“The Paul & Alexandra Canellopoulos Foundation has been built upon a code of values similar to that of Diazoma. It has the attributes of an innovative foundation —i.e. the times have caught up with it— as well as a patriotic one; for there is nothing more patriotic than promoting the greatest creations of this land”. Stavros Benos, founder and Chair of DIAZOMA.

With “monuments at the centre of life” as the general motto, the founder and head of Diazoma Mr Stavros Benos “livens up” the societies that embrace their ancient theatres. To Diazoma and Stavros Benos these monuments of culture are not relics of the past but living organisms that need to be revived in order to revive in turn the citizens and societies around them. The ancient theatres become the hub of development for their region, reflecting the spirit of the civilization that spawned them. These architectural gems represent the apogee of the Greek spirit’s free thought, perceptiveness and grandeur. The Society aims to showcase the ancient theatres, secure the resources to bring them back to light, restore them where necessary and reintroduce them into the local daily life.

Diazoma was built step by step to reach the point it has today, with dozens of ancient theatres completed and revived making use of the EU’s new NSRF 2014-2020 and with valuable help from individuals, local authorities, foundations and the business world. Our personal contribution starts from work on the theatres themselves—land expropriations, excavations, restoration design and implementation—and is based on a conscious collaborative effort at managing our environmental and cultural legacy. The value of the whole venture lies precisely there: in citizen participation and the mobilization of society.

“DIAZOMA was formed to establish a social alliance open to all. The State’s potential is finite, limited only to money or plain figures. The mobilisation of society, of all the citizens and institutions in the country, is what inspires and promotes ventures”, says Mr Benos who, with a teenager’s enthusiasm yet experienced in planning, approaches ancient theatres as hubs of sustainable development, as a spiritual wind that pushes us towards broader alliances.

The P & A Canellopoulos Foundation has followed, promoted and supported this venture from the earliest steps of its inception. “The idea of Corporate Members was a proposition first discussed in the offices of the Foundation. Today it involves 30 major enterprises which participate, in spirit and in practice, in a single plan: that of showcasing our cultural heritage and reintroducing it into active life. To us, our monuments and culture is what crude oil is to Saudi Arabia. It is what powered life, and it can go back to powering an entire society, even in major urban centres. In Epirus, for instance, we have had help from the Niarchos Foundation, Cosmote, Ionian Way, the Canellopoulos Foundation—a sea of contributions”.

* Discussion with Mr Ioannis-Stavros Benos, Chair of DIAZOMA, former minister, topographic engineer. http://www.diazoma.gr