«Current translation pending review – For demonstration only».
This year marks four years since the signing of the Oath of Friendship, which united the Apollonia Rhodes Cultural Club of “New Horizons” with the Rhodes Cultural Association “Friends of Towers”of the Modelle de Vicomte Community, Crez Prefecture, area of Auvergne, in the center of France. The House of Europe in Rhodes played an important role in the idea of twinning the two cultural associations and making them real.
Like all years since then, this year a 6-member delegation from Rhodes will visit Crez, and in particular Modelle de Vicomte of France, invited by the French Association of “Friends of Towers”. This 3rd visit to France will take place from 3 to 10 June 2018, with the following participants:
Kyriazakos Emmanouil: President of the New Horizons Cultural Association
Sokianou Marilena: Founding and Honorary President of the “House of Europe in Rhodes”
Haritou Anna: Honorary President at the “House of Europe in Rhodes”
Tsakiris Michael: Representative of the Federation of Rhodes Cultural Associations
Hatzigeorgiou Vasilios: Representative of the Apollo Ecclesiastical Committee
Hatzidimitriou Alexandros: Translator
At the same time we are in the process of preparing an Art Exhibition that will tell the story of the construction of the Tapisserie d’Obisson, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Along with the photographs, various tools used for their production will be exhibited and short films on tapestry will be screened.
The Ephorate of Antiquities of the Dodecanese has the primary say in the realization of this exhibition, which is responsible not only for its organization and preservation but also for the cost of transporting the exhibits.
This exhibition, which we hope to be able to carry out this year, is part of the exchanges and plans, agreed in 2016 during the visit of the Rhodes Delegation to France, between the Head of the Dodecanese Antiquities Committee, Dr Manias Michaelidou and the Museum Director by Emmanuel Zerrar of the Cité Internationale de la Tapisserie. The details of its organization will be discussed during the visit to France.
At the same time the material of the HELL.P office’s notebooks has already been delivered to the competent post office for a month and contains texts in Greek, French and related photographs. The texts provide detailed information on her twin and her actions as well as real, historical and mythological facts of her two regions. The mock-ups are expected to go ahead with their printing and will be available in schools and not only in Crez and Rhodes. About 500 bilingual notebooks have already been ordered and will be made available in France by various operators.
Our French friends have made available to us, for the equipment of the Apollo First Aid Clinic, the following: an electric, motorized bed with a mattress that has been cleaned and disinfected and has been put into a new case, an armchair, a closet and bases for serums and others that are in very good condition. For their transportation and because they are heavy, the French club will contact the Greek Embassy in Paris, which is already up to date about our activities and is following them closely.
Meanwhile, the Apollonia Dance Company has been invited to participate again at the 43rd International Festival of Traditional Dances in Felten, Crez, in 2019. The Apollonia Athletic Football Association has been invited to participate in a series of friendly football matches in 2019 in various small towns in the Crez area.
For two years, there are no French-language courses in Apollo, supported by VTC Gennimatas, where 15-20 students, adults and adolescents attend.
In mid-May, four French couples visited Rhodes, and in particular the village of Apollo, led by Mr Zeneviev Zouvel, the watercolorist who exhibited her work last year at the Accommodation in France, in the exhibition entitled “On the steps of Pierre d’Obisson”, which was visited by 4,000 visitors from 42 countries. This year’s visitors include 4 painters who walked the “Water Mill Path” in Apollo, inspired by the landscape and the sights and paintings they will paint will be exhibited at a special section of this year’s exhibition at the Zizim Tower, Bourganef, screening Rhodes and Apollo.
During the four years since the beginning of this effort, the cooperation of the two clubs, with the support of the House of Europe in Rhodes, has implemented various programs and cultural events that have contributed not only to forging the links between the two clubs but also and residents of both communities and opened new channels of communication between them.