Philanthropist Pantelis Boumbouras (left) with Odessa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov
A Greek park to promote Hellenic culture was inaugurated in Odessa, Ukraine on Sunday, with a generous donation of the Boumbouras family of Lemnos island and several Greek officials attending.
The Greek Park, a dream of the Boumbouras family, became a reality as the opening of the park is expected to become a pole of attraction for visitors who want to learn about Greek culture.
Pantelis Boumbouras, president of the phlilanthropic organization “Boumbouras Foundation” and owner of Hephaestus Basketball Club of Lemnos, cut the ribbon along with Odessa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov, opening the Greek Park to Odessa residents.
The 34,000-square-meter theme park is an open museum with replicas of ancient Greek statues and has a big playground for children.
According to the Boumbouras Foundation press release, the idea of building the park came a few years ago, when the City of Istanbul decided to donate a Turkish park to Odessa. Pantelis Boumbouras thought that the city where the Society of Friends (Filiki Eteria) planned the 1821 uprising of Greeks against the Ottomans should have a Greek park as well.
“Thank God for sending me to Ukraine 21 years ago, to a city full of Greeks, because if it wasn’t for Odessa, we don’t know if we would ever be liberated, Moumbouras wrote in the press release.
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