Στο οδοιπορικό τους που ξεκινά από την χαρακτηριστική Ροτόντα της Θεσσαλονίκης και επισκέπτονται όλα τα μνημεία που διατηρούνται, αρκετά από αυτά ανέπαφα από την περίοδο που δημιουργήθηκαν, καταδεικνύουν την προσαρμοστικότητα αλλά και τις ισχυρές ρίζες της Νύμφης του Βορρά.

Το οδοιπορικό αυτό, καταγράφεται από ένα 14λεπτο βίντεο που δημοσιοποιήθηκε στο youtube και μέσα σε αυτόν τον σύντομο χρόνο πλήθος στοιχείων, ιστορικών αναφορών αλλά και συνδέσεων με την σημερινή μορφή της πόλης παραδίδονται στους θεατές προκειμένου να αναδειχθεί- όπως σημειώνουν- η σημασία των αρχαιοτήτων αυτών και το γιατί η Θεσσαλονίκη και η Ελλάδα αξίζουν την διατήρησή τους στο σημείο που βρίσκονται τώρα.

Αφορμή αποτέλεσε η πρόσφατη απόφαση της Ελληνικής Κυβέρνησης να προχωρήσει στην απόσπααση των αρχαιοτήτων του Σταθμού Μετρό Βενιζέλου στη ΘΙεσσαλονίκη προκειμένου να ολοκληρωθούν τα έργα διάνοιξης και κατασκευής του σταθμού, παρά τις διαφορετικές αποφάσεις που είχε εκδόσει κατά το παρελθόν, τόσο το Αρχαιολογικό Συμβούλιο, όσο και τις αρνητικές εισηγήσεις της επιστημονικής κοινότητας.

ΔΙΑΒΑΣΤΕ ΕΠΙΣΗΣ: Κατεπείγουσα ερώτηση των Ευρωβουλευτών του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ-ΠΣ για την απόσπαση των αρχαίων στη στάση μετρό «Βενιζέλου» στην Θεσσαλονίκη

Υπενθυμίζεται ότι την Παρασκευή 16 Ιουλίου, η ευρωομάδα του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ κατέθεσε επείγουσα ερώτηση προς την Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή για τη διαφύλαξη της αυθεντικότητας αυτών των αρχαιοτήτων μέσω της κατά χώρα διατήρησής τους, που αποτελεί -όπως τονίζουν-, προϋπόθεση για την αποτελεσματική ένταξή τους στον κατάλογο Παγκόσμιας Κληρονομιάς, καθώς η Σύμβαση Παγκόσμιας Κληρονομιάς της UNESCO (1972) αποκλείει ρητά από την καταχώρηση ως μνημείου παγκόσμιας κληρονομιάς τις αρχαιότητες που έχουν αφαιρεθεί και αργότερα επανατοποθετηθεί.

Αναλυτικά ο πρόεδρος του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ-ΠΣ αναφέρει σε ανάρτηση του στο Facebook ότι «κορυφαίοι επιστήμονες, Έλληνες της διασποράς, ακαδημαϊκοί και μελετητές του αρχαίου και βυζαντινού πολιτισμού με αδιαμφισβήτητο διεθνές κύρος, με κοινή τους δήλωση εκφράζουν την απογοήτευσή τους και δηλώνουν ότι η απόσπαση των μοναδικής σπουδαιότητας αρχαιοτήτων του σταθμού Βενιζέλου του ΜΕΤΡΟ Θεσσαλονίκης θα ήταν καταστροφή ισοδύναμη με τον βομβαρδισμό του Παρθενώνα από τον Μοροζίνι το 1687».

Σημειώνει ότι «καλούν την κυβέρνηση να υλοποιήσει την τεχνολογικά προηγμένη λύση που υπάρχει και είναι ρεαλιστική: Και η Θεσσαλονίκη να αποκτήσει ΜΕΤΡΟ και τα αρχαία να παραμείνουν ακέραια, αυθεντικά, αμετακίνητα στη θέση τους, προσφέροντας στην πόλη τεράστιες αναπτυξιακές δυνατότητες».

Ο κ. Τσίπρας ρωτά «τι άλλο πρέπει να γίνει για να καταλάβει ο κύριος Μητσοτάκης και η κυρία Μενδώνη, την ιστορικών διαστάσεων ευθύνη που έχουν απέναντι στη Θεσσαλονίκη, την Ελλάδα, και την παγκόσμια πολιτιστική μας κληρονομιά;». Κατόπιν αυτών καλεί και ο ίδιος «την κυβέρνηση να πράξει το αυτονόητο». «Ακούστε τους!», υπογραμμίζει.

Την επιστολή υπογράφουν ακαδημαϊκοί, ερευνητές, καθηγητές από διάφορα πανεπιστήμια του κόσμου μεταξύ των οποίων οι: Ρόντρικ Μπίτον, Πίτερ
Μπράουν, Πολ Κάρτλιτζ, Αγγελος Χανιώτης, Τζον Ντάφι, Τζούντιθ Χέριν, Μαρκ Μαζάουερ, Αλέξανδρος Νεχαμάς, Χρήστος Παπαδημητρίου κ.ά. Ο
πλήρης κατάλογος των υπογραφών, παρατίθεται:

Panagiotis Agapitos, Professor of Byzantine Literature, University of Cyprus

Suzanne Akbari, Professor of Medieval Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Michael Alram, Director of the Coin Cabinet of the Vienna Museum of Art; Vice President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences

Dimiter Angelov, Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Byzantine History; Faculty Affiliate of the Department of Classics, Harvard University

Roderick Beaton, Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature Emeritus, King’s College London; Fellow of the British Academy; Commander of the Order of Honor of the Hellenic Republic

Roger Bagnall, Professor of Ancient History Emeritus and Leon Levy Director Emeritus, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World/New York University; Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Member of the American Philosophical Society

Glen Bowersock, Professor of Ancient History Emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Member of the American Philosophical Society; Foreign Member of the National Academy of the Lincei; Doctor honoris causa of the University of Athens; Knight of the Legion of Honor

Peter Brown, Rollins Professor of History Emeritus, Princeton University; Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Doctor honoris causa of the University of Thessaloniki; Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters

Leslie Brubaker, Professor of Byzantine Art, University of Birmingham; Director of the Center of Byzantine, Ottoman, and Modern Greek Studies; Chair of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies

Dame Averil Cameron, Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History Emerita, University of Oxford; former Warden of Kable College; Fellow of the British Academy; Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Paul Cartledge, A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture, Cambridge University; Member of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles; Gold Cross of the Order of Honor of the Hellenic Republic; honorary citizen of Sparta

Angelos Chaniotis, Professor of Ancient History and Classics, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; Doctor honoris causa of the University of the Thessaloniki; Corresponding Member of the Academy of Athens; Commander of the Order of Phoenix of the Hellenic Republic

John Duffy, Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Byzantine Philology and Literature Emeritus, Harvard University

Denis Feissel, Director of Studies, École Pratique des Hautes Études; Corresponding Member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres; Member of the Academia Europea

Takashi Fujii, Associate Professor of Ancient History, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University

Vincent Gabrielsen, Professor of Ancient History Emeritus, University of Copenhagen; Member of the Royal Danish Academy

Thomas W. Gallant, Nicholas Family Endowed Chair in Modern Greek History, Distinguished Professor of History and Archaeology, University of California, San Diego

Patrick Geary, Mellon Professor of Western Medieval History Emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Sharon Gerstel, Professor of Byzantine Art and Archeology, University of California at Los Angeles; George P. Kolovos family Centennial term Chair in Hellenic studies; Commander of the Order of the Phoenix of the Hellenic Republic

Molly Green, Professor of History and Hellenic Studies; Director of the Program in Hellenic Studies, Princeton University

John Haldon, President of the International Association of Byzantine Studies; Professor of Byzantine History and Hellenic Studies Emeritus, Shelby Cullom Davis ’30 Professor of European History Emeritus, Princeton University; Corresponding Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences

Olivier Henry, Professor of Ancient History, University of Lyon-2

Judith Herrin, Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies Emerita, King’s College London; Member of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles; Golden Cross of the Order of Honor of the Hellenic Republic

Christopher P. Jones, George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics and of History Emeritus, Harvard University; Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Member of the American Philosophical Society; Foreign member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres

Mika Kajava, Professor of Greek Language and Literature, University of Helsinki; former Director of the Finnish Institute in Rome

Ioli Kalavrezou, Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Byzantine Art, Harvard University

Young Richard Kim, Associate Professor and Head of Classics and Mediterranean Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago

Christos Kyriakakis, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Southern California

Thomas W. Laqueur, Helen Fawcett Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus and Professor in the Graduate School, University of California, Berkeley; Member of the American Philosophical Society

AnneMarie Luijendijk, Professor of Religion and Head of First College, Princeton University

Peter Mackridge, Professor of Modern Greek Emeritus, University of Oxford; Doctor honoris causa of the University of Athens

Christoph Markschies, President of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences; Professor of Patristic Studies, Humboldt University, Berlin; former President of the Humboldt University, Berlin; Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Thomas F. Mathews, John Langeloth Loeb Professor of the History of Art Emeritus, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

Maria Mavroudi, Professor of Byzantine Ηistory, Classics, and Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley; MacArthur Fellow Class of 2004

Mark Mazower, Ira D. Wallach Professor of History, Columbia University; Director of the Heyman Center for the Humanities

Ioannis Mylonopoulos, Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Art, Architecture and Archaeology, Columbia University; Director of the Program in Hellenic Studies

Greg Nagy, Francis Jones Professor of Greek Literature, Harvard University; Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies; Foreign Member of the Academy of Athens; Commander of the Order of Honor of the Hellenic Republic

Alexander Nehamas, Edmund N. Carpenter II Class of 1943 Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Literature, Princeton University; Member of the Academy of Athens; Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Member of the American Philosophical Society

Robert S. Nelson, Robert Lehman Professor in the History of Art, Yale University

Alexander Nikolov, Professor of Medieval History, Sofia University; Chair of the Bulgarian National Committee of Byzantine Studies

Ingela Nilsson, Professor of Greek, University of Uppsala; President of the Swedish Committee of Byzantine Studies

Robert Ousterhout, Professor of History of Art Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania

Bernhard Palme, Professor of Papyrology, University of Vienna; Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences; Doctor honoris causa of the University of Athens

Maria Pantelia, Irvine, Professor of Classics, University of California; Director of the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae

Christos Papadimitriou, Donovan Family Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University; Member of the National Academy of Sciences; Gödel Prize

Herrmann Partzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation; President of Europa Nostra; Member of the American Philosophical Society; Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Great Cross of Merit with Star of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany; Member of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany; Order of Friendship of the Russian Federation

Bissera Pentcheva, Professor of Medieval Art, Stanford University

Walter Pohl, Professor of Medieval History; Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, University of Vienna

Nicholas Purcell, Camden Professor of Ancient History, University of Oxford; Fellow of the British Academy

Antonio Rigo, Professor of Byzantine Philology and History of Byzantine Christianity, Ca’Foscari University of Venice; President of the Italian National Committee of Byzantine Studies

Christian Robin, Director of Research for Ancient Semitic Studies Emeritus, École Pratique des Hautes Études; Knight of the Legion of Honor; Member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres; Commander of the Order of Culture and Arts of the Republic of Yemen

Bernd Schneidmüller, Professor of Medieval History, University of Heidelberg; President of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences

R.R.R. Smith, Lincoln Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art, University of Oxford; Fellow of the British Academy

Jean-Michel Spieser, Professor of Early Christian and Byzantine Archaeology Emeritus, University of Fribourg

Ronald Stroud, Klio Distinguished Professor of Classical Languages and Literature Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley; former Dean of the Faculty of Letters

Guy Stroumsa, Professor of the Study of the Abrahamic Religions Emeritus, University of Oxford; Martin Buber Professor of Comparative Religion Emeritus, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Sarah Stroumsa, Alice and Jack Ormut Professor of Arabic Studies Emerita, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Rector Emerita; Member of the American Philosophical Society

Alice Mary Talbot, Director of Byzantine Studies Emerita, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection; former President of the Medieval Academy of America; Doctor honoris causa of the University of St. Andrews

Andrei Timoti, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Bucharest; Chair of the Romanian National Committee on Byzantine Studies

Pablo Ubierna, Professor of Medieval History and Researcher of Lsate Antique and Byzantine History, University of Buenos Aires; Chair of the Argentinian National Committee on Byzantine Studies