Thessaloniki is set to become home to Greece’s second crematorium following the official publication of a presidential decree in the Government Gazette, granting authorization for its construction.
According to ekathimerini, the decree allows for the establishment of a crematorium and related facilities within the city’s first cemetery.
“The publication in the Government Gazette of the approval of the zoning plan for the location of the crematorium frees our hands to immediately carry out all the necessary procedures required and proceed as soon as possible with the issuing of the expression of interest for the construction of the crematorium,” Thessaloniki Mayor Stelios Angeloudis stated.
He emphasized that after “years of stagnation,” the city was now “taking the first and most decisive step to secure the – self-evident – right of every person to make a free choice” regarding burial or cremation.
Greece’s first crematorium was established in 2019 in Ritsona, Viotia, 15 years after cremation was legalized in the country.
The Orthodox Church of Greece remains opposed to cremation, arguing that it constitutes “desecration of the dead.”
Source: ekathimerini.com
