I commend you for your many features on the present state of the former royal estate of Tatoi. I must say, it is quite a shame and an embarrassment on the part of the Greek state to have allowed Tatoi to reach its present state. What should have quickly been turned into an Eden 30 minutes away from central Athens for the Greek people is left neglected and rotting away.

I have been to Tatoi a few times, and my encounter with the estate has left a deep impression upon me - not only the natural beauty it offers but the ability to walk through time in a long period of Greek history. And yet, the Greek state, instead of providing a most beautiful cultural center for the Greek people - where the citizens could enjoy the nature and beauty of Parnitha, along with numerous cultural avenues and museums dedicated to the modern Greek state - does what it does best... nothing.

Quite a shame really. We claim our present form of government is so morally superior to the former monarchy, yet our inferiority complex in regard to our past is quite unbelievable. How can we let this inferiority complex determine our future? How long will we allow this to destroy and neglect our cultural/historical/natural inheritance? Whereas countless other nations have refurbished and exhibited the cultural/historical monuments left by their former monarchies, we continue to follow a path of denial, destruction and hypocrisy. A case in point: Russia, which is in a continual process of rebuilding the vast palatial inheritance from the Tsarist period.

What was the point, then, of fighting a 30-year war in the courts to even obtain the estate of Tatoi, when we cannot even develop, refurbish, rebuild and reconstruct one of our nation's most important treasures?

I clearly remember the government of the day claiming that «we would immediately plan to rebuild the estate for the pleasure of the Greek people.» And so, another administration and another government has entered the scene and still nothing is done, yet we hear words aplenty...

STAVROS SKENDERIS, Bay Side, New York.