Saturday 18 October 2008

The Durrells in Corfu

(Picture: The old Palace)

In Bosketo gardens, at the lower square of Corfu, the bust of the Durrell brothers were exposed to the public for the first time. The Durrell brothers were two authors who wrote about the beauty of Corfu and thus helped people all over the world to get to know about this small beautiful island.

At the celebration that took place in September, Lee Durrell, the wife of Gerald Durrell, thanked the authorities for the great honour, while the representative of Durrell School, the representative of Louis Group who were the sponsors of the busts and the nature expert David Bellamy and Spiros Giourgas delivered speeches about the authors.

Sotiris Mikalef, the Mayor of the island mentioned the following:

“When the Durrell family settled down in Corfu in 1935, the two young brothers, Laurence and Gerald get extremely influenced by the island. In Corfu they discover Prospero’s Cell, which, like in Shakespeare’s Tempest, is a personal Odyssey of every man.

Durrell family has been one of our families since long ago, and I am happy I present today to the public the permanent presence of Durrell brothers on this island.”

The celebration ended with the National Hymns of Greece and England performed by Kapodistrias Band and a reception followed at the old Palace near the gardens.