Dinner at the Goulandris Natural History Museum about the restoration of the Eleftherios Venizelos’ Residence (Halepa, Ηania).

The Honorary Committee, established for the restoration of the residence of Eleftherios Venizelos in Halepa, Chania, organised a dinner at the Goulandris Natural History Museum on Wednesday, May 20th, 2007. The invitation price was 500 euros per person.
The event aimed at the sensitisation of public opinion, of public personalities and businessmen in order to raise the amount of money necessary for the restoration of the historical building -that has presented a serious static problem- and for its conversion into a historical site and a modern museum, open to schools, educational institutes, and any Greek or foreign visitor of the residence of the great politician in Halepa, Hania.
The historical building and the surrounding area were bought by the Ministry of Economy and Finance in 2002 and were directly ceded to the Foundation. The Technical Chamber of Greece-West Crete Department has completed the studies for its restoration. According to the estimations of the studies team, the budget of the restoration will reach approximately 2.000.000 euros. The Greek Parliament has offered to cover part of the expenses and is supporting the Foundation for the raising of the rest of the amount.
The String Quartet of the Music Ensembles of the City of Athens and a band playing Cretan music entertained the guests, and a short documentary about the Foundation and the residence of Halepa with rich archival material was projected.
The dinner was attended by the President of the Parliament, Anna Benaki Psarouda, the former Prime Minister, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, the Minister of Interior, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, the MP Nikos Christodoulakis as a representative of the President of PASOK, the former President of the Parliament, Apostolos Kaklamanis, the MPs Christos Markogiannakis, Stelios Nikiforakis and Emmanouil Skoulakis, the Governor of ATE Bank (Agricultural Bank of Greece), Dimitrios Miliakos, the Secretary General of the Region of Crete, Serafim Tsokas, the Secretary General of the National Statistical Service of Greece, Emmanouil Kontopirakis, the Ambassador, K.Rodousakis, the Member of the European Parliament, Nikos Sifounakis, the Prefect of Chania, Grigoris Arhontakis and the Mayor of Hania, Kiriakos Virvidakis. Numerous personalities from the business world as well as the cultural and artistic world attended the dinner, such as Nikos Mamidakis, Spiros Kokotos, Pantelis Mantonanakis, Eleni Papadimitriou, Iraklis Prokopakis, Pantelis Voulgaris, Manousos Manousakis, Aggelos Delivorias, etc. The Goulandris Museum significantly contributed to the realisation of the dinner and especially its President Niki Goulandri and the Secretary General Fali Vogiatzaki who also attended the event.
Introductory speeches were given by the Foundation's CEO Nikolaos Papadakis, the Manager  of the Benaki Museum Aggelos Delivorias and the President of the Greek Parliament Anna Benaki Psarouda.
The presence of the aforementioned personalities in combination with the important donations for the realisation of the restoration of the historical residence made the dinner very successful.