The reconstruction of the City of Zakynthos after the devastating earthquakes of 1953 in the Ionian Islands was completed a few years later, with the resettlement of those affected in small single-storey houses and with the creation of a series of fine public buildings to house the island’s services.

On the site of the historic house where the poet Nicolaos – Ugo Foscolo grew up — which the Municipality of Zakynthos had purchased in 1885 and in which it had installed the renowned “Foscolian Library” — a small plot remained. In 1969 the celebrated sculpture by Ioannis Vitsaris, “Mourning Spirit”, was placed there on the initiative of the late Prefect Andreas Ioannou. Andreas Ioannou organised a fundraising campaign and collected donations for the purchase of the sculpture and, in cooperation with the municipal authorities of the time, created a dignified and elegant garden around the monument.

In the early years of the 2000s, on the initiative of the Municipality of Zakynthos, Kyriakou Xenou Street was pedestrianised and, after the protective railing around the monument was removed, most of the garden was paved.

THE VISION FOR REBUILDING THE POET’S HOUSE

Ever since the earthquakes of 1953, the intellectual world of our homeland had dreamed of rebuilding the house where the poet was born, and there was always an open discussion about the fate of the plot belonging to the Municipality.

Conditions began to mature in the 1990s, when spontaneous initiatives by scholars and intellectuals started to shape the proposal to rebuild the house in its original, pre-earthquake form.

The person who took the initiative to turn that vision into action was Nikos Lalotis. An outstanding Zakynthian, active in environmental protection and in preserving our historical identity, and raised with memories of the pre-earthquake period, he took the initiative — together with other progressive Zakynthians — to found the Cultural Association of Zakynthos “Ugo Foscolo”, dedicated to the poet, with its first aim the rebuilding of the house where he was born in 1778 in Zakynthos.

Nikos Lalotis spent most of his life in Athens, where he worked as a bank employee. As a citizen he was a member of the best-known ecological organisations of his time and had developed intense activist work.

He settled in Zakynthos in the mid-1990s and worked for the creation of the National Marine Park in the Bay of Laganas. At the same time he began writing in the local press and became better known as the producer of the weekly radio programme “Alkyonides routes” on the radio station ERMIS 91.8 FM.

Through his articles and his radio programme he supported, among other causes, the historic demand that the house where the poet was born be rebuilt in its original form on the site where it had stood before the earthquakes.

Nikos Lalotis’s initiative was strongly supported by 34 fellow citizens from the worlds of letters, science, the arts and journalism. Among them was Professor Dionysis Zivas of the National Technical University of Athens, who prepared free of charge the architectural study for the erection of the poet’s house.

THE FOUNDING OF THE ASSOCIATION

The statute of the Association “Cultural Association of Zakynthos Ugo Foscolo” was approved by the Court of First Instance of Zakynthos by decision no. 157 of 12 November 2009, with a provisional board consisting of Nikos Lalotis, Dionysis Zivas, Nikias Lountzis, Dionysios Serras, Dionysios Flemotomos, Dimitris Arvanitakis and Theodora Papadatou.

Approval of the Association’s Statute was served on the Public Prosecutor of the Court of First Instance and the Prefect of Zakynthos on 24 December 2009. From then on the Association began to operate under the conditions set by the legislation of the time.

The Association’s aims as stated in the statute were the restoration of the house where the poet was born and grew up, the creation of a Museum, the re-establishment of the Foscolian Library, and support for scholarly research and the promotion of the poet’s work.

The Association’s first president was the late Nikos Lalotis, with the late Dionysis Zivas as vice-president.

COOPERATION WITH THE MUNICIPALITY

A turning point in the Association’s work was the signing on 4 February 2013 of a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Municipality of Zakynthos, which has since bound both sides.

Under it the Association undertook to cover, through sponsorships or other forms of funding, the erection of the poet’s house on the basis of the architectural study by the Association’s vice-president, Professor Dion. Zivas, and the Municipality undertook to grant the plot for the erection of the house.

The same document also stated that the Municipality undertakes to grant the completed poet’s house to the Association for 50 years as the seat of the Museum then being formed.

FUNDING FROM THE NSRF (ESPA)

After continuous efforts by the Association, the funder of the project to erect the poet’s house was the Region of the Ionian Islands through the NSRF (ESPA) programme for the period 2007–2014, financed by the European Union.

This was preceded in 2014 by a Programme Agreement of cooperation between the Municipality of Zakynthos and the Region of the Ionian Islands, which set the terms and conditions for funding and carrying out the project, with a budget of €210,000.

The contractor company was installed in May 2015 and began the works of erecting the House with traditional materials on the plot where, until the earthquakes of 1953, the house in which the poet grew up had stood.

Meanwhile, on 29 July 2015 the founder and first President of the Association, Nikos Lalotis, passed away at the age of 85 after a long stay in a hospital in Athens. The then vice-president of the Association, Professor Dionysios Zivas, assumed the duties of President, and the then treasurer of the Association, journalist Filippos Synetos, assumed the duties of vice-president.

A few months later, in the Association’s elections, Professor Dion. Zivas, citing health reasons, did not stand as a candidate, and a new Board emerged with Filippos Synetos as president and Pierinna Koriatopoulou – Angeli, a lawyer, as vice-president.

COMPLETION OF THE REBUILDING

The project of erecting the poet’s house was completed towards the end of 2016.

On the evening of 16 December 2016 the Association opened the poet’s house to the public for the first time. It organised an evening of remembrance for the Association’s late founder, Nikos Lalotis. Present were the authorities of Zakynthos, friends and members of the Association, and many fellow citizens who honoured the late Nikos Lalotis, the visionary of the undertaking.

THE CREATION OF THE NEW MUSEUM

On 9 March 2017 a Concession Agreement for the House was signed by the Region of the Ionian Islands with the Cultural Association “Ugo Foscolo”. The agreement provides for the grant of use of the house to the Cultural Association of Zakynthos “Ugo Foscolo”, free of charge and for as long as the agreement lasts by which the Municipality granted the Region the plot for the erection of the dwelling.

It also provides for the Association’s installation on the ground floor, the creation of a museum exhibition on the first floor, and its operation as a visitable historic site (Museum).

Immediately the first donations of objects, works of art and old books began, with the aim of creating a first exhibition on the poet’s life and work.

On 13 February 2018 the former president of the Association, Dionysios Zivas, passed away at the age of 90 after a long stay in a hospital in Athens.

ACTIVITIES AND THE NEW GENERATION ON THE BOARD

From 2017 to the present day the Association has organised many activities and has significantly increased its membership.

The Board of Directors is supported by a Scientific Committee whose members are distinguished professors of higher education institutions and, alongside the operation of the exhibition in the poet’s house, it has organised up to 2026:

- Seven scholarly meetings in Zakynthos.
- One scholarly conference in cooperation with the University of Brussels in the capital of Belgium.
- One informational conference at the National Historical Museum of Athens to promote the Ugo Foscolo Museum in Zakynthos.

In recent years the Association, having made the rebuilding of the poet’s house a reality, has created an interesting collection of memorabilia, old editions and works of art which thousands of friends of the poet from every corner of the world visit with great interest.

These are mainly donations from progressive Zakynthians and also from Italians who are impressed by the sensitivity and greatness of our place in rebuilding the poet’s house identical to the one that stood from the 18th century until 1953 in the centre of the City of Zakynthos.

Today the poet’s house is an important landmark that has upgraded life in this particular neighbourhood of the City. Although the area is “overloaded” with human activity and vehicle traffic, the improvements are noticeable.

The Association’s leadership seeks, through dialogue with the local authorities, further bold interventions in the area towards preserving historical memory and the intellectual heritage of our place.