SYDNEY – Greek Culture & Sports Minister Lina Mendoni met with representatives of two of Australia’s national committees who support the repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles from Britain to Greece, in Sydney on Tuesday.

Mendoni met with the Australian Pathenon Association’s President David Hill and its Vice-President George Vardas. She also met with Emmanuel Comino, who is President of the International Organising Committee – Australia for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles.

The Greek minister thanked the association’s and the committee’s heads for their continuous support and tireless efforts in promoting Greece’s request for the reunification of the Parthenon Marbles with the rest of the collection at the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

She held meetings with Greek diaspora organizations about cultural activities, including with the Kytherian Association of Australia’s President Emmanuel Alfieris.

A working dinner was held for Mendoni by the oldest branch of the Hellenic Lyceum – Sydney Bureau (Lykion ton Ellinidon) and its President Liana Vertzagia.

Mendoni visited the Department of Modern Greek & Byzantine Studies at the University of Sydney, where she was informed by Department Head Professor Vrassidas Karalis that this is the only such department in Australian higher education, out of seven similar ones that operated in universities in the country until 2011. Mendoni agreed to support the department’s activities by sending publications of modern Greek literature, as well as help invite writers and artists to present their work in eminar courses.

At the University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Wing Museum, Mendoni viewed the Nicholson Collection, which is the largest collection of antiquities in the southern hemisphere, including 30,000 artefacts from Egypt, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and the Middle East.

She also visited the city’s Australian Archaeological Institute.