Steinmeier Praises Work of German Archaeological Institute of Athens.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid tribute to the work of the 150-year-old German Archaeological Institute of Athens during a visit to the Greek capital on Wednesday.
“I am very impressed by what you have uncovered, researched and discovered in these one and a half centuries,” Steinmeier said at an event. “You were and are important cultural mediators and your work makes a decisive contribution to the good relations between our two countries.”
The institute has carried out more than 160 projects to date, working on sites that date from the Palaeolithic era to the Middle Ages.
Steinmeier called that a proud record of research, and said that uncovering and preserving memory is at the heart of the institute’s work.
The work is all the more important at a time when European democracies are being increasingly challenged, and everything must be done to ensure that Europe can continue to live in freedom in the future, he said.
Steinmeier also visited the former home of Heinrich Schliemann, a famed 19th century German businessman and archaeologist.
dpa
