Within the framework of Cultural Diplomacy, the President of Heritage & Museums (Η&Μ), Athens, Paris, NY, and President of the Development Committee of the World Federation of Friends of Museums (WFFM), Ms. Lila de Chaves-Chronopoulos, organized the annual institutional award ceremony honouring personalities from the fields of Art, Culture, and Education who have made a significant and distinctive contribution to the development of culture in their respective fields of activity.
This year, "Heritage & Museums" honoured director and writer Babis Plaitakis for:
-his (longstanding) promotion of Greek culture through his writing, which has been translated into many languages around the world, particularly in China, where in 2012 Beijing University Press published his book "Greco and the Grand Inquisitor"
-his lectures at Peking University, as he was the first Greek to give a lecture at the National Library of China
-as well as for his participation in the play "Dinner with Alexander the Great," which was presented (in French) by a ten-member troupe and the participation of composer Alexander Chachalis, in a world premiere
-at the iconic Richelieu Amphitheatre of the Sorbonne in Paris on 20 March 2025.
The award was presented to Babis Plaitakis by the Ambassador of Luxembourg, Mr Paul Schmit. Following this, the theatrical play was screened (with Greek subtitles, duration 64 minutes). This special evening (recently held at the B. & M. Theocharakis Foundation) was dedicated to the memory of visual artist Agni Chronopoulou-Colignon.
Agni Chronopoulou used both painting and its direct descendant, photography, as a "midwife" to bring to light the invisible meanings and ideas of this world. That was precisely where her superiority laid. This was her preferred path, but also her deepest philosophy: to visualize the invisible. As she used to say, “I am very interested in penetrating to the core of things, stimuli, and emotions.
Not the external, superficial recording. I am very attracted to details and their significance, which is why my photographs contain multiple interpretations and comments on nature, which we so desperately need and yet treat so brutally through speculation and destruction in recent years. While the wealth of shapes and colors can carry you away on an endless journey through its unparalleled beauty and wisdom.”
