WASHINGTON, DC – The statue of statesman and former Prime Minister of Greece Eleftherios Venizelos was reinstalled in front of the Greek Embassy in Washington, DC, after a few days’ absence for much-needed restoration. The statue had been damaged by the humidity and was in urgent need of restoration. This project was undertaken by well-known sculptor Antonia Papatzanaki, sculptor and granite specialist Vasilis Vasili, and the contractor Giorgos Marafatsos along with Alekos Pappas.

Nikos Kastrinakis, President of the Venizelos Foundation USA and Pancretan Association of America Executive Council General Supervisor spoke with The National Herald and expressed his gratitude for the restoration of the Venizelos statue, noting that the effort to raise money for the restoration was spearheaded months ago by him and the family of the late John Kokolakis in Florida.

Kastrinakis expressed his gratitude to all the donors and, in particular, to the Kokolakis family. “We are so excited to see Venizelos being represented in the right way again,” he said. “It’s also very heartwarming to see the interest of the community as they look after the statue and share their feelings on social media.”

Kastrinakis mentioned, in this regard, that “Lefteris Hazapis, from Washington, perfectly captured the feelings of the Greek community. On the first day of restoration work he posted a photo of the empty base, with the question, ‘Where did Eleftherios go?’ Two weeks later, when the restoration was completed, he shared a photo of the restored statue, captioned ‘The transformed apotheosis of Eleftherios Venizelos’.”

The Venizelos Foundation USA news release stated that Ambassador of Greece to the United States Ekaterini Nassika expressed thanks to the Foundation and the sponsors for the restoration of the statue, which, as stated, is a point of reference for the Embassy and a tribute to the great politician of modern Greece.

It is worth noting that the new base of the statue is made of granite.

The Venizelos Foundation USA also noted that the historic statue of Eleftherios Venizelos, located outside the Greek Embassy in Washington, was created by the late Yannis Pappas, a famous sculptor, who had met Venizelos through his father, who had been a minister in his government. Pappas sculpted many statues of Venizelos throughout Greece, including those in front of Greek Parliament in Athens, in Thessaloniki, and Heraklion, Crete. The DC statue is considered particularly important, as it is a smaller scale version of the statue which is located in Freedom Park near the American Embassy in Athens, with the only identical copy belonging to the Benaki Museum, also in Athens.

The statue in Washington was donated by the Greek Parliament and was placed there about 15 years ago.

The Venizelos Foundation USA is set to announce a series of fall and winter events at the summit hosted by the Eleftherios Venizelos National Research Foundation on August 12 in Halepa, Chania.