The Patras house where Greek national poet Kostis Palamas was born, is sold to a Greek businessman who lives and works in the USA. The 75-year-old man, who also hails from Patras, is planning to turn the house into a museum. According to patratora.gr, the contract states that the house is bought by US resident Athanasios Stefanopoulos and will be transformed to “Olympism, Arts and Letters Museum,” which will be given to the Patras Artists Association. Before its transformation into a museum, the house will be restored and renovated under the Culture Ministry’s supervision. President of Patras Αrtists Association Theodoros Mallias made an announcement, stating that “the soul of our great national poet Kostis Palamas will be reborn in the home he loved so much. Inside the Olympism, Letters and Arts Museum, the people of Patras and visitors across the world will relive the sacred gift our poet gave to mankind. The timeless, prophetic and universal Olympic Anthem, a priceless legacy.” Palamas (1859-1943) was a central figure of the Greek literary generation of the 1880s and one of the co-founders of the New Athenian School of literature. He wrote his first collection of poems, “Songs of Our Fatherland”, in 1886. In 1896, he wrote the words to the Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras, for the first modern Olympic Games held in Athens, Greece. From then on, he was informally called Greece’s “national poet.” In 1958, his Olympic Hymn was declared the official Olympic Anthem. He was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature but never received it.
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