The Athens Dialogues - An International Conference on Culture and Civilization

The Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation

Culture, education, the environment, health, and social solidarity come first on the agenda of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, which carries out Aristotle Onassis’s original wishes. All projects of the Foundation relate to Greece or Greek culture and civilisation and are funded exclusively by the profits of the Business Foundation, which engages mainly in shipping and real estate investments.

The Onassis Foundation disseminates Greek civilisation abroad. Specifically to the U.S.A. and Canada, through the affiliate foundation, at the Olympic Tower in New York, which organizes conferences, a major archaeological exhibition every year, and a programme of visiting Professors to Universities of Northern and Southern America and Canada. In the same context, the Foundation undertook the establishment of the Onassis Library for Hellenic and Roman Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the renovation and equipment of the libraries of the National Archaeological Museum, the Christian and Byzantine Museum and the Benaki Museum in Athens, the architectural preservation and restoration of sites and buildings around the world, as well as countless other endeavors centered on arts and culture.

In the fields of social solidarity and health, the Foundation donated to the Greek state in 1992 the model Onassis Cardiac Surgery Centre (OCSC). The 127-bed capacity OCSC is the first hospital in Greece fully certified in the departments of adult and pediatric heart surgery and cardiology, the only certified hospital in Greece for heart and lung transplantations, maintaining of the best survival rates internationally. Other public benefit projects of the Foundation include financial support to organizations such as ELPIDA, for the establishment of cancer hospital for children, and the Hellenic Society for Disabled Children (ELEPAP).

Another important aspect of the Foundation’s work is the awarding of international prizes, since 1978. Bestowed on individuals or organizations in the fields of culture, social achievement and the environment, were redesigned in 2008, to include the following Onassis International Prizes, closely related to contemporary international issues and challenges:

1. In Shipping, Trade and Finance, in collaboration with the City of London and Cass Business School of the City University, London.
2. In Law and in Humanities, in collaboration with the Institute of France.
3. For the Protection of the Environment, in collaboration with the City of Hamburg, European Green Capital for 2011
4. “Hestia” Onassis International Prize in Immigrant Integration and Human Development for a period of three years (2009-2011), in the framework of the Civil Society Days Forum of the 3^rd Global Forum on Migration and Development in Greece, organized by the Foundation.

Among its other activities, the Foundation awards scholarships to Greeks for postgraduate studies in Greece and abroad and to non Greeks for research and postgraduate studies in Greece. Until 2009, approximately 4.200 scholarships have been awarded to Greeks and 800 to foreigners.  The Scholars’ Association, with approximately 1600 former scholars currently active and the financial support of the Onassis Foundation, organizes conferences, lectures, cultural and scientific events.

In November 2010, the multi-purpose “Onassis Cultural Centre” was inaugurated in Athens with the international conference on culture The Athens Dialogues.The Onassis Cultural Centre has the fundamental aim of presenting, projecting and encouraging contemporary Greek culture and its dissemination beyond Greece and its facilities include two auditoriums and an exhibition gallery.