Greek MPs ask for Alexander statue in central Athens
A group of 24 conservative New Democracy MPs on Tuesday submitted a joint appeal in Parliament for a bronze statue of Alexander the Great to be erected in a central spot of the capital.
The statue in question, by the late artist Yannis Pappas, was purchased by the Culture Ministry in 1993 and given to City Hall but it has yet to go on public display.
In their appeal, the lawmakers complained of “intentional foot-dragging… even as the nationalist zealotry of Skopje continues to grow and the appropriation of Greek history and Greek symbols continues.”
Their move comes a few days after the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s (FYROM) parliament speaker Antonio Milososki published a picture of himself and members of a group of climbers from Greece’s neighboring country on Mount Olympus, holding a flag bearing the Vergina Sun, an ancient Greek symbol.
