The Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Culture and Sports are cooperating for the showcase and protection of the cultural heritage repository of the Armed Forces, whereby the Memorandum of Understanding signed today by the Minister of Culture and Sports Mrs. Lina Mendoni and the Deputy Minister of National Defence Mr. Nikolaos Hardalias.

The Memorandum provides for the support of initiatives and actions, the establishment of a common context of promotion and safeguarding the cultural heritage of the Armed Forces, which constitutes an integral part of the history and the national cultural life. It is provided for to proceed to actions of preservation and restoration of the assets, facilities and sites of historical and cultural interest owned by the Armed Forces, based on their actual state, the wider environmental conditions, as well as the consequences of climate change.

The Deputy Minister of National Defence Mr. Nikolaos Hardalias made the following address:

“I am very happy that together we start the cooperation of our Ministries, regarding the organisation and implementation of a context of protection and promotion of the cultural monuments and our historic heritage, undertaking actions that ensure not only their preservation and restoration, but the prevention and dealing with the environmental and other relative risks. The signed Memorandum is a tangible proof of the sensitization of both Ministries, and of the timely recognition of the climate crisis consequences as well, which changes data totally worldwide.

The Ministry of National Defence, by serving the cause of protecting the environment and armouring our Armed Forces against the dangerous consequences of the said phenomenon, undertakes all necessary actions for their adjustment to climate change and the safeguarding of buildings, facilities and sites that constitute the historic legacy of the country, but also for the establishment of a common database of cultural repository making an integral part of its overall property.

The active contribution of both the Ministry of National Defence and the Armed Forces, as guarantors of our country’s security, and the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the main agency of protection of the intellectual creation and cultural heritage in Greece, is a step of progress, extroversion, flawless cooperation and essential cooperation in the implementation of the Government’s policy undertakings”.

As the Minister of Culture and Sports Mrs. Lina Mendoni stated:

“We, the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Ministry of National Defence, along with the Armed Forces, send society a symbolic message of cooperation and commitment to common actions, concerning two major public goods, that is security and culture.

Via this specific memorandum signed today, an expanded field of cooperation between the two Ministries is opened that can bring extremely positive results towards the protection of – inter alia – the military and historic cultural heritage. We can have positive results in the management of many everyday matters that concern the Ministry of National Defence and the Armed Forces, and respectively, the Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Department. We are really happy for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the protection of the cultural repository of the Armed Forces, since it also offers the possibility to create data bases and develop synergies that can especially facilitate our common work”.

The Ministry of Culture and Sports, as the competent agency for the preservation, protection and promotion of the cultural heritage will contribute in actions for the promotion and safeguarding of all sites of historic and cultural heritage. The Ministry of National Defence has already implemented a procedure of detailed registration and documentation of the cultural heritage of the Armed Forces and it will provide the available data in order to create a cultural repository.

Specifically, among other things, actions are provided for:

• The development of a risk assessment methodology and the consequences on monuments, in order for the Armed Forces to be able to operate and function with the smallest possible environmental impact in light of the climate change,

• The development of studies, concerning structures of emblematic nature that require preservation or restoration (historic and landmark monuments, underwater cultural heritage, forts, lighthouse, museums, etc.),

• The establishment of a common cultural repository and the digitization of all available documentation data of historic buildings, sets, as well as other elements, for example, wreckages, museum exhibits, historic war ships, in a modern internet environment. The above data will be used for the enrichment of the Archaeological Registry and the Digital Collections of Mobile Monuments of the National Monuments Registry kept at the Ministry of Culture and Sports,

• The implementation of joint actions of information (meetings, lectures, training brochures, etc.),

• The establishment of national-range research programs, in cooperation with universities and research agencies.