85,625,138 petition signatures
Save and Restore Ancient Diolkos
- Target: Prime Minister. Greece
- Sponsored by: Sofia Loverdou
We declare ourselves against the mentalities and practices that lead to the destruction of the world's heritage and we ask the Greek Prime Minister to exercise his authority so that, without any further delays and hypocrisy, the Diolkos is finally saved and restored.
The text and links below are general information (not part of the petition): Updated: January 29th, 2012
Amidst new promises, often FED even to the Press in order to divert attention from the ASSISTED DEMOLITION of this unique site, the large exposed sections of Diolkos continue to be violently attacked; the erosion also approaches a "sane" section from the side.
- Recent videos, links to photos & documents: www.youtube.com/user/sofiagreek
- This petition has already been signed by concerned citizens from 122 countries (see list at the end)
The Diolkos, the unique paved way which enabled transportation of entire fleets overland across the Isthmus of Corinth, is crumbling into the water at its western end. After the excavation (~1960), great part of this famous monument -commonly dated to the times of Periander, ~ 600 BC- was left at the mercy of its position near the Corinth Canal.
Although professing care for the monument, the initial parts of which were known to BOTH the Canal Company AND the archaeologists at least since the 1930s, the services of the Greek Ministry of Culture have -for long decades - kept themselves unprepared to protect it, limiting themselves to producing ridiculous lies at every attempt of control.
In descriptions given BY THE AUTHORITIES in 2006 and 2007, "subsidence" was presented as almost the only problem of the main course of the monument!!!
In November 2010, the Greek Ministry of Culture officially "informed" the Prime Minister that Diolkos suffered extensive damage... during the opening of the Canal, in the 19th century!!!
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A necessary note: This petition was started on 22 november 2006. It, as well as other reports on Diolkos, has repeatedly been brought to the attention of both Mr. Kostas Karamanlis' and Mr. George Papandreou's office. Prompted to answer, the Ministry of Culture people went on with various inconsistencies and lies. Mr Papademos' office has not yet been officially notified; it will, shortly, and I'll let you know when this happens.
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Appallingly, the Ministry had ABANDONED Diolkos' protection to its destroyers (the Canal Company, directly supervised by the Minister of Finance). The "archaeologists" kept backing up the FRAUDS of the Canal which, since passing entirely to the greek state in 1980, had been engaged in a series of MOCK studies for redoing the low walls flanking the narrow part of the Canal.
What the Canal Company (comprising by law in its board of Director a high official of the Ministry of Finance and TWO representatives of the local government, plus the appointed illustrous president) was presumably after, was tearing down every vestige of the old low walls of the Canal in order to gain some width and depth while at the same time pretending to conserve the CANAL as a monument.
It seems that even the European Commission of Transport was made to AGREE about the presumed necessity of the low walls being torn down and "redone"; widening and deepening was NOT mentioned -for obvious reasons- in documents of the first half of the '80s, but a home-made "study" (presumably dated 1984) was precise about it...
Remodelling the entrances of the Canal was INCLUDED in this intent, promoted in 1984 by the Ministers of Public Works and Finance (Mr. Tsohatzopoulos and Mr.Tsovolas). Although a great number of documents are kept secret, the Ministry of Culture may have given their blessings to this scheme!!!
Details like this, carefully kept for decades under a law of silence by everybody involved, catapult the Greek Ministry of Culture not only in the center of the Canal frauds but right in their ORIGIN, too.
(And we are talking about the period after 1980 - God knows what was going on in the years between the monument's excavation, around 1960, up to 1980!!!!)
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A note: The character of the CANAL as a monument had been PROMOTED in 1982 by the "illustrous" local Canal people, based on the year in which construction works for the Canal had started (1882). Their care for any kind of monument is more than sufficiently testified by the fact that their contemporary plans for a bridge near Diolkos included a road passing just OVER the ancient monument itself. I have been told that for uite some time afterwards the illustrous Corinthian President of the Canal (who later became twice Vice Minister as well as covering other important positions: http://www.dimsim.gr/44_1a17/theodoros-kotsonhs.html ) was grumbling about the fact that the road had to take a slight curve before reaching the bridge...
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While the Canal went from one fraud to the next for this presumed goal (between other things, they did not know HOW to technically resolve the issue of tearing down the existing walls, and enlarging the Canal with safety - and they also DEMANDED that the CANAL stay in OPERATION during the works!) even simple rescue action were DENIED for the defenseless Diolkos who was being dismembered in an area with plenty of access, much larger width than than proposed for the Canal, and absolutely no problems posed by perilous slopes!
At any attempt of outside control about the situation of Diolkos, the Ministry of Culture - although NOT mentioning any arrangements with the Canal - kept complacently and slyly pointing at the Canal's direction.
THIS went on even AFTER a third mock remake of the Canal study, in 1997. (Previous versions had been presented in 1984 and 1987).
A 1999 report to Justice Authorities only produced more LIES and hypocrisy on the part of the Ministry of Culture.
When, in 2001, the MANAGEMENT of the Canal (not the asset itself) was privatized, there was no particular mention of Diolkos.
The then Head of the local office, Mrs. Spathari, wrote to an enquiring member of the Parliament that protection measures HAD BEEN taken - she even advised him not to worry, because the Diolkos area was well taken care of! This is but an INSTANCE of the continuous lies of the Diolkos' keepers.
Salvage actions continued to be FIERCELY denied. When "temporary measures" were SEEMINGLY "proposed" (2006) and even "decided upon" (2007) they were simply not carried out).
Some PARTIAL temporary interventions (attempted first in 2007 and redone a little better in 2009) are the only REAL work done so far (http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/3867/diolkos2009s.jpg) long after the Ministry had received - on top of everything else! - a POLICE document inviting them to act in order to avoid accidents!
This elementary and VERY partial protection, which at first seemed as if the Ministry had decided to finally act in defense of Diolkos, was rather an attempt to fool Justice Authorities... By muddling up every bit of information, as is their habit, the Ministry knew they would subsequently present whatever tiny piece of work as something quite big and important - while comfortably leaving DIolkos on its scheduled destruction...
False descriptions of the erosion seem to be the rule. Even parts of the excavated stretch of the monument itself have for long periods DISAPPEARED from official documents!!!
Both the local office of the Ministry and the Directorate for the Restoration of Ancient Monuments (DAAM) presented untrue descriptions of the erosion in 2006. For example, DAAM described the longer devastated stretch of Diolkos as having only "subsidence". It followed that there was no hurry in protecting it from the sea! The local office's description TOTALLY DISREGARDED the devastated parts of the monument vaguely PRESENTING as a problem some fallen stones!
In 2007, the Ministry pretended to follow an OFFICIAL decision for IMMEDIATE salvage actions, but no other protection work was undertaken! A fund of 300.000 euros destined to Diolkos by the Greek Ministry of Finance in 2007, WAS NOT ABSORBED!
Although documents ostentate a profusion of presumed care, the Ministry MADE SURE in September 2007 to incorporate a term linking works on Diolkos to a "common interministerial decision" and then relied on THIS to continue their inactivity!
It took the Ministry more than one year to convene the supposed partners; when they met, around the end of 2008, everybody agreed that NO common interministerial decision (KYA in greek) was necessary. Instead of going on with arranging the monument's protection after 50 years of destruction - which was their duty AT ALL TIMES anyway -, the Ministry preferred to TAMPER with the minutes of the meeting so that everybody was made to appear to have agreed on the need for a KYA. The minutes were NOT signed by at least one of the other Ministries (that I know of) but the Ministry of Culture continued to pretend a KYA was necessary.
Later, AFTER news about THIS detail had gotten around, the KYA term was suspended. However, the Ministry might REPROPOSE the need for a KYA at any time!!! Their primary (not to say ONLY) goal is to absolve themselves and their complices (local government, other Ministries, engineers or others that are responsible for the various mock solutions either for the Canal or - recently - for the various fake movements the Ministry has engaged into for Diolkos itself); so anything seemingly absolving them is good.
===
A note: to just give an example of the incredible bundle of crime involved in Diolkos' heavy deterioration, PRETENDING Diolkos' salvation is a complicated business CREATES a good excuse for the Ministry and their complices for not having intervened... for not intervening... and maybe for continuing to not intervene in the future... SO, COMPLICATED the matter DID appear to be!!!!
Pretending BOTH temporary AND permanent protection was somebody else's business is what the Ministry did at the beginning of 2006, after a meeting convened ON THE INITIATIVE OF today's Head of the Peloponnese region, Mr. Petros Tatoulis. While the local ephorate was presumably programming a "restoration study" to be undertaken by the Municipality of Loutraki (one of the towns that regularly FED the Board of Directors of the Canal) ONLY A PRELIMINARY STUDY, whose aim purportedly was to "propose" TEMPORARY MEASURES was asked of the Loutraki Municipality... which in the meantime, had engaged to provide the sum of 40.000 euros (the cost of the supposed "restoration study") FOR A "PRESENTATION" STUDY (meleti anadeixis)... the continuation - no doubt - of a silly study THEY and the MINISTRY OF CULTURE had done, proposing benches for an already dilaniated Diolkos in 1989 [mentioned as protection works ten years later, maybe because THIS was supposedly "decided" in 1988!!! Appallingly, it seems doubtful that the Ministry of Culture ever had adequate collaboration WITH the Canal Company for the MINISTRY's supposed line of action in 1989 or later - although the benches MAY have been chosen BECAUSE the Canal was pretending to have THEIR [mock!!!] study funded soon!!!. THIS left the two players each with a "virtual" line of action!!! The "team" formed by the Ministry AND the Loutraki Municipality for the 1989 "study" SEEMS to have also initiated another disaster (whether on purpose or not!): they "set" the visible remains of Diolkos to be about 5m wide in their technical description; the area THEIR study was about seems to subsequently have passed as a description of larger parts or even the totality of the monument! Further handling of this study (or MAYBE even interventions to the Canal studies or even -maybe- of the idea of the Canal-as-a Monument) seem to have produced more instances of idiotcy and crime. It is becoming more and more apparent by now [February 2012] that in 2006 the Ministry tried to wind the clock back to the 80s, pretend nothing had happened (so NOONE was to blame!!!)... and pretend also that the monument - for which they had been giving false reports all the time, anyway - was almost intact... The area of the platform, nearer to the Canal axis, was the only area an official 2006 overview presented as almost destroyed - with a note that larger areas of the platform were covered nearby!!!)
By pretending to be looking for "restoration standards" in 2006 (for a study which they had pretended to arrange for almost a year!), the Ministry set up an almost "perfect crime". The attention was shifted to the supposed restoration standards and everybody was pressing for them - INDIRECTLY ADVERTISING that there WAS such a study coming...
====
Reports about this decades-long "assisted demolition" have reached the members of the Greek Parliament during 2010. More details exposed around the end of August 2010, pressed the Ministry again to some movimentation, PRIMARILY aimed, as always, to saving... themselves and CONSTRUCTING presumed evidence of their care.
(For an tiny example, see the video entitled "The truth about cement blocks" on my YOUTUBE page).
One thing is certain: what the Ministry has been doing all these years, was NOT trying to save Diolkos but trying to create the impression that everything is OK with their imaginary "protection"!!
On the other hand, local government, with their HEAVY responsiblities in the devastation of Diolkos AND even in the PLANNING, executing or covering-up a series of CANAL-related frauds NEED TO APPEAR as "angels of salvation" for Diolkos; THEY do not want to lose their clientele and the Ministry OWES to them for keeping silent about everything, including the Ministry's responsiblities).
The earliest KNOWN document of the Ministry as far as the supposed protection for Diolkos goes, dates back to 1984: it contains a term presumably asking the Canal Company for some kind of study regarding Diolkos, in order to give permission for the construction of the nearby bridge. The Ministry people were quick to "overlook" the term in 1985 - when it was pointed out to them that they had ALREADY given their permission!
In much later years, the Ministry of Culture has started to pretend that THIS 1984 TERM was what they had been waiting for of the Canal. BUT THAT IS NOT TRUE. They had been backing-up the FRAUDS of the Canal people for the CANAL study and they have fallen back on their 1984 "term" MUCH LATER, maybe when the Canal studies proved a complete flop, or WHEN a failed study of their own seemed a much lesser offense than having participated in the Canal frauds.
Eager to cover-up their complices and themselves, the Greek Ministry of Culture has pretended NEVER to have taken PART of the Canal FRAUDS; recycling the 1984 "term", pretending to prepare a "restoration study" in 2005 or any other excuse - aptly supported by the local government or/and other "friends" who are quite eager themselves to cover up other parties involved (Polytechnic professors, Technical Chamber "representatives" etc.) are nothing but NEW FRAUDS, set up to cover the previous ones - regardless of whether they were "meant" or not to lead to any kind of protection for Diolkos.
At the beginning of 2006, after having talked with other Ministry people, a high official of the MInistry actually TOLD ME ON THE PHONE that he "did NOT think DIolkos would ever be fixed". It is more than apparent that at some time, the Greek Ministry of Culture had DECIDED they would NOT do anything to save the initial parts of Diolkos! THIS has nothing to do with the monument's protection BUT everything to do with covering-up past, present and future CRIMES and RESPONSIBILITIES. In this, as well as in many other cases, the Greek Ministry of Culture has been behaving like a criminal organization!!!
There also seem to have been arrangements for a haphazard "restoration"! Simplicistic standard phrases of the kind "the initial parts of Diolkos will return to their initial state" are standard phrases that Ministry officers and supposed "experts" repeat by heart. Their aim is also:
- to make it appear to Justice Authorities that the horrific damage already suffered by Diolkos is minimal (since it can be so easily repaired) and
- let more damage happen without intervening (no big deal "we" did not provide the "immediate temporary measures"oficially promised in 2007, no matter if more things disintegrate, "we" will fix them later).
=== recent update ====
Forced again and again to take some action, ministry officials have commissioned (around September 2010) a study for a wavebreaker (to another Ministry, to FIT the dogma that Diolkos' protection from the sea was NOT the Ministry of Culture's business!). This study, done under the GUIDANCE of the Ministry of Culture, and whose ESSENTIALS were "reported" to have received the Central Archaeological Council's positive evaluation, was presented as just a "proposal" in an article of the VIMA newspaper at the beginning of July 2011.
However, the Diolkos has been redundantly "saved" on various occasions, so NO excuse is valid anymore, unless the dilaniated monument is REALLY saved AND a scientifically correct restoration is REALLY undertaken...
With Diolkos' decay going on, our petition is:
We declare ourselves against the mentalities and practices that lead to the destruction of the world's heritage and we ask the Greek Prime Minister to exercise his authority so that, without any further delays and hypocrisy, the Diolkos is finally saved and restored.
Notes:
- info in english (not updated): http://euroheritage.net/diolkos.shtml
- 2008 BBC video: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7479805.stm
- recent videos, comparative photos & links at: www.youtube.com/user/sofiagreek
- On EUROPA NOSTRA: www.europanostra.org/read--amp--share/57/
This petition has already been signed by concerned citizens from 122 countries:
Greece, Cyprus, USA, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Luxemburg, Austria, France, Andorra, Spain, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Portugal, Brazil, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Ireland, Iceland, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Hungary, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Estonia, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Turkey, Albania, Serbia & Montenegro, Japan, Taiwan, China, Repubic of Korea, Hong Kong, Macao, South Africa, Mozambique, Mauritius, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Senegal, Gambia, Cape Verde, Togo, Nigeria, Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Kenya, Uganda, New Zealand, Fiji, Guam, Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana, Aruba, Chile, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Seychelles, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Ethiopia, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Iran, Iraq
WARMEST THANKS TO ALL!!!
To the Greek Prime Minister
Sir, The ancient diolkos, a unique monument of the end of the 7th century BC that enabled Greek warships and merchantmen to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth from sea to sea, is progressively crumbling into the water at its western end.
We declare ourselves against the mentalities and practices that lead to the destruction of the world's heritage and we ask you to exercise your Authority so that, without any further delays and hypocrisy, the Diolkos is finally saved and restored.
Sir, The ancient diolkos, a unique monument of the end of the 7th century BC that enabled Greek warships and merchantmen to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth from sea to sea, is progressively crumbling into the water at its western end.
We declare ourselves against the mentalities and practices that lead to the destruction of the world's heritage and we ask you to exercise your Authority so that, without any further delays and hypocrisy, the Diolkos is finally saved and restored.
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