Ministry of Culture (Greece)

The Ministry of Culture (Greek: Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού) is the government department of Greece entrusted with preserving the country's cultural heritage and promoting the arts. The incumbent minister is Lina Mendoni, and the deputy minister is Iason Fotilas [el].

Ministry of Culture
Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού
Coat of arms of the Hellenic Republic
Incumbent Lina Mendoni since 27 June 2023
Appointer	Prime Minister of Greece
Inaugural holder	Konstantinos Panagiotakis
Formation	26 August 1971
Website	culture.gov.gr

History

This ministry was established on 26 August 1971 as the Ministry of Culture and Sciences (Ὑπουργεῖον Πολιτισμοῦ καὶ Ἐπιστημῶν), and was renamed the Ministry of Culture (Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού) on 26 July 1985. On 7 October 2009, it was merged with the Ministry of Touristic Development to form the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It ceased to exist on 21 June 2012, when the Ministry of Tourism was re-established and the culture portfolio was absorbed by the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs to form the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports. A separate Ministry of Culture and Sports was re-established on 25 June 2013, but on 27 January 2015 it was again merged with the education ministry to form the Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs. On 23 September 2015, the merger was reversed and the culture and education portfolios were restored as separate ministries. On 27 June 2023, the sports portfolio was absorbed by the education ministry and the Ministry of Culture reverted to its 1985–2009 name.

List of ministers

Culture and sciences (1971–1985)

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Party
1.	Konstantinos Panagiotakis [el]	26 August 1971	25 November 1973
2.	Dimitrios Tsakonas [el]	25 November 1973	24 July 1974
3.	Konstantinos Tsatsos	24 July 1974	9 October 1974	National Radical Union
4.	Ioannis M. Panagiotopoulos [el]	9 October 1974	21 November 1974
5.	Konstantinos Trypanis	21 November 1974	28 November 1977	New Democracy
6.	Georgios Plytas [el]	28 November 1977	25 September 1978
7.	Dimitrios Nianias [el]	25 September 1978	10 May 1980
8.	Andreas Andrianopoulos [el]	10 May 1980	21 October 1981
9.	Melina Mercouri	21 October 1981	26 July 1985	PASOK

Culture (1985–2009)

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Party
	Melina Mercouri	26 July 1985	2 July 1989	PASOK
10.	Anna Psarouda-Benaki (first term)	2 July 1989	7 July 1989	New Democracy
11.	Georgios Mylonas (first term)	7 July 1989	23 November 1989
12.	Sotiris Kouvelas	23 November 1989	13 February 1990
	Georgios Mylonas (second term)	13 February 1990	11 April 1990
13.	Tzannis Tzannetakis	11 April 1990	8 August 1991
	Anna Psarouda-Benaki (second term)	8 August 1991	3 December 1992
14.	Dora Bakoyanni	7 December 1992	13 October 1993
	Melina Mercouri (second term)	13 October 1993	6 March 1994 (death in office)	PASOK
15.	Thanos Mikroutsikos	16 March 1994 (acting minister from 6 March)	22 January 1996
16.	Stavros Benos [el]	22 January 1996	25 September 1996
17.	Evangelos Venizelos (first term)	25 September 1996	19 February 1999
18.	Elisavet Papazoi [el]	19 February 1999	13 April 2000
19.	Theodoros Pangalos	13 April 2000	20 November 2000
	Evangelos Venizelos (second term)	20 November 2000	10 March 2004
20.	Kostas Karamanlis	10 March 2004	15 February 2006	New Democracy
21.	Georgios Voulgarakis	15 February 2006	19 September 2007
22.	Michalis Liapis	19 September 2007	7 January 2009
23.	Antonis Samaras	8 January 2009	7 October 2009

Culture and tourism (2009–2012)

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Party
24.	Pavlos Geroulanos	7 October 2009	17 May 2012	PASOK (Giorgos Papandreou Cabinet and Cabinet of Lucas Papademos)
25.	Tatiana Karapanagioti [el]	17 May 2012	21 June 2012	PASOK in Caretaker Cabinet of Panagiotis Pikrammenos

Education, religious affairs, culture and sports (2012–2013)

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Party
26.	Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos [el]	21 June 2012	25 June 2013	New Democracy

Culture and sports (2013–2015)

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Party
27.	Panos Panagiotopoulos	25 June 2013	10 June 2014	New Democracy
28.	Konstantinos Tasoulas	10 June 2014	27 January 2015

Culture, education and religious affairs (2015)

Name	Took office	Left office	Party	Notes
Aristides Baltas	27 January 2015	27 August 2015	Syriza	Coalition government
Frosso Kiaou	28 August 2015	21 September 2015	Independent	Caretaker government

Culture and sports (2015–2023)

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Party
29.	Aristides Baltas	23 September 2015	5 November 2016	Syriza
30.	Lydia Koniordou [el]	5 November 2016	29 August 2018
31.	Myrsini Zorba	29 August 2018	9 July 2019
32.	Lina Mendoni	9 July 2019	26 May 2023	Independent in the Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis
33.	George Koumendakis	26 May 2023	27 June 2023	Independent

Culture (since June 2023)

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Party
34.	Lina Mendoni	27 June 2023		Independent in the Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis

External links

• Official website (in Greek and English)