As Greece nears brink, work starts soon on new opera house
mainWe have been sent a press release, slightly delayed, announcing that work will commence as scheduled in the coming weeks on the $790 million Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre in Athens, which will include a new national opera and national library. The Foundation has committed an extra $130 million to help alleviate the effects of the economic crisis in Greece. But I wonder whether going ahead with an ostentatious cultural project is altogether in the country’s best interest, internal or external, at the moment.
Having a fantastic building always helps, but does anyone know whether the cash rich Niarhos Foundation will also contribute to the opera hose’s operation? The Greek National Opera has had a long history of public funding shortages and strikes.
What a shame to start such huge projects when the people of Greece are homeless and jobless. Everyone supports the benefits of art and music, but there is a time to enact such large projects.. and this is not that time. This excludes the empty design of the building itself.
The Foundation would do better to support the programme at the Athens Megaron, a complex of concert halls and opera houses, which has been ravaged by cuts in recent seasons. It’s a superb venue with wonderfully committed staff and has hosted many of the world’s finest artists, ensembles and orchestras.