Military History Exhibition in Greece

Szöveg: kormany.hu | 2011. október 26. 16:56

In early October an exhibition opened in Chania, Greece with 21 panels to commemorate the first-ever peace-enforcement/peacekeeping operation initiated by Hungary. At a later date, the MoD Military History Institute and Museum will donate the collection on display to the honorary consul of Hungary to Crete.

After Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraclion (Crete), the exhibition of the MoD Military History Institute and Museum on the peacekeeping operation in Crete was finally organized in Chania. The opening ceremony was attended by MoD Deputy State Secretary for Defence Policy and Planning Péter Siklósi, Eszter Sándorfi, Hungary’s ambassador to Athens, Hungarian Defence Attaché Lt.-Col. Zsolt Annus, and Konstantinos Konstantinidis, Hungary’s honorary consul to Crete. Prior to the opening ceremony, Péter Siklósi delivered a speech in the conference room of the facility.

In addition to the panels, the exhibition featured the memorabilia made available by local collectors such as contemporary tools, weapons, maps and journals. One of the interesting things about the event is that Dimitris Nikolakakis – the chairman of the municipal name-giving committee who delivered a speech at the opening ceremony – announced an initiative to name a street in Chania after the late Austro-Hungarian chief consul Gyula Pintér. The next day the mayor of the town endorsed the initiative on a visit to his office.

The MoD Military History Institute and Museum will donate the exhibits to Konstantinos Konstantinidis, Hungary’s Honorary Consul to Crete. Deputy State Secretary Péter Siklósi handed over the certificate of donation after a wreath-laying ceremony held by the grave of Greek statesman Eleftherios Venizelos.

The exhibition was on view inside the Grand Arsenal exhibition hall at the Neoria (Venetian dockyard) of the old town of Chania until October 22.