A glorious and moving ceremony was held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina on Monday, 21 October 2019, in celebration of the ten-year Anniversary of the Center for Hellenic Studies, which was inaugurated in 2008 and has been operating in the Library at the initiative of the Vardinoyannis family.

The event was organised by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in order to honour this important work.

In recognition of her great contribution and hard work over many years at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Director of the Library,

An event marking the opening of a series of Events for the Celebration the 2500-year Anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae and the Battle of Salamis was held in Athens, at the Zappeion Mansion, on Wednesday, 16 October 2019.

The event was attended by His Excellency, the President of the Hellenic Republic Mr Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Prime Minister Mr Kyriakos MitsotakIs, Minister of Culture and Sports Mrs Lina Mendoni, Minister of Interior Mr Panagiotis Theodorikakos and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Mrs Marianna Vardinoyannis. The Ministry of Culture and Sports,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is truly a special honor for me to be with you today. I would like to thank the “Democracy and Culture Foundation”, the New York Times and the President of the Athens Democracy Forum Mr. Achilles Tsaltas for their kind invitation. 

Especially this year, the topics of the Athens Democracy Forum make us all rethink the ways that humanity moves forward, focusing on current and future challenges, and placing democracy and culture in the core of a sustainable world. The world that we all envision for the new generations,

Students from the SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER Programme of the Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation and Axion Hellas gave an interactive presentation in the presence of Mrs Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy and President of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation, and UNESCO Good Will Ambassador Mrs Marianna V. Vardinoyannis on Wednesday, 9 October 2019, at the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art.

During the event, which was held on the occasion of the Athens Democracy Forum,

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Mrs. Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, human rights activist and President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights, Mrs Kerry Kennedy and Ted Kennedy, a prominent lawyer specialising in health issues and a proponent of the rights of people with disabilities, with his wife Kiki Kennedy, met with the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr Prokopios Pavlopoulos, on Monday, 7 October 2019.

The subject of the return of the Parthenon Marbles was the focus of the discussion.

Mr Pavlopoulos thanked Mrs Kerry Kennedy for her work in the area of protection of human rights and her contribution to the effort to have the Parthenon Marbles returned.

On Tuesday, 27 August 2019, the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and founder of the Alexandria Center for Hellenistic Studies of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Mrs Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, and the Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Center for Hellenistic Studies, Dr. Mostafa El Feki, met with the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr Prokopios Pavlopoulos, at the Presidential Mansion.

Mrs Vardinoyannis and Dr El Feki briefed the President of the Republic in detail about the operation of the Alexandria Center for Hellenistic Studies,

The award ceremony for the 2018-2019 Student Painting Competition was held with great success and with the participation of dozens of students from schools across the country, at the NJV Athens Plaza hotel, on Monday, 22 April 2019.

The competition, organised for the fourth consecutive year by the Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation in cooperation with the Children’s Gallery of Greece, was dedicated this year to Human Rights and the 70th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Universal Proclamation on Human Rights, which was celebrated throughout the world in 2018.

A resounding message on the need to protect our cultural heritage was sent during the event for the Greek World Heritage Monuments organised by the Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation and attended by His Excellency the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr Prokopios Pavlopoulos, on Wednesday 17 April 2019, in the Amphitheatre of the Acropolis Museum.

In the context of the event, which was organised on the occasion of the World Day of Monuments and Sites, the Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation presented a publication on the 18 Greek monuments included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Mrs Marianna V. Vardinoyannis’ speech

“Humanism and Volunteering: When Defending Health and Solidarity Become a Way of Life”

Your Excellency Mr President of the Hellenic Republic,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am deeply moved by this great honour! I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Thirty years ago, when I was embarking on this long journey to save children suffering from cancer, along with the founding members of the ELPIDA Association, it would have been difficult for me to believe that a time would come when I would accept such a major distinction,

The President of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights andhuman rights activist, Mrs Kerry Kennedy, sided with the national issue regarding the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece, in the context of a lecture hosted by the Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation at the Acropolis Museum Auditorium on Monday 18 March 2019.

“Even when you take something from a small child they will tell you: It’s not fair. So it’s not fair to enter one’s home and take away the most valuable thing they have.  And it is wrong to talk about the Elgin Marbles.