All about Zakynthos

On the hill of Strani, in order to support the last kermes (type of oak tree), under which Dionysios Solomos, in May 1823, wrote his "Hymn to Freedom", was constructed in 1951, on the initiative of the then prefect of Zakynthos (from 1950 to mid 1953) Dimitrios Sabatakakis, a stone column designed by Christos Rouseas (1896 - 1978), which has been decorated with a brass relief of Freedom. On the front side of the column is written the verse: 'Hail, O hail, Freedom'. On the reverse side is the verse: 'Light that treads joyfully on Hades and Death'. While to the left of the viewer the verse: "Nature's enchantment and dream ..."  and on the right the verse: "All the glow is fiery...". The relief with the depiction of Liberty, on Rousea's instructions, was made in the brass foundry of the Zante craftsman Spyros Giustozis. Eleftheria/Freedom, in the form of a woman, is moving forward with a sword in her right hand, ready to crush anyone who stands in her way. Her dress flutters in the air, while her sparkling gaze invites the Greeks to rise up and break their four-decade-old bonds. In 1957, during the celebrations for the centenary of the poet's death, a marble bust of Solomos was placed in the same place, on the hill of Strani, a short distance from the stone column, by Konstantinos Dimitriadis, donated by Ioanns Passa (1899 - 1986), with the immortal phrase: "Capture Greece within your soul. ...".Later on, after the fall of the kermes, and after a newer configuration of the site, the bust was placed on the stone column.