{"id":20650,"date":"2026-09-01T01:05:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T01:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/01\/greece-accelerates-restoration-of-historic-landmarks\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T01:05:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T01:05:35","slug":"greece-accelerates-restoration-of-historic-landmarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/01\/greece-accelerates-restoration-of-historic-landmarks\/","title":{"rendered":"Greece Accelerates Restoration of Historic Landmarks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-first=\"S\">\n<h3>Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni concluded her two-day visit to the Florina regional unit with an inspection of the city\u2019s archaeological monuments and historic buildings.<\/h3>\n<p>Accompanied by Andreas Tsokas, head of a department at the Florina Ephorate of Antiquities, Mendoni visited the Ottoman Tower, known as the Koules, the Ottoman baths, the minaret\u2014the only surviving element of a former mosque\u2014and the historic \u201cDiethnes\u201d hotel.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cDiethnes\u201d forms part of a unique neoclassical building complex whose ground floor now houses a traditional caf\u00e9. The landmark also gained recognition through its appearance in films by acclaimed Greek filmmaker Theodoros Angelopoulos.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding the \u201cDiethnes,\u201d Mendoni pledged to ask the relevant ministry services to accelerate procedures already underway for the Ministry of Culture to acquire the building complex. The ministry then plans to move quickly with its restoration and enhancement, preserving a landmark closely connected to the modern history of Florina.<\/p>\n<p>During her inspection of the Ottoman baths, Mendoni called for all documentation concerning the monument and the relevant restoration studies to reach the ministry by the end of September.<\/p>\n<p>The studies, prepared by the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments Department of the Florina Ephorate of Antiquities, will allow the ministry to begin the approval process for restoration works. The ministry plans to carry out the works under a direct-management arrangement.<\/p>\n<p>According to Florina antiquities officials, the property currently appears in the Greek Land Registry as having an \u201cunknown owner.\u201d The ministry aims to resolve the ownership issue immediately so restoration work can begin in spring 2027.<\/p>\n<p>Mendoni also addressed the future of the minaret, the only surviving part of the Tarsi Mosque, which once stood in the market area of Florina\u2019s old town.<\/p>\n<p>She instructed local archaeological officials to complete their discussions with the owner of the plot as soon as possible. The owner has indicated that he intends to donate the property containing the minaret to the Greek state.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in her visit, Mendoni toured the Archaeological Museum of Florina, where Christina Ziota, head of the Florina Ephorate of Antiquities, briefed her on the museum\u2019s collections and its activities.<\/p>\n<footer class=\"article-tags entry-footer\">\n<div>\n\t\t<strong>Tags:<\/strong><br \/>\n\t\tArchaeological Museum of Florina, archaeological sites, Florina, Florina minaret, Greek heritage, Greek Ministry of Culture, Koules, Lina Mendoni, Ottoman baths, Ottoman monuments, Theodoros Angelopoulos\t<\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<div class=\"category_container author-information\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<section id=\"authorpage\" class=\"authorpage\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/74a7af42a3ee68b1eb9b880b91e3e713144e269e50db87b04a35501c8e1351f8?s=164&amp;r=g\" srcset=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/74a7af42a3ee68b1eb9b880b91e3e713144e269e50db87b04a35501c8e1351f8?s=328&amp;r=g 2x\" class=\"avatar avatar-164 photo lazyload\" height=\"164\" width=\"164\" decoding=\"async\"\/>\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"author-content\">\n<h5>Kosta Papadopoulos<\/h5>\n<p>Kosta Papadopoulos is an editor at Greek City Times, covering Greek and international news, travel, sport, and entertainment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/2026\/09\/01\/greece-accelerates-restoration-of-historic-landmarks\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni concluded her two-day visit to the Florina regional unit with an inspection of the city\u2019s archaeological monuments and historic buildings. Accompanied by Andreas Tsokas, head of a department at the Florina Ephorate of Antiquities, Mendoni visited the Ottoman Tower, known as the Koules, the Ottoman baths, the minaret\u2014the only surviving &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Greece Accelerates Restoration of Historic Landmarks\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/01\/greece-accelerates-restoration-of-historic-landmarks\/#more-20650\" aria-label=\"Read more about Greece Accelerates Restoration of Historic Landmarks\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/florina.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}