The exhibition on the Olympic Ideal and the Olympic Truce, 776 BC – 2024: 2,800 years of history, was inaugurated on June 26 and July 5 in Geneva and Vienna respectively, at the headquarters of the Permanent Missions of Greece to the United Nations.
The exhibition, which illustrates through the presentation of archaeological evidence and historical photographs, the history of the Olympic Games and highlights their essential and timeless connection with the idea of the Olympic Truce. It is an initiative of the 5th General Directorate of Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organized on the spot by the Permanent Missions of Greece and France to the United Nations, in Geneva and Vienna, and it is part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ overall strategic planning for the promotion of the country’s image.
The exhibition starts off from the antiquity, continues with the revival of the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, through the 20th century and ends with the upcoming Summer Games in Paris this year. Its aim is to highlight -once again, and especially in the current international context- the timeless and universal importance of the values of Olympism and the Olympic Truce, which is based on the values of peace, solidarity and respect for human rights.
In Geneva, the exhibition was officially opened by the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Ms. Tatiana Valovaya, while the Permanent Representative of Greece in Geneva, Ambassador Ioannis Ghikas, and the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Ms. Christine Toudic, also addressed the audience. On the occasion of the spring session of the Human Rights Committee and a related event on human rights and sport organised by the Permanent Representation of Greece, the exhibition was visited by the Head of the International Olympic Committee, Mr Thomas Bach.
At the inauguration of the exhibition in Vienna, the Ambassador of Greece to Austria and Permanent Representative of Greece to International Organizations in Vienna, Ambassador Georgios Iliopoulos, the Permanent Representative of France, Ms Delphine Hournau-Pouëzat and the Director General of Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Katerina Koika, who was also in charge of the exhibits, addressed the opening ceremony.
The next stop for this travelling exhibition will be the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York.
