At the opening of the renovated Museum in Messolonghi, a jewel for culture and the region, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was present, who, accompanied by the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni, cut the ribbon and gave the impetus for the new exhibition to be made available to him audience.

Here is the prime minister’s speech:

Your Excellency, Mr. Regional Governor, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayors of the neighboring municipalities, Mrs. Minister, ladies and gentlemen.

It is with great pleasure that I am with you today in Messolonghi for the opening, if only slightly delayed, of a very important museum for the city of Messolonghi.

I would like to begin by giving a heartfelt thank you to everyone who worked to bring this project to fruition. From the Municipality, the Region, the Ministry and of course the separate thanks to the Ephorate of Etoloakarnania and Lefkada, to Mrs. Eforos, who, as the Minister said, had set the operation of this museum as a central goal which she accomplished.

I want to personally thank all the government officials, who often go beyond our expectations and their formal obligations to work tirelessly so that they can serve the common good.

Indeed, my dear Mayor, the city of Messolonghi, the Holy City of Messolonghi deserved to have such an archaeological museum, for two reasons.

The first has to do with the fact that this unique building had to be used somehow, which I had heard a lot about but I think the pictures do it justice.

The Xenokrateio Girls’ School found a new role, a role which now houses a rich and timeless cultural treasure.

The Holy City of Messolonghi is identified in the historical collective consciousness for the events of the heroic exodus. Indeed, thank you for remembering the report I made to the United States Congress, where I received a very warm round of applause for my report on Messolonghi.

Because, indeed, this moment is perhaps more identified than any other with the struggle of the Greeks for freedom.

Mitsotakis

But Aetoloacarnania, Aetolia, Acarnania, existed long before the moment of the Exodus. In all seven very beautifully restored rooms of this unique building, the museum will tell the story of the cultural treasure of a region which has such a rich cultural reserve.

I want to make a special mention – because I was really impressed – in the two rooms of the first floor, in which findings from excavations that resulted from the major infrastructure projects that took place in Aitoloakarnania, especially from the Ionia Odos, have found their place. You see how sometimes the great works themselves reveal cultural treasures, and then of course it’s your job to protect those finds and showcase them.

But it does not only host such findings. The city of Messolonghi finally gets the Archaeological Museum it deserves. I think the Minister is right when she says that in the last four years, the most extensive project to upgrade the building infrastructure of our museums has been implemented and is still being implemented – because the project continues – in all the last decades.

Fifteen new museums have already been delivered. Twelve have been auctioned, many more are being studied. One of them is the cultural site of the Papapetrou tobacco warehouses in Agrinio. We, Mr. Regional Mayor, are keeping our commitments and in 2027 this space will be ready and handed over to the citizens of Etoloakarnania and Agrinio as a unique multi-cultural space. Along with many other actions.

I want to say a special thank you to the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni. Lina Mendoni belongs to those government officials who have the ability to radiate and give the impression that they are in several parts of Greece at the same time. A very great job has been done at the Ministry of Culture. A job that I firmly believe should continue.

It is also one of the stakes of the next elections, to show that we speak with results. We don’t just stick to words. The discussion about this museum had started, if I remember correctly, a decade ago. But this government ran the project, this government completed it, because politics is a result and not indifferent and empty commitments. We always want to be judged on our result.

Finally, I want to tell you and tell the Mayor how much I believe that Etoloakarnania in general, but also Messolonghi in particular, can become a new destination which, combined with its rich history, can also show the way to how we perceive this convergence of a model of sustainable tourism development, always in connection with the assumption of our cultural stock.

Mitsotakis

The District Governor is right to describe Etoloakarnania as the land of water, nature and culture. Culture is the country’s sleeping giant of development. I strongly insist on this, because the connection between culture and tourism can launch a new development dynamic. To make Messolonghi a place to visit 12 months a year, as many other countries have achieved.

And in conjunction with the large projects that are being carried out for the residents of Messolonghi – and there are many of these projects that have already been launched, with very important resources, from the “Tritsis” and “Philodimos” programs – to improve and the quality of residents’ accommodation. But let’s also make Messolonghi a welcoming place for all the visitors who will come to visit it, not only on the days we celebrate the Exodus, but 12 months a year.

So, I wish the new museum a good journey, that it will be visited by many visitors, all the residents of Messolonghi, the young children, the schools of the area, to learn about their place, about this route which starts from the engraving of history. And let it be just one, my dear Minister, of the many projects that we will successfully inaugurate in the next four years, with the new confidence of the Greek people. Thank you very much for your attention.

The Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni, during her greeting noted, among other things, that “the creation of an archaeological museum suitable and worthy to host and highlight the cultural stock of the region, has been a request and a vision of many decades. This request is in fact satisfied by your own government, Mr. Prime Minister, with the revitalization and utilization of a brilliant and emblematic building of the city of Messolonghi, the Xenocrate Girls’ School. The Xenokrateio was built and operated at the end of the 19th century as a teaching school, at the expense of the city’s benefactors, the Xenokratis brothers. An integral part of the city’s cultural heritage, intertwined with the lives and memories of the residents and proclaimed as a new monument due to its architectural and historical importance, Xenokrateio was granted by the Municipality to the Ministry of Culture and renovated, with the aim of functioning as a modern museum space and as a pole of culture for the wider region”.