Greek Culture & Sports Minister Lina Mendoni is on tour in Australia as of the Greek Orthodox Easter weekend.
On Easter Monday, Mendoni attended an event for Anzac Day, the national day of Australia dedicated to the victims of all wars, and spoke with New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet on the role the Greek island of Limnos played in World War One, a ministry statement said.
The program Open Air Museum begun on the island will highlight its role as a base, supply station, hospitalization and final resting place for Australian and New Zealand troups in WWI. The program will be funded by the Australian government as part of a memorandum of understanding signed with the Greek National Defense Ministry. The Culture Ministry is involved because a section of the island has been designated a protected monument of modern Greek history.
Mendoni also met with NSW Minister for cultural issues Ben Franklin and discussed collaboration, including an agreement on preventing illegal movement of cultural items.
On Holy Saturday, the minister also attended the Resurrection service led by Orthodox Archbishop of Australia Makarios at the Church of Resurrection in Kogarah, Sidney, and spoke briefly with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who attended the service.
On Easter Sunday, Archbishop Makarios presented her with a decoration of the Archbishopric of Australia for her contribution to the protection and promotion of Greece’s cultural and religious heritage.
She is expected to remain on tour in Australia until April 29.
SOURCE; AMNA
