Members of von der Schulenburg family visit Corfu Reading Society
CORFU. "What a great honour and joy it was for us that the Reading Society allowed us to visit their premises today. We were impressed by their rooms, the historical documents, the books and the paintings."
(Corfu Reading Society) Dr. Matthias Graf von der Schulenburg, President of the Association of von der Schulenburg Family Members and Professor at Leibniz University in Hanover, along with members and friends of the Association, visited Corfu Reading Society accompanied by Dr. Spyros Giouras, President of the Corfu Albert Cohen Association.
They were welcomed by Mr. Thanasis Makris, President of the Board of Directors of the Reading Society, Leonidas Kollas, architect and founding member of the Reading Society and Dimitris Zimaris, Scientific Director.
The visitors had the opportunity to see up close the handwritten diary of Field Marshal Matthias Graf von der Schulenburg, who had organised and successfully led the defence of Corfu during the Ottoman siege in 1716.
The valuable artifact, permanently exhibited at the Reading Society, thanks to donations from the Rothschild Foundation, Mr. Spyros Flambouriaris, and several others, was presented by Mr. Kollas. He, along with Professor Michalis Politis from the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting at the Ionian University, had translated the specific diary for the publication of the Albert Cohen Association in Corfu in 2017.
The visitors explored all the facilities of the Society and expressed their enthusiasm, which is reflected in the Reading Society guestbook.
The translation of their entry in the guestbook is as follows:
"What a great honour and joy it was for us that the Reading Society allowed us to visit their premises today.
We were impressed by their rooms, the historical documents, the books and the paintings.
The highlights of it all are the maps from the 1716 siege and the handwritten diary of Field Marshal Matthias Johann Graf von der Schulenburg.
This is a unique document concerning the defence of Corfu, of Western Christian Europe.
Photos: FB Corfu Reading Society
