Preserving the country’s historic building stock is a key environmental choice in line with the principles of sustainable development, the circular economy and adapting our architectural heritage to climate change, the purposes for which European funds from the Recovery Fund are being provided to our country.

However, the currently revised National Recovery Plan for the country “Greece 2.0”, unfortunately, does not provide for the slightest so far, but is once again limited to the construction of predominantly new infrastructures and simple energy and only the modernization of the rest, which leads to that existing buildings fall into a dangerous state of disrepair, “depreciate” and degrade entire areas with tragic consequences for all of us.

As in the first official Plan, where we experienced a truly shocking experience of the funds that we managed to provide in it (250 million) for the very important Leave at Home program for those who survived, to withdraw from it literally at the last moment (only 10 days before the final submission of the official Plan to the Commission) in order to obviously move forward in other areas of grandiose projects.

And we really wonder what to do with the state-of-the-art tourism infrastructure, major convention centers, ports and highways, if the main tourist product, which is our culture and our identity, is constantly and incessantly devalued, and if everything ends up, we have a truly sad picture. , i.e. scattered and woefully abandoned and dangerously dilapidated historical buildings such as Byzantine castles, neoclassical mansions, preserved in island traditional and any other architectural style buildings in every corner of the country, and especially in the historical center of Athens;

Everything sad remains now, evidence of another era.

At a moment when we all know that these buildings, that is, our history, do not have much time left, they are collapsing next to us, creating a danger to all of us.

We remember two unfortunate children in Samos.

What are we waiting for to do what has been required of us by international conventions for decades as a state, so that these buildings can be restored beyond their lost splendor and static adequacy and cease to pose a public danger to unsuspecting passers-by. , tourists, residents, townspeople, etc.?

What to do with ultra-modern tourism infrastructure if the main tourist product – our culture – is constantly depreciating?

Is the scaffolding of the Ministry of Culture really a safe solution? What, in fact, is their use at a time when, ultimately, they too will inevitably collapse, that is, all together, the scaffolding along with the building, as in the case of Aiolow 38, where, by a lucky chance, we did not mourn the victims.

First it came to the office of the prime minister, who was the first prime minister to bow to the problem and decide to put it into practice by appointing the Minister of State, Mr. Akis Skertzos, as the coordinator of this strategic project.

However, if each of the competent people in the cabinet group does not roll up their sleeves with pure political will to solve the problem (Mr. Staikouras, Skrekas, Mendoni, Georgiadis, Skilakakis, Tsakiris), but starts exploring endless microcomputers with their own small computers for fiscal losses and deprivation of state income, in the logic of “getting ziggie on the fly”, not focusing on the huge economic opportunities that we open up and not perceiving this policy as primarily developing, i.e. as an important investment for the sake of tourism, the future and the image of the country, we will not go anywhere else.

We learn that the Recovery Fund and the Office of Financial Programs intend to approve crumbs only for energy modernization without the support of the supporting organization of these buildings.

That is, to change the wooden frames around the perimeter of the collapsing building.

I wonder if these officials are aware that Europe has moved from energy modernization to a very important new “Renewal Wave” strategy for “deep renewal” and “static strengthening” of Europe’s building wealth?

It is indeed a huge “stupidity” for so many decades not to treat our architectural heritage as a source of wealth and economic development, which has led to the sad picture of abandonment that it presents today. But how much more “stupid” would it really be if we do not immediately, immediately and without hesitation take advantage of the unexpected opportunity due to the pandemic to benefit from European funds and new strategies aimed at precisely this goal, and continue to allow these buildings to inevitably be transformed one by one over time, each in turn, from an undeniable historical treasure to another dangerous and ready to explode for the country, visitors and residents of Carniola.

* Ms. Evi Mamidaki – Lawyer, President of the Association of Owners of Preserved Buildings and Monuments.