📚📚Οn the occasion of the publication of his book "Climbing the Peaks of the World", distinguished engineer and former President of the Pancretan Association of America and President of the World Council of Cretans, Emmanuel Velivasakis, spoke to Reading Greece about the milestones of his career, the way the book weaves together engineering, faith, culture, and diaspora, as well as about how being part of the Greek #diaspora community in leadership roles has shaped his professional path and worldview.

"The book moves between two dimensions that have always defined my life: the precise, rational world of engineering and the deeper, human world of faith, culture, and memory. I tried not to separate them, but rather to let them illuminate each other. Engineering, after all, is not only about structures of steel and concrete — it’s also about vision, persistence, and harmony, the same qualities that shape a meaningful life.

So the narrative alternates between the technical and the emotional, between the “how” and the “why.” A bridge, a tower, or a project becomes a metaphor for building endurance, connecting cultures, or spanning distances — both literal and spiritual. The immigrant’s experience, the devotion to one’s roots, and the quiet dialogue with faith give depth to the professional journey, turning it from a record of work into a story of becoming".

Greece in Washington
Consulate General of Greece in New York

Playgrounds & Toys 2000–2025 — an ART for The World project is now at the Benaki Museum/Pireos. Explore 50+ playground & toy models by artists & designers worldwide. On view until Jan 11, 2026. Athens becomes the permanent home of the collection at the Benaki Museum. The exhibition aims to inspire the full-scale construction of playgrounds in Athens and beyond, with at least one installation remaining permanently in the Benaki Toy Museum in Palaio Faliro #BenakiMuseum