The historic Chancery Building, the Athens landmark that houses the US Embassy, was lit up with the colours of the American flag- red, white and blue, in celebration of Independence Day on July 4.
The chancery building in Athens was designed by famed Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius with consulting architect Pericles A. Sakellarios. It was constructed between 1959 and 1961 and is a protected architectural landmark.
In celebration of #July4thGreece, we lit up the historic Embassy Chancery building in Red, White & Blue, the colors of the American Flag. Thank you to renowned photographer Yiorgis Yerolymbos for capturing this unique moment 🇺🇸🇬🇷 pic.twitter.com/FXVWe3FdwS
— U.S. Embassy Athens (@USEmbassyAthens) July 2, 2020
Last month, US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt announced that the U.S. Embassy in Athens will not host its annual Independence Day celebration this year, in light of ongoing coronavirus concerns, as reported by Greek City Times.
In a letter, the ambassador expressed the hope that the two countries would be able to celebrate their 200-year friendship at the event of 2021.
Reviewing 2020 as “a year of unprecedented progress in the US-Greece relationship,” the ambassador referred to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ visit to Washington in January to meet President Trump, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Athens in October 2019 for the second US-Greece Strategic Dialogue as part of a “common agenda to support Greece’s continued economic recovery and to forge even stronger ties” in several sectors.
“As we move forward with our agenda in 2020, albeit in a different manner than we originally envisioned, we will strive to ensure that Greece remains a pillar of stability in a complex and changing region,” Pyatt said.
He added that the embassy will continue to work closely with the government and business community to maintain the momentum in the economic relationship.
He also underlined that the Greek government and people “deserve great credit for effectively mitigating the pandemic to this point.” Instead of the usual call to American firms in Greece to donate towards the annual event, he stated that he will instead express his thanks to them for their generosity in donating funds, goods, or services to Greece to fight the pandemic.
