Yesterday, Corfu and the other islands of the Ionian, celebrated the 147th year since the union of the Heptanese with Greece. To honour this remarkable date, the state erected a monument in Spianada and decided to declare the 21st of May a local holiday.
The monument is made of marble and has a form of an individual circular square. In its center, there is a cocentric set of steps. At the top of them there is the main piece it, a simplistic column which bares the comemorative inscription "ENΩΣΙΣ 21 ΜΑΪΟΥ 1864".
The most interesting aspect of the monument are the seven satellite marble pieces. Each one represents one ionian island with its coat of arms made of bronze placed on its side facing the main monument in the center of the circle.
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| Corfu |
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| Paxoi |
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| Zante |
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| Itaca |
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| Lefkada |
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| Kithira |
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| Kefallonia |
It's quite a common phenomenon the monument to be vandalized with graffiti by groups of mindless youths who lack of aesthetics, respect and knowledge of local history. Hopefully, as you can see from the recently taken pictures, the monument had been cleaned.
2 comments:
Yassou John
The monument is not new, it must have been there for at least ten years. 21st May has been a national holiday, at least in the Ionian Islands and especially in Corfu, for as long as most people can remember. Not sure when the date was first commemorated. I must check. Soon after 1864? It's rather sad that it's now largely ignored by Athenian politicians and by Greek national TV channels.
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