(photos and text taken from the facebook of Oriol Marrero)
The Olympic Federation, a prestigious Greek organization that promotes the values and history of Olympics as a language and bridge of peace in the world, invited to the Greek art exhibition, which has been on display since last June 22 in Athens, in greeting "The Route of the Olympic Truce", two photographs belonging to the photographic exhibition "José Martí: with Greece in the heart" , of the councillor and consul of the Embassy of Cuba in Greece José Oriol Marrero Martinez, present at the ceremony.
The "Olympic Truce Route" recalls the fifty kilometers that the competitors of the ancient Olympics walked, after leaving all their weapons in Armátova, an ancient historical site near the Elida, where the Olympic Games of Greek antiquity took place, a competition for which all wars were stopped among their polis.
Minutes before the opening ceremony, which took place in a room of the War Museum, former Greek Prime Minister Giorgios Papandreu greeted and thanked the representative of Cuba and author of the images, one of which reflects the competition track of the Old Olympic Stadium of Olympia flushed grass, and the other shows the terracotta set of Zeus and Ganimedes , a work created by a Corinthian workshop, which retains its original colors despite having been created between 480-470 BC. It is considered the first work of Greek art to have expression in his eyes, and a slight smile on Zeus' face.
Although it no longer exists, José Martí referred in his works to another colossal statue of Zeus, who was revered in Olympia, the work of the sculptor Fideas; and also referred to Praxíteles, renowned sculptor, author of the statue of Hermes which today constitutes one of the greatest treasures of ancient Greek sculpture, also exhibited in Olympia.
Cuba -- through its two images invited by The Olympic Federation--, is the only country that participates, besides Greece obviously, in this Greek art initiative, which welcomes the values of peace and friendship between peoples, the same ones who sustained "The Route of the Olympic Truce". The exhibition presents 57 works by Greek authors, and two from Cuba.
The two invited photographs have to do with José Martí, as they are part of the exhibition "José Martí: with Greece in the Heart", inaugurated in the edition of the international festival LEA (Literature in Athens) of 2019 and that has already been seen in Athens, Lefkada, Ikaría, in the high security prison for ladies of Thebes. For four months it has been on display at the Athens Metro Stations: Acropolis and Syntagma.
The annotated and bilingual photographic exhibition "José Martí: with Greece at heart" is one of the ways to make known to the brother people of Greece, to the friends of Cuba, and to all interested people, the strong links between the Cuban National Hero and Greece, and is part of a larger project that includes producing the monograph : Martí and "the Greek".
The ceremony was attended by, in addition to the former Greek Prime Minister and former Foreign Minister Giorgios Papandreu, several current ministers of the government of the Hellenic Republic, executives of the Greek Olympic Committee, organizers of the Athens 2004 Olympics, a large group of Champions and Olympic athletes of Greece, the Governor of the Athens region, the mayor of Olympia, , host country the upcoming Olympics, the authors of the works and a rich representation of Greek society.
Reiterate thanks to the Olympic Federation for the gesture of inviting these images, a symbol of the love of Martí and the Cuban people towards the people of Greece.
In photos: moments of the ceremony "The Route of the Olympic Truce/2020". The Route of Olympic Truce.
