Dear Friends,
We are delighted to inform you that the campaign to preserve the mosaic floor of the ancient synagogue of Aegina has accomplished its goals. After nearly one year, the campaign has successfully created the community to preserve and protect the mosaic floor, by inviting donations to support the project.
The campaign included dozens of newspaper articles, blog posts, radio interviews and guided visits to the mosaic floor at the Archaeological Museum of Aegina. The highlight was the exhibition opening event which we organized at the Archaeological Museum on August 7, 2019 in cooperation with the Eforate of Pireaus and the Islands of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. These activities helped raise public awareness on the presence, history and significance of the mosaic. Dating from the 4th century CE, the mosaic floor is one of the most ancient Romaniote Jewish sites in Greece.
Along with Dr. Elias Messinas, who curated the exhibition on the mosaic, we have rendered the mosaic floor of the Aegina synagogue a significant monument for Aegina. Many visitors, informed by our campaign, visited the island during the summer and in the fall, especially to see the mosaic floor, and to learn more about the Jewish history of Aegina. They also spent time at the market, dinned at restaurants, and sojourned at the local hotels. The mosaic, like the other monuments of Aegina, is an important contributor to the local economy.
Co-operation has been the guiding principle of our campaign towards the preservation and protection of the mosaic floor. Many friends and family from Greece, Israel, the US, and France responded to the campaign and embraced the project. We are grateful for your support and thank each and every one of you!
A very special ‘thank you’ goes to a very special donor, Mr. Samuel-Makis Matsas, with Romaniote and Sephardic roots, who has generously pledged to cover all the costs pertaining to the design and construction of the protective roof for the mosaic floor. “Once I realized that the mosaic of the synagogue in Aegina, one of the earliest Jewish monuments in Greece, was in danger, I felt drawn to support the project,” Samuel-Makis Matsas recounts.
We thank Mr. Samuel-Makis Matsas for his generosity and willingness to protect the ancient Greek Jewish heritage for the present and for future generations!
With Mr. Samuel-Makis Matsas’ contribution, the preservation and protection of the mosaic of the ancient synagogue of Aegina is ensured. Mr. Matsas’ contribution for the erection of the protective roof, will complement the preservation work which will be undertaken by expert restorators of the Eforate of Pireaus and the Islands. Thus safeguarding the mosaic from further deterioration, and preserve it for the future.
We thank the Aegina Municipality, the former and current Mayor, Dimitris Mourtzis and Yannis Zorbas respectively, for their support and hospitality, as well as Dr. Stella Chrisoulaki, the Director of the Eforate of Pireaus and the Ιslands and her colleagues Katerina Panagopoulou and Sophia Michalopoulou, Director of the Archaeological Museum of Aegina, for our successful co-operation so far.
As we successfully conclude this campaign, we will stay tuned to the preservation and protection work at the mosaic floor of Aegina, and will update our community of its progress. We look forward to its completion, and the protection of this gem of our cultural heritage.
We thank you all for being part of this amazing community!
Yvette Nahmia-Messinas and Dr. Elias Messinas