Heritage photo exhibition at foreign ministry

A photo exhibition titled "UNESCO World Cultural and Natural
Heritage Properties of Visegrad Group countries and Greece" is running at the Foreign Ministry building in downtown Athens. 

The exhibition, which was inaugurated on Tuesday by Deputy Foreign Minister Spyros Kouvelis, aims to contribute towards greater understanding of the importance of world heritage and encourage countries to make a more coordinated effort to protect their properties. 

The exhibition is organised by the Greek National Committee for UNESCO, in collaboration with the embassies of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic in the framework of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Visegrad Group and on the occasion of the April 18 International Monuments and Sites Day, more commonly known as World Heritage Day. 

The International Day for Monuments and Sites aims to raise public awareness of the diversity of the world's heritage and efforts required to protect and conserve it. 

The theme for the 2011 Day is "The Cultural Heritage of Water". 

The Visegrad Group, or Visegrad Four (VF), is an alliance of four Central European States -- the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia -- for the purpose of cooperation and furthering their European integration.

The Group, originally the Visegrad Triangle, originated at a summit meeting of the heads of state or government of then Czechoslovakia, held in the Hungarian castle town of Visegrad in 1991.

The exhibition includes photographs of monuments from the Visegrad Group countries and Greece that have been included in UNESCO's World Cultural and Natural Heritage list, which currently numbers 911 cultural and natural sites, of which 17 are Greek monuments, eight are Hungarian monuments and natural sites, 13 are in Poland, seven in Slovakia and 12 in the Czech Republic. 

The exhibition, at the foreign ministry building on 1 Akademias St, will be open to the public from 10am to 4pm weekdays through April 21.

source: ANA-MPA