For years, the Morosini Fountain has been slowly deteriorating while committees met, studies were commissioned, experts consulted, responsibilities shifted, and decisions disappeared into Greece’s seemingly endless administrative maze. Others and I have repeatedly documented its decline, asking why one of Crete’s greatest Venetian monuments had to reach the point of embarrassment before meaningful action became politically urgent.
Now the latest concern is how football celebrations might affect the Lions Fountain. One cannot help but admire the consistency. Years of neglect apparently required little urgency, yet spontaneous celebrations trigger meetings, consultations, and coordination with supporters’ associations almost overnight.
This is not really about football. It is about a bureaucracy that has perfected the art of discussing problems instead of solving them. Every issue becomes trapped beneath layers of permissions, jurisdictions, signatures, and institutional caution until common sense is buried beneath procedure. Meanwhile, the monument continues to age exactly as stone always has—one day at a time. In this example, yesterday’s meetings at the Loggia in Heraklion saw Maria Mertzani, Head of the Directorate for the Conservation of Ancient and Modern Monuments of the Ministry of Culture, seeking a meeting with fan associations to raise this specific issue. For those unfamiliar, planning to plan meetings, outlining objectives for more meetings, and examining what the Greeks will do next are endless. Just don’t try to contact anyone involved if you are a journalist, let alone a normal citizen. Old age creeps up on us all.
Greece possesses one of the richest cultural inheritances on Earth, yet too often treats its greatest treasures as administrative files instead of national responsibilities. The Morosini Fountain deserves more than endless meetings followed by another meeting. It deserves competent stewardship, because if bureaucracy remains our fastest-growing public institution, it may soon become Heraklion’s most enduring monument. Still, even small voices can make an impact.
