri” open-air theaters, which, in recent decades, have been associated with historical performances, with the “In the Shadow of the Rocks” festival, but also with the citizens’ ongoing relationship with the multifaceted and diverse manifestations of modern culture.

It is particularly important that these cultural infrastructures, as well as the recreational areas of the area, will retain their public character and be attributed to the citizens of Byron and Hymettos to whom they truly belong. I thank the prime minister for his immediate intervention, as well as Nikos Hardalia, who, as former mayor of Byron, closely followed the progress of the judicial process, having a special love and sensitivity for the region. The Ministry of Culture will ensure the smooth development of the procedures, so that the space will be assigned to the citizens with the fastest possible procedures.”

For his part, the Deputy Minister of National Defense and for 12 years mayor of Byron and president of the Rock Festival Nikolaos Hardalias said: “The personal interest of the Prime Minister and the direct reflexes of the Minister of Culture Linas Mendoni are coming to definitively and irrevocably restore the cultural legacies of the late mayors Dimitrios Nikolaidis and Andreas Lentakis and the vision and legacy of the unforgettable Melina Merkouris. After decades of litigation and despite the negative development of the decision of the Supreme Court, by the decision of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek State undertakes the payment of the compensation cost of acquiring the 104 acres through legal procedures of purchase or expropriation of the area, as well as its performance to the residents of our historic municipalities.

Culture for all of us who served it there, in the Shadow of the Rocks of Hymettos, is not only a priority but a bet of responsibility towards history and our fellow citizens. Wherever we serve the country as public officials, our hearts and minds remain in our neighborhoods and we will always try to be useful to them and our fellow citizens.

I thank the prime minister for his immediate reflexes and my excellent colleague Lina Mendoni for her sensitivity in the matter of preserving the public character of our historic theaters.”