The President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou honoured national Greek poet Dionysios Solomos, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution.
The ceremony at the National Garden in Athens, took place under the auspices of the Hellenic National Commission for UNESCO.
“I imagine him, at a young age, feverishly writing the Hymn to Liberty on Strani Hill in Zakynthos, while the echo from the cannons on the opposite shore brought to life in his eyes the drama of the Messolonghi struggle. And to turn the storm of his emotions into the unique dialogue of light and darkness, tragedy and peace, which characterises his poetry,” the President said.
“I would like to congratulate the organisers of the event for the great idea of honouring here in Athens, the poet who throughout his work supported and defended the high ideal of national, moral and spiritual freedom as the supreme good that gives meaning to life and conquers death. The poet, who, having ‘always open, always vigilant eyes of his soul’ transformed in vernacular language, the national ideal,” she concluded.
Dionysios Solomos is the national poet of Greece – not only because he wrote the Greek anthem, but also because he contributed to the preservation of earlier poetic tradition and highlighted its usefulness to modern literature.
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