Press Office
Aegina, 23 May 2021
Inauguration of exhibition “Aegina's Government House welcomes back Ioannis Kapodistrias”
In the presence of the President of the Hellenic Parliament Constantine Tassoulas, the exhibition of the Hellenic Parliament titled “Aegina's Government House welcomes back Ioannis Kapodistrias” was inaugurated at the Government House ("Kyverneio") of Ioannis Kapodistrias in Aegina. Present were also the President of the Greece 2021 Committee Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, the Deputy Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy Costas Katsafados, the Secretary of DiEM25 Yanis Varoufakis and the New Democracy MPs Nikos Manolakos (1st Piraeus Constituency) and Georgios Vagionas (Constituency of Halkidiki).
“Today we honour a man who both helped Greece grow and lay the foundation for what we are today. By honouring Kapodistrias here today, we honour our commitment to our life through the gaze of history, we honour our commitment to individuals we can and ought to acknowledge, who love their homeland and dedicate themselves to it and we should give credit to such figures, not 200 years later, but – if possible – while they are still alive. That would be of the utmost benefit for the country” stressed the President of the Parliament, as he inaugurated the exhibition on Ioannis Kapodistrias.
During his speech Mr. Tassoulas highlighted the various aspects of the trajectory, life, love and dedication of the first Governor of Greece to the homeland, pointing out that “it is unfair for the country, to give someone credit for their actions, decades or hundreds of years later. We all need to bring circumstances and history closer and to act as historical and not circumstantial beings, because it is our loss when circumstances make us assassinate Kapodistrias, only to honour him 190 years later.” He added, however, that “this is not easy to achieve, the everyday long-suffering person cannot be expected to be thinking about history. It is the leaders who ought to present him/her with the aspect of history”.
Referring to the stance prevailing today towards those who are active in public affairs, Mr. Tassoulas noted: “Today we don’t believe in anything. We are wary of anyone engaging in public affairs, deeming them self-involved. And we rarely believe that someone active in public affairs is selfless. This overall distrust, this disengagement, makes it difficult for people who are worthy, dedicated and selfless, to be attracted to public life. It seems that, globally, it is those who crave publicity, and who get paid for it, that are more attracted to public life. And this, because we, the citizens, have fallen prey to the allure of the image and have failed to give primacy to the importance of what Kapodistrias said about the testimony of actions.”
It should be noted that visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to acquaint themselves with unknown aspects of the political and diplomatic trajectory of the first Governor of Greece, from when he served in the Russian court to when he assumed his post as Governor and his tragic assassination in Nafplion on the 27th of September 1831. The rich material has been provided by the Parliament’s Library and the General Archives of the State, but also by the political documents archive of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
At the same time, visitors will have the opportunity to soak up the atmosphere of the era during which, from Aegina, Ioannis Kapodistrias laid the foundation for the Greek State and its institutions, thanks to the fact that the well-known painter and set designer of the Hellenic Parliament Yannis Metzikof has not only curated the exhibition but has also set the interior featuring the office of the 1st Governor of Modern Greece. Historian Angela Karapanou contributed to the curation of the exhibition, while responsible for the overall curation of the exhibition has been the Head of the Directorate of the Parliament Library Eleni Droulia.
The above event by the Committee of the Municipality of Aegina, as well as the exhibition, were funded exclusively by the Hellenic Parliament.
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