The Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, spoke on Monday afternoon, February 9, at the celebration held at UNESCO for the first anniversary of World Greek Language Day.

February 9, dedicated to our national poet Dionysios Solomos, was established as World Greek Language Day by a unanimous decision of the 90 member states of UNESCO, constituting a historic recognition of the Greek language as a foundation of world culture.

Subsequently, as part of the official events for the first anniversary, the Minister of Culture inaugurated, at the Maison de l’UNESCO, in the presence of UNESCO Director-General Khaled El Enani, the Ministry of Culture’s exhibition “My language was given to me as Greek,” which highlights the long history and richness of the Greek language. Through short textual references, rich visual material, and faithful copies of emblematic monuments of ancient Greek writing, the Greek language—the oldest living language in Europe—is highlighted.

Visit to the National Library of France

The Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, held a working meeting with Gilles Pécout, President of the National Library of France. After giving the Minister a tour of the historic Richelieu building, where the Library’s specialized collections are kept, with more than 20 million documents—manuscripts, drawings, engravings, photographs, maps, coins, medals, antiques, and jewelry—he emphasized the institutional role of the National Library as a central body for international cooperation and the development of cultural diplomacy initiatives.

The two interlocutors highlighted the potential for developing partnerships between the national libraries and cultural institutions of the two countries through the exchange of researchers and digitization expertise and other joint actions. Lina Mendoni emphasized the overall importance of close cooperation between Greece and France in the field of libraries, archives, and cultural diplomacy, as well as cooperation with the French Archaeological School of Athens, which, in addition to its archaeological library, has an extremely rich archive spanning three centuries of archaeological research in Greece. The prospect of organizing an exhibition at the Richelieu building, focusing on the correspondence between Émile Zola and Ioannis Psycharis, as evidence of the pan-European spirit and European values, was discussed. This emblematic correspondence could form part of the cultural program of the Greek Presidency of the European Union in 2027.

The meeting highlighted not only the importance of the collections and historical heritage of the National Library of France, but also the willingness of the two countries to engage in active, strategic cooperation in this area, strengthening not only their ties in the cultural sector but also the joint promotion of European cultural heritage.

The Minister of Culture was accompanied on her visit to the National Library of France by Greece’s Permanent Representative to UNESCO, Ambassador Giorgos Koumoutsakos.