Pylos has honoured and revived one of the most historic events in modern Greek history. Pylos-Nestor Municipality celebrated the 192nd anniversary of the historic Navarino Naval Battle in a three-day commemorative event from 18 to 20 October.
This year’s festivities were attended by more than 10,000 visitors, including the President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos.
The historic Navarino Naval Battle was revived in the old port of Pylos, with the participation of five rare traditional sailing boats of the Traditional Boat Association, including one dating back to 1900, along with the assistance of special audiovisual media and fireworks.
Nikolaos Vlavianos, Vice President of the Association for the Preservation and Conservation of Traditional Shipbuilding and Nautical Art and Heritage ‘Proteas’, designed and manufactured a ship model of that era with tackle for the reenactment of the Turkish flagship.
Navarinia is a celebration that commemorates the history of all nations involved, as well as people who have passed to immortality by putting their stamp on the founding of the modern Greek State.
Among the official guests were also former Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras; Messinia MP and representative of the Hellenic Parliament, Giannis Lampropoulos; Messinia MPs, Periklis Mantas and Miltos Chryssomalis; Peloponnese Regional Governor, Panagiotis Nikas; and Pylos-Nestor Mayor Panagiotis Karvelas.
READ MORE: Road to Remembrance (Part 1): The WWII Liberation of Greece
The official program began on 18 October, with a traditional and modern boat race in the Navarino Bay under the auspices of Maritime Athletic Pylos Association ‘NESTOR’ and the Traditional Boat Association. Traditional national dances were performed by the Ladies Association in Pylos and Pylos Cultural Association.
There was also a periodical ship model exhibition of George Bouzounis, and artwork by Denis Gaille, curated by Vassilis Vrettakos and Dionysis Karalis (Navarinia Committee) in collaboration with Nikolaos Vlavianos (Proteas Association), George Vozikis (member of the Institute of Shipbuilding Art), Aris Arvanitakis (Phoenix Register of Shipping Chief Executive Officer) and Maria Galoufa (archaeologist). This was then followed by a roundtable discussion on the topic ‘Aris of Tsamadou’.
Official guests included European Maritime Heritage President, David Morgan and board members Tomas Hoppe, Nice Edvine List Peterson and Jian Matias Vesterman.
As part of the commemorations, an honorary event was also held in favour of the French who lost their lives from Thermes during the period 1828-1832.
During the three-day celebrations, those who visited Pylos were able to visit ‘Psara’ frigate and the Russian patrol vessel ‘Vasily Bykov’.
READ MORE: Road to Remembrance (Part 2): A failed chance at early liberation