Among the guests were Ambassador Loucas Tsilas, who served as Greece’s Ambassador to the U. S. and is currently the Executive Director of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (USA). Many of the Board of Trustees of the Gennadius Library were present, including Mr. Ted Athanassiades and his wife Elaine, Dr. Edward E. Cohen, Mr. Nassos Michas and his wife April, Hon. E. Leo Milonas and his wife Helen, Mr. Petros Sabatacakis and his wife Marina, and Dr. Catherine deG. Vanderpool and her husband Ted Politis, and were joined by Trustees of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens Judith Thomson, Mr. Andrew Bridges, and Mr. Robert McCabe and his wife Dina.

Vice Chairman of the Gennadius Library Board of Trustees Nassos Michas introduced Ambassador Kaskarelis who in turn addressed the crowd and referred to the Library as “a custodian of Hellenism.” Director of the Library Dr. Maria Georgopoulou, who came from Athens especially for the occasion, thanked the benefactors for their support and updated the group on the exciting activities occurring at the Library. These events include the 29th Annual Walton Lecture organized in honor of former Gennnadius Library Director Francis Walton, which took place in Athens on March 2. Prof. Robert Ousterhout, of the University of Pennsylvania, will speak on “Byzantine Constantinople: Visualizing a City in Transition.”

Guests dined on the wonderful buffet and danced to the music of Grigoris Maninakis and the Mikrokosmos Ensemble. Among the gifts distributed to the guests was the booklet “Lenten Specialities: Recipes for Fasting in Style” by Jim Botsacos and Diane Kochilas. The funds raised will be applied to a match for a prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant recently awarded to the the American School of Classical Studies at Athens for the renovations to the School's two libraries, including the Gennadius Library.

“What the Board of Trustees is trying to do is get the Library known in wider circles,” said Vice Chairman Nassos Michas, in an interview with NEO. “It is very well known in the academic community and we are trying to show what we have to a broader audience.” He also noted that “we attract more and more interest every year … The Library has an unusual collection of documents which represent the Hellenic culture.”

Opened in 1926 with 26,000 volumes from diplomat and bibliophile, Joannes Gennadius, the Gennadius Library now holds a richly diverse collection of over 113,000 books and rare bindings, archives, manuscripts, and works of art illuminating the Hellenic tradition and neighboring cultures.

Located in an architecturally significant building across the street from the main American School campus in Athens, the Library has become an internationally renowned center for the study of Greek history, literature, and art, from ancient to modern times. In addition to its role as a library and research institution, “the Gennadeion” is also an active participant in the Athenian and international community through its public lectures, seminars, concerts, exhibitions, and publications.

For more info the website is www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/gennadius/