The Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni, head of the echelon of the Ministry of Culture, made a two-day working visit to the projects carried out by the Ministry of Culture, in Mytilini. According to an announcement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the Northern Aegean Region, Lina Mendoni presided over a meeting in the presence of Regional Governor Konstantinos Moutzouris.

The meeting was attended by the relevant managers of the Ministry of Culture, the relevant Vice-Regional Governors and officials of the North Aegean Region.

The projects that were implemented and are being implemented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs from 2019 to today, with funding from the Regional Operational Program of the North Aegean – ESPA 2014-2021 and the resources of the Recovery Fund managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as the projects that are already or are going to be funded, were examined. to join the N. Aegean PEP- ESPA 2021-2027.

Specifically, projects such as the protection, restoration and restoration carried out in the Castle of Mytilene were examined, including the Saplitza Stores and the Ottoman Seminary, the maintenance and restoration of the emblematic monument of the city of Mytilene, the Church of Agios Therapondas, the Valide Mosque, the rocky slopes of the Castle of Mithymna, the Temple of Panagia Petra, and others.

It was also decided to include new projects in the programming period 2021-2027, such as the restoration of the Fortress in Sigri, the restoration of the towers and post-towers of the Castle of Molyvos, the restoration of the powder magazine and the large enclosure at the Upper Castle (Queen’s Tower) and the restoration of the sea wall and the Ottoman house 11, in the Lower Castle of Mytilene, the modernization of the building of the Ancient Archaeological Museum of Lesbos and the second phase of the unification of the archaeological sites of Mytilene and the restoration and restoration of the earthquake-damaged Temple of Zoodochos Pigi in Vrisa.

During her visit, Lina Mendoni inaugurated the Saplitza Stores, in the Kato Kastro of Mytilene, a project with a budget of 2.9 million euros, implemented by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesvos. The project concerns the restoration of the Saplitza warehouses and the construction of a modern metal building, which houses the pottery workshops and functions as a storage area for the excavations of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesvos. According to the same announcement, Lina Mendoni, at the City Hall, had a working meeting with the Mayor of Mytilene, Panagiotis Christofas, pointing out the need to mature studies concerning important monuments of the Municipality, through Cultural Development Program Contracts, so that they can be implemented in the coming years , even more projects from the YPPO, in the Municipality of Mytilini. This was followed by an autopsy of the YPPO echelon in the restoration and maintenance project at Agios Therapondas, which is implemented by the Directorate for the Restoration of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesvos, as well as in the restoration and restoration project of the Valide Mosque, which is carried out by the Ephorate of Antiquities .

Afterwards, Lina Mendoni opened the Periodical Exhibition “Worships of the Gods in Lesbos”, at the New Archaeological Museum of Mytilene, organized by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesbos at the New Archaeological Museum of Mytilene.

The visit of the Minister of Culture concluded with a working meeting with the Mayor of Western Lesbos Taxiarchis Verros, during which projects and studies related to the cooperation of the Ministry of Culture, the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesvos and the Municipality were discussed. At the meeting, the church council and the vicar of Zoodochos Pigi Vrisas were present.

The minister assured that the restoration project of the earthquake-damaged church, which will be financed -by the North Aegean PEP 2021-2027-, is included in the new programming period of the NSRF.