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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Remembering Melina ...the Fighter, the Woman who was Born Greek and Died Greek

Melina in front of the Parthenon
This magnificent photo which graces the Acropolis Metro Station in Athens
was taken by her personal photographer  Ilias Anagnostopoulos 

For Melina Mercouri, 
who was born Greek and died Greek,
and left us so much poorer,
18 years ago today...


If you ask me whether I will be alive when the Marbles return to Greece, 
I tell you, yes, I will be.
When the Sculptures come home to Athens, so will I,
But even if I'm not, 
I will be born again. 
 
Melina Mercouri 



" Αν με ρωτησετε εαν θα ζω οταν 
τα Μαρμαρα του Παρθενωνα επιστρεψουν στην Ελλαδα, 
σας λεω πως ναι, θα ζω. 
Αλλα κι αν ακομη δεν ζω πια,
 θα ξαναγεννηθω!" 

Μελίνα Μερκούρη

Parthenon Sculptures - behind bars at the British Museum 
Photo Credit: Alexis Mantheakis 
 
Let's bring them home... 

We have built the Museum...
 

Each missing sculpture has its own space...
  

The Caryatids are waiting for their long-lost sister...


Let's Bring them Home! 
  
It is the least we can do...
 


1 comment:

  1. AnonymousMarch 06, 2012

    I am a Hellene, proud of my heritage, proud of my culture, proud of the legacy that my forebears bequeathed to the world. I am a Hellene, living far from the land of my spiritual heart, but nevertheless a Hellene. I honour those who fought for centuries until they gained their freedom from the Ottoman Turks. For some that was not even one hundred years ago. Some are yet to be liberated. And I pay due respect to the courage of a people, who when faced with the mightiest and best trained army the world had ever seen in 1940, fought back with garden tools, farm equipment and their bare hands to slow the Nazi menace down so much that the world was given a chance to prepare a fight back. A people who have never ever known how to spell the word surrender. Who could not quit if they were ordered to and who have never been known for cowardice.They are still paying for their sacrifice in that awful world war. We owe it to those who came before us AND to those who follow to regain our global belief in our selves, in who we are, in Hellenism. The people of the Hellenic Republic alone will struggle unless and until we share our faith with them and renew Hellenism. A Renaissance, just as that one a few centuries back was itself a rebirth of all that our ancestors gave the world. I believe in Hellenism. Around the globe, we must all unite and once again remind not just the world but foremost ourselves, who we are. We are Hellenes.

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