German Week arrives at Gazi’s Technopolis
The Technopolis complex on Pireos Street took on a German flavor yesterday, with the opening of German Week (to October 3). I feel like I’m at a family gathering, said Ambassador Karl Heinz Kuhna, inaugurating the week of events and entertainment representing Germany in Greece. The ambassador unveiled a bust of noted philhellene Ludwig I of Bavaria, who did much to make Greek classical art and architecture better known in his own country and the rest of Europe, and whose son, Otto, the first king of Greece, presided over a period of urban renewal and fine neoclassical architecture. The German Embassy in Athens planned the week as a way of introducing German culture to Greeks and of enhancing the long-lasting ties between the two countries in the new shared European future. The first event was an apt illustration of Greek-German cooperation. Deputy Mayor of Athens Fotis Papathanasiou presented his own translation of five libretti by Wagner in a handsome boxed set published by Diachronikes Publishers. The Franz Liszt Trio added a musical dimension to the book presentation with their performance of works by Wagner, Beethoven and Hayden. The events This evening the German Archaeological School presents its work on the excavation at Tiryns, the Schael Sick Brass Band will play jazz numbers and the beer festival begins. There’s creative play and T-shirt painting for children on Saturday afternoon, followed by an ecological discussion, a theater performance and more music. Sunday is family day, with Greek and German traditional music, games for children and a rock concert with Over and Manita. Works by Greek artists of the Munich School that belong to the National Gallery collection will be on display, and discussions during the week cover subjects such as energy and the environment, the future of the European Union, and technology and foreign investment. Events run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Inquiries should be made to the German Embassy at tel 728.5111 or surf the Goethe Institut website at www.goethede/athen.
