The Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou was in Chania on Tuesday 20th June, to officially open the Chania Book Festival and also to attend a ceremony bestowing on her honorary citizenship of Chania, following a decision by the Municipal Council.

In his words of welcome at the citizenship ceremony, which preceded the festival inauguration, the mayor of Chania Panagiotis Simandirakis told the President that “from today as a fellow citizen of Chania, you have become a part of our community, in a period in which we can be entirely optimistic that Chania is on a flourishing trajectory of development for the coming years.” In reply, the President said “I feel both moved and proud that from today I too am a Haniotissa”.

The President’s speech

In her speech of thanks, the President traced the history of Chania and its role as a centre of culture and commerce over the centuries. “It is with great happiness that I find myself today in Chania, the spiritual capital of our Crete, the seductively beautiful and evocative port of this great island,” she said. “Every time that I come here, I am impressed by the urban fabric which opens in front of one like a great theatrical stage, unfolding in every alleyway and in every square the narratives of centuries, contradictions and convergencies, battles lost and won, periods of growth and stagnation, woven into the millennia. A city-palimpsest, which receives the visitor not simply as a place of great beauty, but as an example of endurance through time, of dialectic discourse between past and present, of optimistic contemplation towards the future.

“From 2900 BC and ancient Kydonia, when it was a city equal to Knossos according to Strabo, which in the following centuries would develop into a place of meeting and coexistence for the most notable Mediterranean cultures, until the long period of Venetian rule, during which there would be created – through centuries-long coexistence and the social and cultural rapprochement of western and indigenous elements – the conditions for the Cretan Renaissance, Chania constituted a pole of attraction for businesspeople, mariners and artists. And it remained such a pole, where the idea of Hellenism continued to exist after the Fall of Constantinople, in the two intervening centuries until its conquest by the Ottomans in 1645.

“The period of Turkish rule would be turbulent, marked by small and greater uprisings, which culminated in the Cretan revolution of 1866, which was drowned in blood. It was the era in which the unquenchable spirit of the mountain fighters was formed. Whole generations disappeared fighting the occupation, but it was from such a generation that was to be born the man who would lead Crete to union with the national body, and on 1st December 1913 would raise the blue and white flag on the Firka fortress. I am referring of course to the ethnarch Eleftherios Venizelos, who started from here as a lawyer and justice minister of the Cretan State and, during his political supremacy, succeeded in significantly expanding our country’s borders, in modernising the Greek state and institutions and in marking out its European orientation. Today, his house in Halepa, restored with such care by the institution which bears his name, is not only an enduring landmark. but a cradle of national memory and self-knowledge.

“If we except the black years of the harsh German Occupation, the 20th century was a century of development and rapid progress for the people of Chania. In the postwar decades, the city’s economic, social and intellectual life regenerated, while its designation in 1964 as a historic monument contributed to the preservation and promotion of its historical character. And among the churches, the squares, the unique buildings of Venetian, Turkish and traditional architecture, in the picturesque alleys with their arches and flower-filled courtyards, there still circulate the rough-hewn faces of men and women seemingly drawn from the pages of Ioanna Karystiani, Maro Douka, Victoria Theodorou, Giorgis Manousakis, Giannis Theodorakis and so many others.

“Mr Mayor, every time I visit I see with satisfaction new works which transform, improve and modernise the face of the city, municipal uses which make it friendlier, opportunities afforded to our vulnerable fellow citizens and to the young who wish to stay and to prosper in their homeland. The renovation of the Municipal Garden, the restoration of the Venetian shipyards, the reconstruction of the Municipal Agora, and the rehabilitation of the area of the Tabakaria, amongst others, bear witness to the persistent efforts of the authorities to promote the rich cultural heritage and its use for the benefit of the local community.

“Chania could also be called the ‘city of festivals’. Historic spaces are put to creative use to host the annual festivals of chamber music and dance, the very popular Film Festival, the artistic ‘Anoichta Pania’ [‘Unfurled Sails’] programme which hosts artists from all over Greece. And of course the Book Festival, which I shall be inaugurating this evening in the capacity of Honorary Citizen of Chania, thanks to the honour which you have done me. I feel especially moved and proud that from today I too am a Haniotissa. I thank you with all my heart.”

The Mayor’s greeting

Welcoming the President, the mayor of Chania Panagiotis Simandirakis also made mention of Chania’s long history. “It is an especial pleasure and honour to receive you today in Chania, in a historic city, one of the most important of Minoan Crete and one of the most ancient in Europe, but at the same time a city which is modern, European, alive and dynamic,” he said. “A timeless crossroads of cultures, a palimpsest of architecture, a bridge between three continents, Chania, ancient Kydonia, was part of the first European culture, the Minoan, with an uninterrupted presence of 50 centuries, which nourished the identity of the city and its people.

“Madam President, your presence here today in the heart of the Venetian Harbour fills us with pride, because we have once more succeeded in combining the role of local government, the local expression of democracy, with the highest office of state, which together define the boundaries of the organised state. We thank you warmly for honouring our locality for a third time in recent years, giving emphatic expression to your determination to embrace Greece from one end to the other.

“Your presence here, in the context of the Second Chania Book Festival, confirms your often expressed determination to elevate the role of letters and the arts, of the word and of dialogue, and finally of their highest medium of transmission, the book. The Municipality of Chania’s strategic choice to invest actively in culture, and to convert it into a living vehicle for local and regional development, has found an ally in the Presidency of the Republic.”

Inauguration of the 2nd Chania Book Festival

On Tuesday afternoon, the President inaugurated the 2nd Chania Book Festival at the Mikis Theodorakis theatre on the old harbour. Centred on the theme “Individual and collective identities: Self-determination in the modern world” the festival, which is organised by the Municipality of Chania in collaboration with the Cretan Regional Authority, is running from 20th to 24th June at a number of different venues in the city.

Those present at the official inauguration included the mayor of Chania Panagiotis Simandirakis, the Regional Governor for Crete Stavros Arnautakis, Damaskinos Metropolitan of Kydonia and Apokoronas, the Deputy Regional Governor for Chania Nikos Kalogeris, former ministers and MPs, local government representatives and others.

They were welcomed by the director of the festival Manolis Piblis, who made reference to the central theme and to the varied programme of events, which include themed discussions, presentations and seminars, as well as concerts, films and theatrical works associated with the book. He also thanked the mayor and the Regional Governor for their efforts in establishing a new institution in the city.

In his response, Mr Simandirakis said “The 2nd Chania Book Festival, through five days of high-level events, aims to mobilise the whole city…. Public, writers from Greece and abroad, publishers, academics and other intellectuals, you are all here,” he added pointing out that the central theme comprises many subsidiary topics which relate to contemporary issues.

In his turn the Regional Governor Stavros Arnautakis said: “The Festival which is being inaugurated this evening confirms the fact that our region is ready to respond positively to the effort to forge a regional policy for the book, which will be characterised by realism and consistency and will enthuse young creators, since the global position of a culture is not judged only by that which made it a classic but by those who make it topical.”

Declaring the festival officially open, the President said: “It is with great satisfaction that I inaugurate today the Chania Book Festival, a thematic event which from the first year of its founding has already become a dynamic gathering of people of the book. An outward-looking organisation, rich in content, closely linked with present day problems.” Continuing, Mrs Sakellaropoulou said “If you were to ask me to characterise the essence of the festival, as demonstrated by the events, I would say that it is alertness and sensitivity. It is an organisation which seeks bridges connecting the national with the local.”

Prior to the inauguration the President attended a demonstration of traditional Cretan dancing on the old harbour. Detailed information about the festival can be found at https://www.chaniabookfestival.gr/en/home-english/

Haniotika Nea 20/06/23
www.chania.gr