One of the stranger post-Prespa agreement “aftershocks” played out in Athens over the weekend, following press reports that Greece’s culture minister proposed sending a well-known glass sculpture to Skopje, the capital of the recently re-christened Republic of North Macedonia, in return for a massive equestrian statue associated with Alexander the Great.
The glass sculpture in question is the “Dromeas” (The Runner), located across from the Athens Hilton, and along a major thoroughfare where athletes pass on their way to the finish line of the Classical Marathon – extending from the eponymous township to the Panathinaikos Stadium.
The sculpture’s creator, well-known Greek artist Costas Varotsos, on Monday morning confirmed that Culture Minister Myrsini Zorba called him to the ministry on Friday afternoon to ask his opinion about such a “swap”. He said he expressed his opposition, while adding that the glass sculpture belongs to the municipality of Athens.
His statements came after the culture ministry denied that such a meeting even took place, and following the relevant press reports.
“I replied to her that the Dromeas cannot leave Athens, for several reasons. Besides, the sculpture belongs to the city of Athens, I have the intellectual rights,” he added.
In her reaction, Zorba said no such proposal was discussed, and that possible exchanges of monuments or changes in plaques are the responsibility of other ministries.
Zorba is an out-of-Parliament member of the Tsipras Cabinet, a more-or-less surprise appointment given that she was once served as the head of the political office of former PASOK prime minister Costas Simitis (1996-2004).
The statue in Skopje that was cited in press reports is the “Warrior on a Horse” monument, a thinly veiled depiction of Alexander the Great.
