the new life of Tatoi seen by Pablo de Grecia

At the heart of the farm, the Queen Olga ordered the construction of a building inspired by the palaces of Saint Petersburg which became the residence of the royal family until exile in 1967, Constantine -brother of Ms. Sofia…and his family.

Looting and nationalization

In February 1991, several moving trucks sent from London by Constantino entered the Tatoi compound and took away countless items. Three years later, the socialist government of Andreas Papandreou He considered this act to constitute plunder and, by law, nationalized the property of the royal family and revoked Constantine’s nationality.

After a long legal procedure, the European Court of Human Rights recognized in 2003 that Tatoi belonged to Constantine and forced the Greek state to pay compensation of 13.2 million euros for its appropriation. This is how the estate and all the goods stored there became part of Greece’s heritage.

For decades the place remained abandoned, at the mercy of vandalism and looting. Furthermore, the 1999 earthquake and the major fires of 2021 caused serious damage to several buildings. Today, after an ambitious restoration plan, the Tatoi estate is preparing to open its doors to the public as a monumental ensemble, in which the royal collections will be exhibited and which will also offer a wide range of leisure activities.

inherited memories

A few months before the royal family’s exile, Constantine’s first male child was born, Paul. In an interview with the Greek newspaper “Ta Ne”, he spoke about Tatoi’s golden years and his memories of the farm: “I left when I was seven months old. He can’t live it like my father or my grandparents. I am happy to know that it will be open to the public.even though I feel melancholic. “This is no longer our home.”

Pablo assures that, although he does not retain his own memories of the place, he grew up surrounded by photographs and the stories that his parents told him about what was his first home: “My parents told me that the music was still playingespecially classical, and that on weekends they opened the windows so that we could hear it in the garden where they were all sitting together; My mother told me that she loved walks in the garden, but she didn’t like the swimming pool because it seemed deep; “My sister, who was two when we left, remembered that the carpet in the room where we played was green.”

After his departure in 1967, Pablo and his family did not return to Tatoi until 1981, to attend the funeral of his grandmother, the Queen Frederick. As he explains, returning to the farm was a “moving” experience, as if time had stood still: “We left without taking anything. The house remained as we had left it that day. It was as if we had left the day before yesterday: a little dusty, but everything was in its place: the toothbrush, the glass on the bedside table, the things. “It looked like the owner had run out to buy cigarettes.

Tatoi’s new life

In 2019, the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakisannounced that the restoration of Tatoi would be one of the priorities of his mandate. Thanks to European funds worth 70 million euros, since 2022 a pharaonic work on the estate, which included the restoration of historic buildings, the collection of vehicles and carriages, and the documentation and digitization of almost 100,000 objects that belonged to the royal family and were abandoned in the palace’s closets and warehouses.

Tatoi will open its doors next year and, as defined by the Minister of Culture of Greece, Lina Mendoniit is a project of “national importance”, the objective of which is to create a cultural park combining historical memory and public use.

Among the objects inventoried and digitized at Tatoi are pieces thought to be lost, such as several costumes that the Queen Frederick used during formal events or wedding dress Anna Marie. Without a doubt, one of the most surprising discoveries was the gold medal won by Constantine at the 1960 Rome Olympics, which for years was believed to have been stolen.

Regarding the transformation of the estate into a museum, Pablo expressed that he considers it a positive initiative: “Important chapters of Greek history were written there. We have received visits from foreign leaders, high-level conversations and decisions of historic significance. It is positive that people have access to all of this and can witness it with their own eyes. what happened there“. However, he clarified that he wanted it to also be “a living organism.” A space open to visitors, where they can see what life was like there” and stressed that it does not become “an exploitation tool or a commercial point of sale (…). We want people to enjoy itthat he knows it, that he lives it with respect, not that he consumes it.

In line with his vision of a Tatoi that is alive and respectful of its history, and according to the Greek media ‘News Beat’, Pablo de Grecia would also consider the possibility of running for the tender that the Greek Ministry of Culture has opened up to the management of 24 of the buildings in the complex, a process that will determine the future use of part of the ancient palatial complex.