The Ministry of Culture () is the government department of Greece entrusted with preserving the country's cultural heritage and promoting the arts. The incumbent minister is Lina Mendoni, and the deputy minister is .
History This ministry was established on 26 August 1971 as the Ministry of Culture and Sciences (), and was renamed the Ministry of Culture () on 26 July 1985. On 7 October 2009, it was merged with the Ministry of Touristic Development to form the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It ceased to exist on 21 June 2012, when the Ministry of Tourism was re-established and the culture portfolio was absorbed by the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs to form the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports. A separate Ministry of Culture and Sports was re-established on 25 June 2013, but on 27 January 2015 it was again merged with the education ministry to form the Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs. On 23 September 2015, the merger was reversed and the culture and education portfolios were restored as separate ministries. On 27 June 2023, the sports portfolio was absorbed by the education ministry and the Ministry of Culture reverted to its 1985–2009 name.
List of ministers Culture and sciences (1971–1985) #Name Took officeLeft office Party1.26 August 197125 November 19732.25 November 197324 July 19743.Konstantinos Tsatsos24 July 19749 October 1974National Radical Union4.9 October 197421 November 19745.Konstantinos Trypanis21 November 197428 November 1977 New Democracy6.28 November 197725 September 19787.25 September 197810 May 19808.10 May 198021 October 19819.Melina Mercouri21 October 198126 July 1985PASOK
Culture (1985–2009) #Name Took officeLeft office PartyMelina Mercouri26 July 19852 July 1989PASOK10.Anna Psarouda-Benaki (first term)2 July 19897 July 1989New Democracy11.Georgios Mylonas (first term)7 July 198923 November 198912.Sotiris Kouvelas23 November 198913 February 1990Georgios Mylonas (second term)13 February 199011 April 199013.Tzannis Tzannetakis11 April 19908 August 1991Anna Psarouda-Benaki (second term)8 August 19913 December 199214.Dora Bakoyanni7 December 199213 October 1993Melina Mercouri (second term)13 October 19936 March 1994 (death in office) PASOK15.Thanos Mikroutsikos16 March 1994 (acting minister from 6 March)22 January 199616.22 January 199625 September 199617.Evangelos Venizelos (first term)25 September 199619 February 199918.19 February 199913 April 200019.Theodoros Pangalos13 April 200020 November 2000Evangelos Venizelos (second term)20 November 200010 March 200420.Kostas Karamanlis10 March 200415 February 2006 New Democracy21.Georgios Voulgarakis15 February 200619 September 200722.Michalis Liapis19 September 20077 January 200923.Antonis Samaras8 January 20097 October 2009
Culture and tourism (2009–2012) #Name Took officeLeft office Party24.Pavlos Geroulanos7 October 200917 May 2012PASOK (Giorgos Papandreou Cabinet and Cabinet of Lucas Papademos)25.17 May 201221 June 2012PASOK in Caretaker Cabinet of Panayiotis Pikrammenos
Education, religious affairs, culture and sports (2012–2013) #Name Took officeLeft office Party26.21 June 201225 June 2013New Democracy
Culture and sports (2013–2015) #Name Took officeLeft office Party27.Panos Panagiotopoulos25 June 201310 June 2014New Democracy28.Konstantinos Tasoulas10 June 201427 January 2015
Culture, education and religious affairs (2015) NameTook officeLeft officePartyNotesAristides Baltas27 January 201527 August 2015SyrizaCoalition governmentFrosso Kiaou28 August 201521 September 2015IndependentCaretaker government
Culture and sports (2015–2023) #Name Took officeLeft office Party29.Aristides Baltas23 September 20155 November 2016 Syriza30.5 November 201629 August 201831.Myrsini Zorba29 August 20189 July 201932.Lina Mendoni9 July 201926 May 2023Independent in the Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis33.George Koumendakis26 May 202327 June 2023Independent
Culture (since June 2023) #Name Took officeLeft office Party34.Lina Mendoni 27 June 2023Independent in the Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis
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