Greek Royal Palaces and Residences

[Splodger]

I wounder if it is a case of being surrounded by history they become complacent about it.

When you can look up out of your government office window and see the Parthanon which is something like 3000 years old, then perhaps it is easy to dismiss any part of your history in the last two hundred years as insignificant?

They need to employ a heritage minister to look after all these things better... ohh I wounder who could do that for them

 

[ellinotati]

The ministry of Culture is responsible for the maintenance of historic buildings.The whole of Greece is full of monuments,temples,museums etc. It's not a easy task to try to preserve all of them.The Parthenon has been undergoing maintenance work for years and still hasn't finished.We have to save our ancient heritage first ,which is very important to us, before we move on to the most recent heritage.You can understand the importance of ancient greek culture by the fact that the British museum has been denying the return of the Parthenon sculptures for years.Sculptures and marbles that are propably the most valuable in the entire museum.The oldest the item,the higher the value,you see....

 

[Splodger]

The ministry of Culture is responsible for the maintenance of historic buildings.The whole of Greece is full of monuments,temples,museums etc. It's not a easy task to try to preserve all of them.The Parthenon has been undergoing maintenance work for years and still hasn't finished.We have to save our ancient heritage first ,which is very important to us, before we move on to the most recent heritage.You can understand the importance of ancient greek culture by the fact that the British museum has been denying the return of the Parthenon sculptures for years.Sculptures and marbles that are propably the most valuable in the entire museum.The oldest the item,the higher the value,you see....

I have to agree with Ellinotati here. Although Tatoi is an important modern royal palace and i hate to see any old building fall in to ruin, in the grand scheem of things the ancient temples etc are more important to preserve for both Greece and the world at large.

However i guess that just brings us back to the age old question of why the Government were so adamant in keeping Tatoi to the point of spending tax payers money set aside for those in need and adding to their list of overheads for the sole purpose of humiliating and depriving one man of his personal heritage .

 

[cuervo]

I wounder if it is a case of being surrounded by history they become complacent about it.

When you can look up out of your government office window and see the Parthanon which is something like 3000 years old, then perhaps it is easy to dismiss any part of your history in the last two hundred years as insignificant?

They need to employ a heritage minister to look after all these things better... ohh I wounder who could do that for them

Mainly,the Ministry of Culture! I would purpose to be a Cultoural Center of Royal Heritage{Constant exibition} with places where people walk,children play and learn .Special care about Royal Graves {I mean,everybody to see but nobody to go close}The stables or other buildings can be transformed into classical music theaters or Houses of Opera(There is not One 1 Opera House in whole over Greece!)Art exibitions,Video art ,Technology aspect excibition-everything of high level.The buildings are made of the best material ever!!!

 

[Jo]

Mainly,the Ministry of Culture! I would purpose to be a Cultoural Center of Royal Heritage{Constant exibition} with places where people walk,children play and learn .Special care about Royal Graves {I mean,everybody to see but nobody to go close}The stables or other buildings can be transformed into classical music theaters or Houses of Opera(There is not One 1 Opera House in whole over Greece!)Art exibitions,Video art ,Technology aspect excibition-everything of high level.The buildings are made of the best material ever!!!

I agree, do some thing with them. and instead of one group of people fixing all. break them up into groups so they can just fix some. Letting modern or present history go saying that there is just too much isn't a good excuse. History is history. the other building are in thier present condition because of thinking like that. imo I don't want to wait for 3000 years for people to realize this. hae someone keep them up at the very least or here's a thought give them back to the royal family so they can take care of them. man i'm brilliant!!

 

[cuervo]

I agree, do some thing with them. and instead of one group of people fixing all. break them up into groups so they can just fix some. Letting modern or present history go saying that there is just too much isn't a good excuse. History is history. the other building are in thier present condition because of thinking like that. imo I don't want to wait for 3000 years for people to realize this. hae someone keep them up at the very least or here's a thought give them back to the royal family so they can take care of them. man i'm brilliant!!

Or to give them back to The GRF,because the Greek state cannot afford such projects!!

Tatoi is not a Palace,is an Estate

 

[Isabel]

I wounder if it is a case of being surrounded by history they become complacent about it.

When you can look up out of your government office window and see the Parthanon which is something like 3000 years old, then perhaps it is easy to dismiss any part of your history in the last two hundred years as insignificant?

They need to employ a heritage minister to look after all these things better... ohh I wounder who could do that for them

I don't know what the problem is, but something really needs to be done with these places. The historical importance of the Parthanon is indeed significant, but when considering the history of Greece's former monarchy and the its yo-yo existence from time and the exile of the current royal family, I think that these historical homes are certainly of interest. The stories that could be told are really interesting. I personally think that the changes and ups and downs and even the stories of the interesting members of the GRF are very interesting. Very well known members of the Family were born in some of these homes and I believe that Tatoi or one of the summer homes is a private resting place for several members of the GRF who have passed away. That is indeed significant, IMO and worth preserving.

 

[Splodger]

OK Gang... here is the plan! We shall right a letter to the new President when he is elected and tell him to give it back to the GRF as the seems the common concensus here or else we will get very very upset with him . I know they have already paid him the money but as he is using that for the good of Greece which is what they were supposed to use it for anyway they can call it quits!

 

[susan alicia]

I have come across some information regarding the Palace of Tatoi and wounderd if anyone out there new if this was correct or had changed since the following webpage was published in 2001.

http://www.fbarnard.org.uk/greek01/greece01.htm

According to the above webpage, Tatoi is not only closed to the public, but hard to find, railed off and guarded by police and a gaurd dog. I was woundering if this is still the case as I was under the impression from the recent Court Case over it between Constantine and the Greek Government, that Tatoi was being held for the benefit of the Greek people and was therefore open to the public. It seems rather bizzar that the Government paid Constantine all that money as oposed to giving it back to him, only to let it rot.

this building is really very uninteresting, it mainly has sentimental value to the former greek royals and should be sold to them.
On the island of Syros alone I know of many more crumbling 19th century villa's which are from an art historical point of view much more worth saving.
And re the crumbling, it is very often better to crumble than to be wrongly restored.

As for the parthenon, it has suffered more in the past 50 years due to the pollution in athens than in the past 1000 years, everything is melting away.
If they would just take care of that ........

 

[laskaris]

Not only the Ministry of ....

culture is involved..Ministries of Public Constructions,Agriculture,of Defence,and of National Economy.Let's not forget that there is a forrest in Tatoi,an airport near by.there will be circulation of money arround the Place..!So, there must be a special organisation to be created who take over the maintenance and exploitation,maybe not only for tatoi,also for all Royal estates....

Why Tatoi must be priveledged??Because for over 150 years everything New concerning Politics, Agriculture,Civilization,Art, was first shown there,and then was passing to the Hellenic State...It was the main "Think Tank"of state of greece for the biggest part of It's History!!!

 

[grecka]

To me, probably the most pressing conservation areas in Greece right now are the Parthenon, and the ancient temples and worship areas at Epidaurus, which are in terrible straights. Some of the temples have decayed very rapidly due to neglect and weather, etc. Delphi is also suffering with the bulk of tourists who come to see and touch the site every year. The oils of their hands, and the moisture from their breath actually accelerates the decay of the monuments, and that, of course, has a terrible effect on things when repeated for several hundred years. Now, while I agree Tatoi is a beautiful place, it was but a favorite residence of the kings, and I don't think much policy was decided there. The Greek kings were constitutional monarchs and the business of the state, civilization, etc. which you proposed were first introduced there, laskaris, I think would probably have been introduced in cities like Athens and Thessaloniki before.

 

[Splodger]

well if the greeks could handle the olympics they can undoubtebly,
if they put their mind to it, restore palaces and
save the ancient monuments by tackling the problem of polution in athens (more harmful than the touch of human hands).

Unfortunatly the Olympic Games put them in debt so there is less money to go around. However it should be noted of course that the current government is not the same government that confiscated Tatoi etc or refused its surrender in the first place. Perhaps Mr Karamanlis will see more sence than Mr Smitas and Mr Papandreou as the New Democracy party are conservative than previous governments and are partialy supported by Monarchists. Unfortunalty as with so many governments, Greece has far to many other issues of concern than the state of a building or two and whether the GRF should be aloud back or not. Out of all the governments, Mr Karamanlis's is the most likely to be "helpfull" towards the GRF and their former property but he really is too busy with other pressing needs like their ecconomy to do anything about it.

 

[Jo]

Unfortunatly the Olympic Games put them in debt so there is less money to go around. However it should be noted of course that the current government is not the same government that confiscated Tatoi etc or refused its surrender in the first place. Perhaps Mr Karamanlis will see more sence than Mr Smitas and Mr Papandreou as the New Democracy party are conservative than previous governments and are partialy supported by Monarchists. Unfortunalty as with so many governments, Greece has far to many other issues of concern than the state of a building or two and whether the GRF should be aloud back or not. Out of all the governments, Mr Karamanlis's is the most likely to be "helpfull" towards the GRF and their former property but he really is too busy with other pressing needs like their ecconomy to do anything about it.

All are very good reasons why the gov't should just give back the royal properties back to the royal family so that the people of Greece don't have to worry about them. There is nothing wrong with letting them live in Greece and take care of family estates. That could be part of the agreement of them coming back. I think the point is that they can do something with the property and they aren't doing anything. I mean a shopping mall would work just do something!

 

[laskaris]

It's a

beautiful home indeed.But the one in Greece is even better!!

 

[samitude]

I was looking at the picture of the house. Does it continue on to the right or is that the roof of another house?

 

[Reina]

ARe they going to be given some of their palaces back in Greece.

 

[Splodger]

I was looking at the picture of the house. Does it continue on to the right or is that the roof of another house?

I am not a 100% sure, but from what i remember seeing of the back of their house and photo's taken from different angles on the front... i think that is another house.

 

[Splodger]

ARe they going to be given some of their palaces back in Greece.

The GRF stand more chance of winning the lottery than ever being given anything by the Greek Government. The Public Palace's such as the one in Athens near the 1896 Olympic Stadium was state property anyway and is now used as the Presidential Palace - so would not be given or sold to them. What was their Private property such as Tatoi - the Greek Government opted to pay the GRF compensation than give the property back. Therefore there is no property left uncompensated to give back, the Government is certainly unlikley to just give them any former property or new property as a gift and they are unlikely to sell the former property back to the GRF either. So cutting a long story short - it is very unlikley that Constantine will ever have the opertunity to live in what was once his family home again.

 

[grecka]

All I know is a house like that one above would cost about $25 million in downtown Manhattan.

 

[auntie]

The GRF stand more chance of winning the lottery than ever being given anything by the Greek Government. The Public Palace's such as the one in Athens near the 1896 Olympic Stadium was state property anyway and is now used as the Presidential Palace - so would not be given or sold to them. What was their Private property such as Tatoi - the Greek Government opted to pay the GRF compensation than give the property back. Therefore there is no property left uncompensated to give back, the Government is certainly unlikley to just give them any former property or new property as a gift and they are unlikely to sell the former property back to the GRF either. So cutting a long story short - it is very unlikley that Constantine will ever have the opertunity to live in what was once his family home again.

I think it is really sad, the exile and confiscation of public property etc. what is the reason of the deposition of monarchy in Greece?

 

[Splodger]

what is the reason of the deposition of monarchy in Greece?

A very very extensive and debated subject - I beleive many of us discussed at length in the thread "Monarchy in Greece" back in november/december 2003. The link should take you there.

Argument mainly falls to whether King Constantine II handled a series of events effectivly or not, and whether the choices he made were good, bad or the only ones available to him. The topic is discussed passionatly in length on the above link, however reading around the subject would be advisable to form your own conclusions - unltimatly the issue of the Greek Royal Family is a hotley debated subject and passions run very deep between the pro and anti greek monarchists.

 

[Jo]

Greek royal family's NEW house in Greece

http://members4.boardhost.com/alexb247/msg/63047.html

Here is the address. There is too much for me to put up here at this time. Hopefully someone else can do that. I don't want to loss it

 

[Jo]

[font=verdana, arial]Posted by Lia on 10/9/2005, 10:03 am
[font=verdana, arial]According to a greek paper King Constantine bought a home for him and his family in Patmos island. The house used to belong to Aga Ghan who died back in 2003 and the price was 1,2 million Euros. The paper that published it is a gossip one so until we hear something from official sources assume it could be wrong!! Here is a pic of the front page of the paper!


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[Jo]

Here's the photo. I couldn't get it to upload the other day.

 

[BeatrixFan]

Re:

When are they moving to Greece?

I think it would be nice for people to go and wave them off from their London home!

 

[prm79]

Ladies, they are not moving to Greece. I have no idea who started this rumor but it is simply not true. The former greek royal family bought a house in Patmos. It's an excellent investment and plus the island is very beautiful. That's all there is to it. They have a long way before even consider coming back to Greece. And even if that was the case, they wouldn't be living on Patmos island (that's just for holidays).

 

[Jo]

We got it from a magazine that Lia post on another site. It's at the top.

 

[BeatrixFan]

they are not moving to Greece

Phew! I love having Constantine and Anne-Marie living here!

 

[Jo]

More news his cousin Prince michel of greece owns a house in Patmos.

Quote from Lia from royal blue
Patmos is a greek island and its where the Apocalypsys (spel) book was writen. Its concidered a holy island and has very old monasteries!Its situated at the aegean sea!

The Greek "King" has a Danish passport so this makes him a European citizen and he is allowed to buy land!!

If that paper is indeed true its nice for them to get a home for vacation here!! (I always thought they would prefer Porto Heli area where they went two years in a row!)

If you want to read the whole thread here's the link:
http://forums.rbhq.net/showthread.php?p=104213#post104213
Here's another photo:

Administrator note: Here is a link to the picture of the house.

 

[Daytona]

Greek palace

The royal family used to own many palaces in Athens,Tatoi,Salonica and the island of Corfu.In 1974 a referendum abolished the monarchy and ever since the palace in Athens became the presidential palace,the Tatoi palace was left to ruin.The ones in Salonica and Corfu were given to the municipalities.Those pictures are from the palace in Tatoi after the European Court of Human Rights compensated the royal family and gave the whole royal family to the Greek state.