"Let the ideas and selfless heroism of Pavlos Melas become a source of inspiration for all of us, in the difficult times we are going through," the President of Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou said during a ceremony to mark the restoration of Pavlos Melas' residence in the northern Athenian suburb of Kifissia.
The renovations commenced in August of 2019 and were completed for Wednesday, October 13, 2020, the 116th anniversary of his death.
Melas’ residence will operate as a living history monument, so that younger generations have the opportunity to get to know the man, the heroic warrior of the Macedonian Struggle Pavlos Melas through his personal effects that were donated by his relatives.
Hellenic Army officer Pavlos Melas was one of the most important war heroes in Macedonia’s struggle for freedom and reunification with Greece.
His struggle can "help everyone, support them in their weakest hours... And no one succeeds without heroism. Let the ideas and the selfless heroism of Pavlos Melas be a source of inspiration for all of us, in the difficult times we are going through," the Greek President said.
At the same time, she expressed her emotion for the restoration of the house which his granddaughter, Natalia Ioannidis, donated to the Ministry of National Defence.
"Double emotion, as today is the anniversary of his death, on October 13, 1904, at just 34 years old. He was killed by Ottoman fire in the village of Siatista in Kastoria (now named after him), where he was to organise the armed struggle of the Greek population for the liberation of Macedonia," Sakellaropoulou continued.
She also referred to the portrait of Pavlos Melas painted by George Iakovidis in 1904. "From this almost full-length portrait he looks at us with confidence a noble figure, a person determined, devoted to the national ideal at the time- the hearts of the free Greeks," she concluded.
Melas has become a national symbol of the Greek struggle for Macedonia and there are statues of Melas all over Thessaloniki, as Greeks are still proud of his actions and Melas is seen as a source of inspiration.
