inauguration of the refugee museum – AEK
The inauguration of the Museum of Refugee Hellenism in OPAP ARENA took place on 18 November 2023 with due pomp and ceremony. His Eminence Metropolitan of Nea Ionia, Filadelfia, Heraklion and Chalkidonos Mr. κ. Gabriel blessed this new “jewel” located in the south building of the AEK Athens stadium, while the ribbon was cut by the Deputy Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports Mr. Ioannis Vroutsis.
The event was attended by the Board of AEK FC and the staff of DIKEFALOS 1924, as well as a certain number of guests who were guided around the Museum. All of them expressed their enthusiasm and emotion as they toured a place of memory and history that “tells” in a unique and innovative way, not only the drama of the uprooting of a civilization of three millennia, but also how the refugees of Asia Minor and Pontus continued to survive and thrive on the soil of mother Greece for a century.
“In the difficult times we live in, with two wars open in Europe and the Middle East, it is a great consolation to inaugurate today the “Museum of Refugee Hellenism”, a museum containing priceless relics from Asia Minor, Constantinople and Pontus.
I believe that this Museum, constantly enriched in the future, will symbolize for future generations the history of centuries. .”
Mr. Dimitris Melissanidis, the man who inspired the new stadium not only as the team’s home ground but also as a Centre of Sport, Memory and Culture, was the speaker of the event and the one who summarized in brief the mission and importance of the Museum.
