The need for local bodies to work together with the Ministry of Culture to highlight the monuments of the Minoan Era that exist scattered throughout the Heraklion Regional Unit and beyond, as well as the inclusion of the Minoan Culture, in its entirety, in the UNESCO list, was highlighted during the special event held at the Heraklion Chamber.
During the event, a brief listing of the archaeological monuments in the Heraklion region was made, from a list of approximately thirty sites, and a brief reference to their importance. At the same time, a thorough reference was made to the procedures required for the serial inclusion of these monuments in UNESCO, as well as to the efforts that the Minoan Culture Initiative Committee – UNESCO has made in this direction. The event concluded with historical information about the Minoan seafarers and the Minoan Civilization, which influenced the entire Mediterranean region and Europe.
At the beginning of the event, the President of the Heraklion Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Vangelis Karkanakis, emphasized that “the inclusion of the Minoan palaces in UNESCO is not only an honor. It also creates new obligations for enhanced protection, integrated management of the monuments, sustainable development and connection with the daily life of Crete. Today’s conference is, for us, an initiative with multiple goals: We want to highlight the importance of recognition by UNESCO, but above all to open a substantive dialogue on how this achievement can be utilized in practice.”
Mr. Karkanakis referred to the role of the Heraklion Chamber of Commerce in this direction, emphasizing that this is a unique opportunity to develop new products and services around the Minoan identity, to design thematic cultural and tourist routes, to strengthen synergies between culture, tourism, education and agri-food, to support businesses to responsibly and creatively exploit the new international identity of Crete, without affecting the authentic character of the monuments and local communities.
The event was organized by the Heraklion Chamber of Commerce with the sponsor LATO Company and in collaboration with the Minoan Culture Initiative Committee – UNESCO and speakers were the members of the Committee Dimitris Pavlopoulos, Mechanical Engineer, Stavros Kapridakis, Electrical Engineer, former Ext. Director of OTE, George Alevizos, Executive of the Merchant Shipping and Nikolaos Eliades, Honorary Member of the Pedagogical Institute.
