Culture Min Mendoni meets with US Ambassador Guilfoyle
Culture Minister Lina Mendoni welcomed US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle at her office on Friday for a working meeting to further strengthen Greek-American relations in culture, ahead of a visit Mendoni revealed she will carry out to the United States.
According to a ministry statement, the focus of their discussion was on managing illegal trafficking of cultural goods, a sector that has already brought great results (139 archaeological objects were returned by American authorities in 2025 alone), while Mendoni also referred to renewing the relevant Greece-US Cooperation Memorandum that ends in November 2026. Ambassador Guilfoyle expressed support and accepted an invitation to join Mendoni at the inauguration of an exhibition at the Ancient Agora in September, showcasing objects returned to Greece, most of which have come from the US.
The two officials also discussed current and future collaborations of the ministry with leading US museums such as the Getty, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), the Museum of the Bible and the National Gallery of Art, while Mendoni offered to lend a significant object to Congress for an exhibition on ancient Greek democracy, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence.
Mendoni and Guilfoyle confirmed their willingness to have cultural cooperation become a significant part of the next Greece-US Strategic Dialog.
Speaking of her upcoming visit to the US, the Greek culture minister said her schedule would include meetings with leading State Department officials on culture and leading Greek-Americans, and the inauguration of a new Ancient Sparta Museum and Greek Amphitheater, both at the University of Connecticut.
