Tribute to the Greek Patriot Rigas Fereos

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)   The restoration of Nebojsa Tower in Belgrade, Serbia where Rigas Fereos (1757-1798) was held captured and tortured will be launched this month and it is expected to be completed before the end of the year. The project will be funded by the Hellenic Parliament, the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Municipality of Belgrade. Rigas Fereos was a writer and revolutionary, an eminent figure of the Greek Enlightenment, remembered as a Greek national hero, the first victim of the uprising against the Ottoman Empire and a forerunner of the Greek War of Independence. Fereos’ vision for Greece’s emancipation from the Ottoman Empire was based on a Pan-Balkanic uprising under the guidance of Greece.  Around 1793, Fereos went to Vienna -the capital of the Austrian Empire and home to a large Greek community– in an effort to ask Napoleon Bonaparte for assistance and support.  The Austrian Empire opposed every movement which could jeopardise its territorial integrity and therefore ordered its secret services to arrest Fereos. He was imprisoned and tortured in the in the Nebojsa Tower in Belgrade and his body was thrown to the Danube River.  Fereos’ last words reportedly were: “I have sown a rich seed; the hour is coming when my country will reap its glorious fruits”.  Foundation of the Hellenic World: Ottoman Period- Towards the Greek Revolution

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Greece: A Pioneering experiment in Pylos

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)  Neutrinos are elementary particles that travel close to the speed of light, lack an electric charge, are able to pass through ordinary matter almost undisturbed and are thus extremely difficult to detect. Neutrino detectors are often built underground in order to isolate the detector from cosmic rays and other background radiation. The coast of Pylos, in the south western part of the Peloponnese, an ideal location for pioneer Neutrino experiments, since it’s geographical position is close to the greatest depth of the Mediterranean Sea (5200 m. at the area of the Hellenic Trench). Pylos is also home to the NESTOR Institute for Deep Sea Research, Technology and Neutrino Astroparticle Physics. The Institute is staffed by a scientific team from the Physics Department of the University of Athens, specialising in research and deployment of phenomena in deep water. A large underwater telescope, 10 times higher than the Eiffel Tower, is being constructed, and its purpose is to monitor and track neutrinos from outer space. It is one of four similar projects in the world. The sea water is important because it absorbs most of the light as well as other electromagnetic radiation, allowing only the ever elusive neutrinos to pass through. It is the great depth, combined with the close proximity to the shore that Pylos offers as its comparative advantages in competing with the two other European observatories – Antares, in France, and Nemo, in Italy. The prize will be the selected site for KM3Net, the future European infrastructure for neutrino telescopy. The 24th International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics (NEUTRINO 2010) is scheduled to take place in Athens in January 2010. Secretariat General of Information: About Greece – Scientific & Technological Research; Ministry of Development- Secretariat General of Research & Technology: Supervised Bodies; National Observatory of Athens: www.noa.gr; Hellenic Centre for Marine Research: Institute of Oceanography

Visit Greece: Naxos Island

 (GREEK NEWS AGENDA)  The island of Naxos is the largest and the most fertile in the Cyclades group of islands. Its numerous sandy beaches make it an ideal holiday place for people who seek a quiet and beautiful are for their vacation. More than 64 villages, most of which are mountainous, cover its slopes. They are well known for their cool climate and their delicious local cuisine. Sport and nature lovers should not miss the walking tour in the fertile Tragea plains, where one sees Byzantine chapels, Venetian residence towers and picturesque villages. The Naxos Festival at the Bazeos Tower, (19 July to 4 September) guarantees a rich cultural life during vacation. Don’t miss this year’s exhibition on the theme: “Art and Madness.” At nights, as one may relax by the sea, and one must definitely try the excellent citron liqueur, produced at Khalki village. It must be noted that the Archaelogical Museum of Naxos has a unique collection of Cycladic statues and artifacts, dating back to 2800 B.C.