Australian Ambassador to Greece, Arthur Spyrou, has visited the Greek island of Kythera to attend a presentation of the future Kythera Migration Museum and to mark the centenary of the Kytherian Association of Australia (KAA).
READ MORE: ‘A tribute to expat Greeks’: Kythera Migration Museum one step closer to becoming reality.
The proposed museum, which is under the Auspices of the Australian Embassy in Greece and supported by ‘Friends of Museums of Kythera’ and the local Municipality, was first reported on by The Greek Herald in December 2021.
At the time, the Mayor of Kythera, Efstratios Charchalakis, told The Greek Herald the museum would be “a tribute to expats and a benchmark for our island nationwide.”
“It will be built in Agia Pelagia, where tens of thousands of our compatriots left the island to go overseas,” the Mayor added.
As part of his visit to Kythera, Ambassador Spyrou visited the Agia Pelagia port to see first-hand where the museum will be constructed.
Later, the Ambassador attended the signing of a Memorandum between the Kythera Municipality, the KIPA Foundation and Mediterranean Institute for Nature and Anthropos on the development of hiking trails.
The Ambassador stressed that these hiking trails were “the same trails that the first generation of Kytherian migrants to Australia used to take” and that the project was supported by the Kytherian community of Australia.
During his trip, which also included a meeting with Mayor Charchalakis, Ambassador Spyrou said he was “very moved to visit Kythera island – the distant, yet so close to the heart, homeland of a 80,000+ strong vibrant community of Aussies of Kytherian heritage.”
