GEORGIOS PAPANASTASIOU / Mayor of Agrinio

The tour in the Papastratos Tobacco Warehouses, through the lens of Christos Simatos, is a journey in the most vivid memories of our city. Through the cracks of time, dreamy scents of rare blends emerge, along with the aura of an era gone and forgotten.

The history of the Papastratos family is our living heritage. Their works, our sacred legacy, our monumental treasure. If the collective memory of a city is inscribed in its building culture, Agrinio is permeated by the works of our great benefactors. Specifically, the Tobacco Warehouses, an architectural ornament in the center of our city, preserve a powerful and unchangeable presence in time. They remind us, in the most emphatic way, of the need to protect our historical identity and to renew our commitment to intercepting the degradation of the urban planning of our city.

The Papastratos family has taught us, in the times of great need and deprivation, what it means to offer all you can to your country, to your fellow man, to education and culture. Their magnificence is imprinted in the emblematic works they left behind as donations to their fellow citizens.

The album by Christos Simatos becomes the means by which oncoming generations bring memory into its own. As future guardians, they discover the worth of our cultural heritage and they asseverate that the benefaction of the Papastratos Brothers has found grateful recipients.