Opening of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture in Belgrade

The official opening of the department of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture (E.I.P.) will be held in Belgrade on Friday the 3rd of July, the President of the Hellenic Republic, Karolos Papoulias and the President of Serbia, Boris Tadic.

The President of E.I.P, Professor George Babiniotis, gave a press conference reporting the purpose and the work of the Foundation Center in Belgrade. Mr. Babiniotis stated that the purpose is not only the promotion of Greek culture but also the cultural cooperation with Serbia.

«The Greek Culture Foundation is a bridge between civilizations in Greece and Serbia, but we do not want to show only the Greek culture but also to become a link with the Serbian culture» Mr Babiniotis stated. The House of E.I.P. in Belgrade began informally to work last November and it has alreadyorganized two Greek language learning seminars that have been attended by some 180 Serbians during the period 2008-09.

Referring to future plans of the Foundation, Mr Babiniotis said that contacts were made with museums in Serbia and other cultural institutions in order to cooperate closer in the cultural sector, and expressed the desire to work with the University of Belgrade. In the press conference the director of the Center in Belgrade, Nick Tsitsimelis and professor of archeology at the University of Athens attended, as well as, Basil Lamprinoudakis who is responsible for the exposition «The theft of history» that was presented these days in the Serbian capital.

Professor Lamprinoudakis stated that the exposition «The theft of history» is a multimedia report on the illicit trade in antiquities and its impact on society and culture. «In this report we want to show the damage done by illegal trafficking of ancient cultural monuments. The loss caused to the knowledge of past history and finally to ones self»

The Greek Culture Foundation’s mission is the promotion of Greek culture and the dissemination of the Greek language throughout the world. Since its creation in 1992, EIP has established branches in Odessa, Alexandria and Berlin and in London, Moscow, Vienna, Brussels, Washington and Beijing, were representative Offices operate.

Since 2008 it has established Hellenic Cultural Houses, in Trieste, Belgrade, Bucharest, Tirana, Sofia, Washington and Melbourne. The Institute offers courses of Greek language, organizes cultural events, publishes books and operates a lending library in its annexes, accessible to the public.