Restoration of Prosforios Tower in Ouranoupoli, near Mt Athos, to begin after funding by Hellas Gold is signed by minister
The iconic Tower of Prosforios in Ouranoupoli, “the gate to Mt Athos” in northern Greece, will be stabilized and restored with funding provided by Hellas Gold.
A relevant agreement was signed in the Chalkidiki peninsula on Friday by Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni.
As she noted, “It is very important that more companies now feel – and this is not typical – that they must resturn part of their dividend to local communities. Culture is not something that occurs in vitro. It does not exist in isolation from the society it belongs to and which created it.”
Hellas Gold Chairman Christos Balaskas said that the company has committed 80 million dollars to investments in issues of corporate social responsibility in the nearly 20 years the mining is expected to last in Skouries.
Representatives Louw Smith of the parent company, Eldorado Gold, said the cooperation provides an opportunity to contribute in a positive way to the areas of the company’s activities, opening the way to a socially inclusive and economically resilient future of mining in the entire area.
Tower history
The Tower of Prosforios is dated to the 12th century and is the largest and best preserved tower in the northern Greek peninsula of Chalkidiki. It was seriously damaged during the earthquake of 1585, while it may possibly have been set on fire in 1821, since reports of 1858 said it was heavily damaged and uninhabited.
It acquired its present look after extensive repairs and restoration, and was later connected to the couple of Joice and Sydney Loch, who arrived in the area in 1928 as members of humanitarian organizations. They settled in the tower and helped settle the refugees arriving from Asia Minor in 1924 after the exchange of populations who founded Ouranoupoli.
The tower has remained open to the public until works begin shortly. They will include fire protection, stabilization, and support works that are expected to be completed in 24 months, according to the agreement, although Minister Mendoni expressed the assertion they will conclude sooner.
Mayor of the Aristotelis Municipality to which the tower belongs, Stelios Valianos, told Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) that the municipality decided to use the funding provided to the city by pursuing the agreement between Hellas Gold and the public for this iconic monument.
Source: AMNA
