compiled by Christina Marangou (Athens, chrmarangou@yahoo.gr)

The focus of the present TEA correspondence from Greece is on heritage management. 2016 was the year of the 150th anniversary of the oldest and largest Archaeological Museum in Greece, the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, in which important commemorative activities were organized. During the same year, several other Greek museums, monuments or sites were renovated or restored, or their collections were more extensively documented, studied or re-arranged. Among these are included the extraordinary collections of the Heraklion Archaeological Museum and the impressive multicultural Rotunda monument in Thessaloniki, but also very important, although smaller and much less well known, museums, monuments, or sites, such as those of the Kozani area, the Archaeological Museum of Kythera and the Museum of Maritime Tradition and Sponge-Fishing of Nea Koutali. There had to be a selection, which proved very difficult. I wish to warmly thank all colleagues for their response and contributions. The presentation follows a chronological sequence, from prehistory and antiquity to the Medieval and Post-Medieval periods and into the recent past, and a geographical order, from North to South, starting from the “Museum of Honour 2016”.

Moreover, 2016 was the year of the inscription of another archaeological Greek site in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Besides this listing, some conferences and a new publication have also been included in the current issue’s correspondence.

National Archaeological Museum 1866-2016: Activities and Synergies in Athens for a Great Anniversary

by Maria Lagogianni-Georgakarakos (Director of the National Archaeological Museum, Athens), translated from Greek by Christina Marangou

On the 3d of October 2016, 150 years were completed since the foundation of the National Archaeological Museum. The history of the largest archaeological museum of Greece constitutes a long and adventurous chronicle, connected to the cultural climate in Europe in modern times and the official policy of the newly founded Greek state on the protection of antiquities, as part of the cultural heritage (fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Photographic view of the National Archaeological Museum (1890).

Assembling antiquities from all over Greece, from Cyprus, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Sicily and Southern Italy, the National Archaeological Museum achieved, in configuring its rooms, a multidimensional image of the archaeological past, from the 6th millennium BC until late antiquity, covering the major expanse of Greek culture.

Today, the National Archaeological Museum is an open and accessible museum, a space of dialogue, cooperation and voyaging together with the bodies of the local community and at the same time a museum of worldwide range and multiple synergies with international cultural organizations. In the framework of this communication policy, a rich programme of activities was organized for the celebration of 150 years since its foundation (1866-2016).   

Strolling through the Athens of Travellers

As a forerunner to the great anniversary, the temporary exhibition “A dream among splendid ruins… Strolling through the Athens of Travellers, 17th-19th century” (8.9.2015-24.7.2016) was organized. The exhibition was planned to outline the generative cultural environment to which the National Archaeological Museum owes its establishment. Thirty five marble sculptures of the National Archaeological Museum, twenty-two illustrated touring editions and fourteen original artworks, oils, water-colours and engravings from the collections of the Library of the Greek Parliament, together with images, plants and sounds of nature, created a mental walk in a city that has always been fascinating (figs 2-3). 

Figs 2-3. “A dream among splendid ruins… Strolling through the Athens of Travellers, 17th-19th century”. 2: Reconstruction of the natural landscape at the Parilissia sanctuaries. 3: Partial view of the second room of the exhibition.

The museum experience was completed by musical sounds from the travellers’ homelands, as well as by Greek music as recorded by French composer and music theorist L.A. Bourgault-Ducoudray, while visiting Athens in 1874-75. As an epilogue, an original artistic installation (figs 4-5) exploits display cases from the first years of the museum and combines music with digital projections, endeavouring to highlight meanings and symbolisms about all that the National Archaeological Museum has safeguarded during the long chronicle of its existence. The exhibition was accompanied by a bilingual catalogue – 453 pages in Greek and English (TAPA Archaeological Receipts Fund edition), which includes thorough articles on issues of the evolution of ancient Athenian topography (M. Lagogianni-Georgakarakos and Th. Koutsogiannis (eds.), A dream among splendid ruins… Strolling through the Athens of Travellers, 17th-19th century, Athens 2015).




Figs 4-5. “A dream among splendid ruins… Strolling through the Athens of Travellers, 17th-19th century”. The epilogue of the exhibition with the artistic installation.

The heralding anniversary activities of 2016

The great anniversary was signalled by a variety of communication activities, such as archaeological presentations and tours, lectures in the museum amphitheatre, contemporary art exhibitions in the atrium and the Café, concerts and musical events, which were spread throughout 2016.  Several of them were realized in synergy with educational institutions, arts organizations, artists unions and social bodies, such as the Association of Sculptors of Greece, Greek potters members of the Chamber of Visual Arts of Greece (figs 6-7), the Herakleidon Museum, the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens, the Athens State Orchestra and the Library of the Greek Parliament.



Figs. 6-7. Exhibition “Pottery yesterday - today “ in the atrium of the museum.

Particularly important was the festive proclamation by the Greek section of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), of the National Archaeological Museum as the Museum of Honour, on the International Museum Day, 18th of May 2016. On the same day, in the Altar Room, the National Theatre offered, from 10 am till midnight, a theatrical recital of the 24 Odyssey rhapsodies, as a prelude to the great anniversary exhibition “Odysseys” (fig. 8).


Fig. 8. Theatrical recital of the 24 Odyssey rhapsodies by the National Theatre in the Altar Room.

The contribution of large museums and cultural foundations from Greece and abroad was also proportionate. The National Gallery – Alexander Soutzos Museum, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, the Karlsruhe Badisches Landesmuseum, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tokyo National Museum of Western Art (fig.9), the Beijing Palace Museum and the University of Heidelberg were present at the great anniversary, offering, as outstanding “gifts”, temporary loans of works of art, conversing with the permanent exhibits of the National Archaeological Museum and highlighting various dimensions of the ancient world, even sometimes its unexpected similarities with today.

Fig. 9. The “Thinker” by Auguste Rodin- temporary loan by the National Museum of Western Art, close to the “Thinker” of the Final Neolithic period.  

The activities of the anniversary culminating week (26.9 - 2.10. 2016)

A poster exhibition in a central underground station, a large sculpture installation in the Museum square and a music concert prepared the Athenian public for the great anniversary. The poster exhibition “National Archaeological Museum - 150 years “ in the underground station of “Syntagma Square” resulted from the collaboration of the National Archaeological Museum, the Department of Graphic Design of the Technological Educational Institute of Athens (TEI) and the Urban Rail Transport SA-Stasy, and functioned as an invitation for a re-acquaintance with the oldest museum institution of the country. Students of the Department of Graphic Design of the Athens TEI approached the museum with a fresh look, creating projects that accentuated the uniqueness and timelessness of its collections and helping the public to understand the Museum as a conveyor of knowledge and aesthetic pleasure (figs 10-11).

Figs 10-11. Poster exhibition “150 years National Archaeological Museum” in the Athens underground.

The sculpture installation “Bastions”, by Venia Demetrakopoulou, was inaugurated in the museum forecourt, on the 1st of October (fig. 12). The three large steel disks in different gradients constitute, according to the artist, the "forefront", the battlements, conceptually signifying the contribution of the National Archaeological Museum to the protection and promotion of the ancient Greek civilization. Of comparable symbolic meaning was “The sound of bastions”, a composition for percussion by Pablo Ortiz, especially written for this sculpture and performed on the inauguration day by the Athens Percussion Group. Finally, on the 2nd of October, the Athens State Orchestra gave a festive concert for the 150 years of the National Archaeological Museum in the Altar Room, presenting “The Athens Ruins” by Ludwig Van Beethoven, “Five Greek Dances” by Nikos Skalkotas and six scenes from the ballet “Zorbas” by Mikis Theodorakis.


Fig. 12. The sculpture installation “Bastions”, by Venia Demetrakopoulou. 

 

3rd October 2016:  The day of the great anniversary with… “Odysseys”

The exhibition “Odysseys” constituted the main activity on the day of the great anniversary. Without reciting again Homer’s mythological epic, the exhibition is inspired from the archetypal symbol of Ulysses and from an abstract and symbolic perspective recounts the long chronicle of man in ordeal, his relentless struggle to tame the environment, conquer new places, broaden his horizons, establish well-governed societies and fight against the perishable nature of his existence with the aid of love and creative act.

The exhibition yarn runs through the societies developed in the Helladic cultural space from the 5th millennium BC until late Antiquity. Exhibits from the Neolithic societies at Dimini and Sesklo, the Cycladic civilization, Minoan Crete, the Mycenaean world and the Greek civilization of historic times relate human and heroic histories, touch upon aspects from innumerable lives, known and unknown, personal and collective “Odysseys”. Antiquities from different places and periods are presented in a sequence of cultural stratifications, permitting visitors to detect differences and to trace in parallel the elements that remain unalterable in time, constituting the common imprint of man.

The exhibition offers multiple levels of reading and interpretation, including references to today.  At the level of the archaeological and historical reading, the antiquities are presented as objective testimonies of their epoch, based on their temporal stratification, with allusions to mythological and historic elements.

At the symbolic level, the ancient works express diachronic meanings and ideas, epitomize personal situations and feelings, and transmit messages about social conditions and historic events. The interpretative approach of the works is enhanced by the symbolically charged words of the leading modern Greek poets Κ. Κavafis, G. Seferis, Ο. Εlytis and Y. Ritsos, setting bridges with our times. The audio-visual and digital applications of the exhibition judiciously underline these connections and create an experiential environment.

The axes of the exhibition

The exhibition narrative evolves around three episodes in different modes and atmospheres. The conceptual development of the “Journey” and the “Ithacas” corresponds to the main episodes of the Homeric Odyssey.  The epilogue of the exhibition is entitled “Exodus” and functions as a pragmatic summary and redemptive riposte to human destiny. In this way, the visitor becomes the contemplative fellow traveller in a history constructed with the aid of the museum collections, so as to speak for each one of us.

THE JOURNEY OR THE NOSTOS (homecoming)

The multiple dimensions of the diachronic human journey are presented in three units, in a suggestive exhibition environment of a sea journey: the sea routes, the ships of the sea going mariners, the goods brought from the high seas, the new ideas, trade, exchanges, intercultural contacts, colonies, mythical travels, gods and heroes, nymphs and beneficent creatures, daemons and monsters of the sea. In the first unit, boat models, representations of rowing boats, sailing ships and ships fitted with rams, all of them eternal symbols of sea routes and human quest, join with artefacts imprinted with familiar signs of the marine landscape, dolphins, octopuses, corals and argonauts, magically luring us into a journey from the prehistoric period to the historic era (figs 13-16).



Figs 13-14. “Odysseys”: Views of the first thematic axis “The Journey”.

In the second unit, pictorial vases relate exciting adventures to distant places and overseas travels. Perseus, the Argonauts, Hercules, Ulysses, heroic generations of legends and myths, demarcate events forgotten in time and add meaning to man’s endless struggle and inventive force.

In the third unit, intercultural contacts are presented. Small, precious figurines, brought from distant places, clay, bronze and glass vases from Syria, Palestine and Egypt, small Mycenaean stirrup jars for the transport of aromatic oils, exotic rhyta in ostrich egg shell, Melos obsidian cores and artefacts, jewellery in amber of the Baltic Sea, faience from Egypt, cornelian και lazurite from Syria and Western Asia, elephant and hippopotamus tusks, imported materials and objects, and works influenced by other civilizations compose the variegated cargo of a conceptual ship on its way back.

Fig. 15. “Odysseys”: God Poseidon in the middle of the stormy sea.

Fig. 16. “Odysseys”: First thematic axis “The Journey” – the Poseidon bronze statue from Livadostra in Boeotia. 

ITHACAS

The second axis of the exhibition traces the diachronic “Ithacas”, as a natural landscape, as a place of collective action and as a space of personal realization. It is structured around three thematic units. In the beginning of the first unit, a worn by the salinity of the Antikythera Sea statue, representing the mature, bearded Ulysses, is displayed, in order to highlight the return after the adventure (fig. 17).

Fig. 17. “Odysseys”: View of the second thematic axis “Ithacas” – In the foreground, the marble statue of Ulysses from the Antikythera shipwreck, 1st century BC.

An islet in the centre of the room undertakes to make us travel to an insular landscape. Vases from 16th c. BC Thera record elements of the natural environment. Saffron flowers, barley ears, leguminous plants, anemones, branches of olive trees, grapes, ibexes and dolphins bring to life a diachronic Greek landscape, unchanged through time, as an eternal image, deeply hidden in our collective subconscious, which speaks about our common Ithaca through the eyes of O. Elytis: “If you unravel Greece, in the end you will see that you are left with an olive tree, a vine and a ship. Which means: one more of each and you make her up again” (Ο. Elytis, The little nautilus, fig. 18).

Fig. 18. “Odysseys”: Second thematic axis “Ithacas” – view of the unit of the Place. 

The second part of the unit evolves around the central islet, as a semeiotic reconstruction of human action in the framework of society.  Diachronic activities and situations, time- transcending meanings and ideas constitute benchmarks: resources and human creation, religion and hegemony, war and vindication, civic institutions, democracy,   philosophy, art and civilization are presented in a flow of short continuous images.

The Ithacas end with the two last units that are presented in a separate space and define the most intimate moments of man: love and death. The two dominating notions are paired antithetically: The perishable human existence, as implied by the funerary statues of two youths who departed early, the kore (maiden) Phrasikleia (550-540 BC) and the kouros (540-530 BC) from the ancient demos of Myrrinous [fig. 19], is countervailed by the regenerative power of love, symbolized by the marble group of goddess Aphrodite, Pan and Eros and the figure pottery surrounding it (fig. 20). 

Fig. 19. “Odysseys”: Second thematic axis “Ithacas” – the unit of Death.


Fig. 20 . “Odysseys”: Second thematic axis “Itacas” – the unit of Love. 

EXODUS

The “Exodus” constitutes the epilogue of the exhibition. Emblematic ancient works in digital and natural form document the highest achievements of man and convey the optimistic message that the journey has not ended, but is perpetually continuing by Ulysses’ heirs. The digital projection that presents the magnified fingerprints on clay tablets of Linear B script from Mycenaean Pylos speaks about the distant and anonymous pioneers who engraved with their stylus another kind of relationship between man and the environment. In counterpoint, there are on display digital details from the Antikythera Mechanism, a supreme technological achievement of the ancient world that concentrates the spiritual efforts of tens of generations. Standing in the centre of the room is a wonderful late Hellenistic marble statue from Delos, a copy of Diadoumenos, the work of the Argive bronze sculptor Polycleitos. The eternally young, ideally proportioned athlete is represented at the moment when he fastens on his head the victory band and becomes aware of his power (fig. 21).

Fig. 21. “Odysseys”: View of the third thematic axis “Exodus”. 

In conclusion, in a special display case, facing the human achievements, a small bronze statuette in the type of Zeus Kerauneios is presented. Odysseas Elytis’ inspired verses “You receive the thunderbolt from the Zeuses.  And the world obeys to you. Go on then. The spring depends on you. Speed the lightning up!” (Ο. Elytis, The little nautilus) accompany the small bronze statuette, inviting each one of us to pick up the torch of creation.

One hundred eighty four works from the permanent exhibition and the storerooms of the Museum Collections, as well as six loans, three from the Numismatic - Epigraphic Museum and three more from the Acropolis Museum, selected after serious thought, undertake to recount, in the limited museum space for temporary exhibitions, the centuries long and fascinating narrative of human adventure. Seven complementary stops in the permanent exhibition mark emblematic works, which complete and expand the narrative, overcoming space conventions and contributing to the holistic approach of the theme.

The exhibition logo is based on the series Triereis (Treremes) by visual artist, George Xenos. The music, courtesy of Vangelis Papathanasiou, comes from his creations “Itaca” and “Voices - Dream in an Οpen Place”. Τhe Eugenides Foundation offered the equipment and the application of the starry sky with the constellations beheld by Ulysses, during his travel back from the island of Calypso to Ithaca, and the National Theatre, the theatrical costume of Oedipus Tyrant, designed by costume designer Yannis Metzikof. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation is the grand donor of the exhibition. The accompanying catalogue, edited by the Fund of Archaeological Receipts, serves the same concept as the exhibition and enhances its commemorative character, with 341 entries, original essays and important international scientific contributions (M. Lagogianni-Georgakarakos, Odysseys, Athens 2016, in Greek and English).

The exhibition was inaugurated by the President of the Hellenic Republic M. Prokopis Pavlopoulos, in the presence of the Minister of Culture and Sports M. Aristides Baltas, on Monday 3d of October. A particularly symbolic date, since 150 years ago, also a Monday, the foundation stone was placed of the first National Museum of the country by king George Α΄, in attendance of all the ministers and the political, religious, military and municipal authorities. The ceremony started with a festive prelude by the brass quintet Melos Brass and musicians of the ΕRΤ (Greek Radio and Television) symphony orchestra and a recitation by the actress Olia Lazaridou of the poem “Ithaca” by Κ. Κavafis.

On the inauguration day, the “Passers-by” by George Xenos were installed in the Museum courtyard, from morning to midnight. These sculptural works, with iron sheet frames, render human figures and mentally refer to the Museum visitors, who have enjoyed it almost uninterruptedly during 150 years (figs. 22-23).

Figs. 22-23. The “Passers-by”, by George Xenos, at the museum entrance.

After the anniversary…

The lively relationship of the National Archaeological Museum with the Athenian public continues after the great celebration, with various communication and educational activities that enrich the museum experience. Contemporary artistic initiatives are also continuously hosted in the Café and the atrium of the museum, promoting new ways of reading and new correlations between present and past.

The “Unseen Museum” keeps keen friends: Every two months, an unknown object emerges from the storerooms into the Museum exhibition for the first time. The success of the activity is not only due to the element of surprise, but also to the open dialogue it offers, at fixed in advance dates, between the museum archaeologists and the visitors.

Fig. 24. Thematic presentation by archaeologists and conservators of the museum. 

Finally, the “Open Museum” is particularly popular, as the activity that lifts the curtain from the spaces behind the stage: the conservation laboratories and the research premises. At regular dates, special thematic presentations by the archaeologists and specially designed familiarization workshops by the conservators are offered, enriching and deepening the relationship of the visitor with the museum (fig. 24). 

Our visitors’ warm response shows that we are on the right path.

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Illuminating cultural aspects of the Kozani Regional Unit, Western Macedonia, Greece

by Areti Hondroyanni-Metoki (Director of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Kozani), translated from Greek by Christina Marangou

The Ephorate of Antiquities of Kozani, Kozani Regional Unit, Region of Western Macedonia, organized and realized a series of events (10th November – 10th December 2016) with the objective of informing the public about the diverse work of the Archaeological Service and render to the society an integrated look at development projects, illuminating known and unknown aspects of the history and civilization of the region.

The finds and conclusions of recent archaeological research, and in particular of the 20 years of salvage excavation work, carried out by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Kozani (former ΙΖ΄ and Λ΄ Ephorates of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities) in the lignite mines of the Public Power Corporation (PPC), the work of enhancement realized in the framework of a National Strategic Framework of Reference (NSFR) project at the Aiani archaeological site, as well as the exhibits of the Aiani Archaological Museum, the new exhibition of the Archaeological Collection of Kozani and the Mansions of Siatista, were found to be of interest to the scientific and wider public, and were enthusiastically welcomed by the mass media. In detail, the events concerned the following themes: 

Ancient DNA, a Window to the Past and the Future

Aiani Archaeological Museum, 10th November 2016, freely accessible for the public until June 2017

This temporary exhibition was inaugurated by key speaker Christina Papageorgopoulou (Demokritus University, Section of History and Ethnology). She analysed the notions relating to DNA and the sampling and analysis method and presented the results of more than 30 years of international and European research in palaeo-genetic material and ancient DNA. In particular, mention was made of the first results of analysis of an anthropological material sample from the excavations at the prehistoric sites of the Kozani Regional Unit (Xerolimni, Mavropigi, Kleito, Kremasti etc.), pioneering in this research sector, because of the rich excavation material brought to light in the last 20 years.

Fig. 25. The DNA exhibition.

It became clear that important scientific questions, such as population movements, as denoted from archaeological finds, earlier and contemporary demographic composition of the various regions, the history of diseases, our dietary habits and morphological characteristics, constitute important research fields that are interesting for archaeological science, and that answers can be found through the analysis of ancient DNA. Based on the results of research, it was established that lactose intolerance, brown eyes and dark skin constitute primeval human features, while blue eyes and lactose tolerance constitute mutations that finally prevailed.

In the exhibition, presenting a “contemporary laboratory of ancient DNA analysis”, visitors can understand the evolution of their biological history, while pupils of Primary and Secondary education, in the framework of educational programmes, have the opportunity of taking an experiential tour about contemporary research on ancient DNA, with the appropriate equipment (suits, masks, gloves etc.) and within a laboratory environment (Fig. 25).  

Consolidation and partial restoration of the archaeological site of Ancient Aiani of Kozani and of the farmhouses Α΄ and Β΄

26th November 2016

After about five years of work, the site was opened again to the public. This completed NSFR project was inaugurated by Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki, general secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Sports. The key speaker, current director of the Ephorate, Areti Hondroyanni-Metoki, presented the project, while the honorary director Georgia Karamitrou-Mentesidi as well as the director of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Florina, Christina Ziota, both having participated in the project and both former directors of the Ephorate, briefly welcomed the assembly (Fig. 26a-b).

Fig. 26a-b. Inauguration of the Aiani site.

Aiani constitutes a site of particular archaeological significance, but also a site of natural beauty. The archaeological vestiges, brought to light since 1983 and later on the sites Megali Rachi and Leivadia, as well as on other sites of the community, gave a new dimension to the history of the area and of Macedonia more generally, uncovering an important organized city of the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods, as well as the diachronic character of the civilization of the region that dates back to the Neolithic period. The discovered building and funerary remains constitute an important and accessible archaeological site, while the excavation finds are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Aiani, which was founded in order to house them.

The name of the ancient city of Aiani is mentioned in the founding myth preserved by Stephanus of Byzantium (6th c. AD), while its existence is confirmed by two inscriptions found in secondary use in post-Byzantine churches of today’s community. Ancient Aiani is identified as the settlement discovered on the hill of Megali Rachi (Fig. 27), on whose overlapping terraces habitation has developed. During the Hellenistic period, it was also extended beyond the hill, at the site Leivadia (Fig. 28), close to the necropolis, where farmhouses were excavated.

The heyday of the city is situated in the Classical and Hellenistic times. All data attest, according to the excavator, that, since very early, Aiani played the role of the capital of the ancient province of Elimeia, one of the kingdoms of Upper Macedonia. Splendid public buildings (as attested by Dorian and Ionian capitals, but also architectural remains with painted decoration), private dwellings, a central cistern for water supply to the settlement, streets and stairs for communication, shops, workshop spaces, house sanctuaries, constitute some of the more important settlement remains.

Fig. 27. Aiani: Megali Rachi. 

The particular importance of the site is confirmed by its very early and long lasting occumation, which dates back to the Late and Final Neolithic period (5th mill. BC), continuing into the Bronze and Iron ages. Megali Rachi was definitely abandoned at the end of the Hellenistic times and the settlement was transferred to another site, not yet identified by research with absolute certainty.

Fig. 28. Aiani: Leivadia.

On the site of Leivadia (Fig. 28), to the north-east of the settlement, an important royal necropolis of the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic times has been excavated. Twelve large vaulted tombs were discovered, some of them decorated, as well as a large number of cist or simple pit graves, the largest ones looted in antiquity. On some of the tombs, funerary stelae were positioned, some were defined by funerary enclosures, while statues were also placed in the area (a kouros head, a lion etc.). The dead had more or less rich funerary gifts, including clay or metal vessels, jewellery, clay figurines, arms, strigils, small carts, clay horses and various other objects.

In the area of the necropolis, a cemetery of Late Bronze Age was also discovered, as well as a repository with a large number of vases of the period, the majority with matt-painted decoration. It must be noted that Mycenaean pottery was also present. Settlement remains excavated in the same area attest to the occupation of the site since the Late/Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.

The important settlement and funerary remains of ancient Aiani and the wealth of mobile finds document the Hellenic character of the civilization of the region, the robust economy of the city, and the elevated standard of living and cultural level of its inhabitants. The city, throughout the duration of its occupation, has had direct cultural relationships and exchanges with the entire larger Helladic region, as attested by black- and red-figured attic vases, Corinthian aryballoi and coins from all the known large, ancient cities, while it also had a parallel local production, with workshops of metalworking, pottery and coroplastic art (clay figurines). Moreover, the preserved epigraphic testimonies confirm the early use of written word.


Fig. 29. Aiani: Megaloi Domoi II, final phase. 

The consolidation and restoration works accomplished in the framework of the NSFR concerned almost the totality of the archaeological site, ten out of eleven excavation sectors with settlement remains, eight in Megali Rachi and two in Leivadia. In particular, the sectors with the following conventional designations, based on their characteristic mobile finds or architectural remains identified during excavations: “House with the matrices”, “Megaloi Domoi Ι”, “ Megaloi Domoi ΙΙ” (Fig. 29) (“Building with Ashlar Masonry I and II”), “House with the loom-weights”, “House with stairs” (Fig. 30), “Stoiko Ι”, “ Stoiko ΙΙ” (“Building with Stoa I and II”) or “Shops” and “House with the pithoi “, “Farmhouse Α” and “ Farmhouse Β”.

Fig. 30. Aiani: House with stairs, final phase.

Archaeological research was imposed because of the need to materialize the interventions foreseen by the study of consolidation and partial restoration of the site. More concretely, the technical works included:

Consolidation of the masonry, slight raising of the walls with the addition of a new stone masonry (sacrifice stratum), separated from the ancient wall through a lead sheet, construction of buttress parapets, delimitation of the excavation sectors and configuration of the last floor of interior and exterior spaces, and finally creation of a rain water discharge system. The final surfaces of the spaces were covered with clayey earth and pebbles of various types, so as to make possible the visual differentiation of interior – exterior spaces, floor types and chronological phases.

As the ancient settlement of Megali Rachi of Aiani presents an almost continuous occupation since the Early Bronze Age until the end of the Hellenistic period, beginning in the Late Neolithic period, after the above mentioned works, very high back fill had accumulated in most excavated sectors. As a consequence, work resulted in the discovery of architectural remains and mobile finds of almost all the phases of occupation of the site.

On the site of Megali Rachi, the limits and foundations of the walls and the stratigraphy of interior and exterior spaces were explored, while an attempt was made to clarify the chronological relation of the totality of the architectural remains. Earlier building phases of the same or previous buildings were discovered, while in sectors on a steep slope it was observed that the foundation of the walls receiving the strongest pressure had been reinforced. Pithoi and clay pipes underwent conservation and were repositioned, while a half-column built in a more recent wall was replaced by a copy. On many occasions it was established that the remains also extended beyond the excavated area.

On the site of Leivadia, to the northwest of the necropolis, the project included the consolidation and restoration of two Hellenistic farmhouses, whose excavation had stopped at an early stage. Consequently, a lot of new elements resulted from these works.

The comparison of the ground plan of the two farmhouses shows several common elements, but also differences between them. They seem to follow the same architectural type, a feature that permits their mutual comparison and the completion of their ground plan. In both cases they are rectangular buildings, with almost the same orientation. They include a large room to the west/northwest and four much smaller ones, two on their south/south-eastern and two on their east/north-eastern side. In the eastern part of the large room there is a fireplace, while in the exterior and to the northwest of the main buildings a probably auxiliary roofed space is formed, with a thermal or otherwise construction inside. The destruction strata, where preserved, show tile roofing. The floors of the interior spaces consist of clay, while a small part of the eastern rooms is paved. In both cases, the entrance, the exterior of which is paved, is located on the south/south-eastern side. However, the larger dimensions of Farmhouse Α΄, its more sumptuous triple entrance and the differentiation in categories and quantities of finds reflect a probable differentiation in use, with the probable connexion of Farmhouse Β΄ (at least) with a metal workshop.

Fig. 31 . Aiani Archaeological Museum. 

The finds of the excavation of Aiani are exhibited in the archaeological museum of Aiani (Fig. 31), crowning the whole excavation activity in the region. Since 2005, the museum constitutes the seat of responsibility for the regional Ephorate of Antiquities (initially of the Λ΄ Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and today of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Kozani).

The Museum was completed in 2010. It was built in two plots conceded by the then community of Aiani and the Church. It was founded in order to house and highlight the prehistoric and classical antiquities from the excavations at Aiani and in the larger area. Today, however, many antiquities from the large salvage excavations of the Ephorate in the whole prefecture are also stored in it. The total area of the museum is 4500 sq. m., with an exhibition space of 1000 sq. m. on the first floor.

The exhibition space, in which the prehistoric and classical antiquities of Aiani and the larger area are displayed, includes six rooms for the permanent exhibition of finds and one room for temporary exhibitions. The exhibition has a chronological and thematic structure, while special importance is given to the scientific presentation of the finds and an emphasis on their educational character. Important finds and masterly works of art of all habitation periods of the area, as well as a rich audio-visual material, quite impressive for both the scientific and larger public, introduce the visitor to the culture, the way of life and the ideology of the inhabitants.

Αρετή Χονδρογιάννη - Μετόκη και Ελισάβετ Γρηγοράκου: Στερέωση και Μερική Αποκατάσταση του Αρχαιολογικού Χώρου της Αρχαίας Αιανής Κοζάνης και των Αγροικιών Α΄ και Β΄. Έκδοση Εφορείας Αρχαιοτήτων Κοζάνης , Κοζάνη 2015

Areti Hondroyanni-Metoki and Elisabeth Grigorakou: Consolidation and partial restoration of the Archaeological Site of Ancient Aiani of Kozani and of the Agroikia A’ and B’. Ephorate of Antiquities of Kozani, Kozani 2015.

 

The new exhibition of the Kozani archaeological collection

9th December 2016

The new exhibition was inaugurated in a festive atmosphere by the general director of antiquities of the Ministry of Culture and Sports Elena Korka, in the presence of representatives of the local authorities and other bodies and a large public. The works and exhibits of the collection were presented by the director of the Ephorate, Areti Hondroyanni-Metoki.

The Collection is housed in a two-storied neoclassical building (Demokratias and Von Kozani streets), known as “Katsika house” in the city of Kozani. It was donated by A. Panagiotidi to the Municipality of Kozani, which ceded its use (in 1984 and 1985) to the Ministry of Culture and Sports. The initial exhibition was inaugurated in June 1989, but stopped functioning six years later, at the time of the strong earthquake of 1995. The Municipality of Kozani undertook the restoration of the building.



Fig. 32. The new exhibition of the Kozani archaeological collection. 

The exhibition space includes five rooms and a courtyard. The exhibition of the finds is structured on a chronological and thematic basis, but also according to their construction material. It also includes rich audiovisual material and informative texts, in print and in digital form, on two projector screens. Particular emphasis was given to the scientific presentation of the material and to the educational character of the exhibition.

Old excavation sets are exhibited, such as the Classical cemetery of Kozani (1948 excavation) and the Hellenistic settlement at Ayios (Saint) Eleftherios of Kozani-Drepano (1965), as well as important surface finds, such as the Palaeolithic hand axe of Palaiokastro, marble statues, inscribed monuments, and votive and funerary stelae, among many others. Just a small sample from the more recent, essentially salvage, excavations, is included. Among others, the finds of the Macedonian tomb of Spilia, the Iron Age cemetery in Koilada, the Roman tomb and memorial monument of Arkadiou street in Kozani, the excavations in the eroded settlements and cemeteries of the lakeside area of the Polyfytos artificial lake, and the prehistoric settlements and cemeteries of Kitrini Limni (or Sarigiol). The excavations at Kitrini Limni were conducted in the framework of the construction of the Egnatia Road (Neolithic settlement “Toumba Kremastis Koiladas” and Early Bronze Age cemetery at Xeropigado of Koilada) and the extension of the lignite mines of the PPC (prehistoric settlement of Kleitos).

The exhibits confirm the development, in the Kozani prefecture, of an important and diachronic culture, dating back to the 7th mill. BC. Models of two-storied Neolithic dwellings and bone flutes attest the development of architecture and music art already since the 6th mill. BC, while there is a unique, for the larger Helladic and Balkan area, set of stone anthropomorphic stelae of Kranidia, the earliest statuary probably dating back from the end of the Neolithic times. Regarding historical periods, clay, glass and metal vases, figurines and jewellery, statuettes of divinities and other works of art, products of trade or local workshops, prove the high cultural level and standard of living of the inhabitants, as well as the Hellenic character of the civilization of the region.

Αρετή Χονδρογιάννη 2016. Μετόκη: Αρχαιολογική Συλλογή Κοζάνης, Έκδοση Εφορείας Αρχαιοτήτων Κοζάνης, Κοζάνη (in Greek).

Areti Hondroyanni-Metoki, 2016. Kozani Archaeological Collection. Ephorate of Antiquities of Kozani, Kozani.

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The new exhibition of the Kythera Archaeological Museum

by Kyriaki Psaraki (Ephorate of Antiquities of West Attica, Piraeus and Islands, Kythera Archaeological Museum), translated from Greek by Christina Marangou

After a nine-year period, the Kythera Archaeological Museum re-opened its doors to the public on May 8th, 2016. The restoration and new exhibition works were carried out in the framework of “NSRF (National Strategic Reference Framework) 2007-2013” by the Directorate of Studies and Conduction of Technical Works in Museums and Cultural Buildings and the Ephorate of Antiquities of West Attica, Piraeus and Islands of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

The Kythera Archaeological Museum (Fig. 33) is located near the entrance to the Hora village. The building, built in 1910, was donated to the Ministry of Culture by the Kytherean Association in the end of the 1970’s and started functioning as a Museum in autumn 1981, hosting a small archaeological collection in a space of 73 sq. m. The earthquake that struck Kythera in 2006 caused extensive damage to the building, and the Museum consequently closed for the public in 2007.


Fig. 33. The Kythera Archaeological Museum.

The restoration, re-arrangement and new exhibition works started in August 2013 and were completed in December 2015. They involved the complete reconstruction of structural elements of the building, the modernization of the electrical and mechanical installations and infrastructures, the exploitation of all 120 m2 of the building as display space, and the design of a new exhibition, in relation not only to the number and types of exhibits, but mainly to the adopted museological conception.

The main objective of the reopening of the Museum is for visitors to get acquainted with the history of the earliest past of Kythera and Antikythera, to be informed about the archaeological sites of the islands and, by means of the presentation of the archaeological research results, to be encouraged to adopt new behaviours vis-à-vis the ancient monuments and in general the cultural heritage of the region.

665 objects are displayed in the new exhibition, material evidence of the history of the islands from the 9th mill. BC to the 3rd c. AD. The variety of the displayed objects shows the extent of the cultural influences on Kythera and Antikythera, as well as their map location at the point where the Aegean, Cretan and Ionian Seas meet and where the Northern gateway to the Eastern Mediterranean is situated, rendering them the diachronic gateway to the Greek archipelago, a bridge between Crete and the Peloponnese and an anchorage for Mediterranean travellers.

Therefore, by means of the material vestiges, an attempt is being made to reconstruct the local history and relate it in an educational way, easy to understand and pleasant to the broader public. The narration of the exhibition is organized around the chronological sequence and the particular themes, seeking to showcase the historicity of the objects; that is, their use, function and symbolism, within a concrete historic and social framework. In each period, an explanatory text entitled “This small island …” (“Αυτός ο τόπος ο μικρός…”: paraphrase of a well-known verse from O. Elytis’ poem Άξιον εστί , transl. note) recounts the human activity at the local level and a second text entitled “The horizons of Kythera” relates the larger historic framework with references to largely known historic events, for the visitor to incorporate directly the local history into a wider space-time. In parallel to the chronological sequence of the periods, the narration is structured around three specific themes, that are repeated in the three sections of the exhibition and concern the Place, the Pilgrimage and the Farewell, namely imprints of the human activity on the organization of the dwelling and the management of the landscape, the cult practices and the funerary customs.

The exhibition starts with the introduction, where visitors are informed about the background of the creation of the Archaeological Museum and the main milestones of the archaeological research. They can find out about the twofold nature of Kythera, as an island, but also as an extension of the Peloponnese. By means of a bilingual 10 minute documentary film, they can visit the archaeological sites of Kythera, from where the exhibits originate that they will see later on in the display cases. Before their tour of the exhibition, a basic consulting tool consists of the timetable presenting the periodisation of the Aegean archaeology, in parallel to the periods, as they are formed at local level and are presented in the exhibition. At a particular point, there is a touch-screen with an interactive application, where visitors are invited to travel in the Kythera and Antikythera archaeology, piloted by mythology, poetics, art and narrations by foreign travellers, from the Renaissance until the 19th century, but also to visit other museums hosting ancient artefacts from Kythera and Antikythera.


Fig. 34. Kythera Archaeological Museum, Room 1.
 
After the introduction, visitors walk through a gate and enter into the first section, labelled “Journey with a tailwind”. This section relates the history of Kythera from the 9th mill. BC to the Mycenaean period. Mesolithic tools and ceramic vessels from the caves represent the earliest evidence about the first inhabitants of the island of Kythera. Later, the vessels and valuable objects from the Minoan settlement at Kastri of Palaiopolis, grave gifts from its necropolis, and the various offerings of the believers, especially the Minoan bronze anthropomorphic figurines at its sacred pilgrimage at the peak sanctuary of Saint-George-on-the-Mountain, constitute the central theme of the narration.

Fig. 35. Minoan tombs of Palaiopolis. 

The second section, labelled “The holy Kythera”, covers the period from the end of the 9th c. BC till the 4th c. AD. The fate of Kythera is inextricably connected to the fate of Sparta, while in parallel the island receives influences from the most important economic and political centres of the Archaic and Classical periods, as documented from the various objects imported from Crete, Corinth, Argos, Attica and Sparta. During this period, sanctuaries are established on the island, the most important one being the Athena sanctuary on the summit of Palaiokastro, where believers offered to the goddess votive bronze jewellery, terracotta figurines and vases. Hellenistic coins from thirty-five cities of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea are attributed to another sanctuary, probably dedicated to Poseidon Γαιήοχος (Gaiïohos, “Surrounding the earth with water”, transl. note). The coins, found on the Antidragonera rocky islet, are interpreted as offerings of mariners to the god. The displayed sculptures, reliefs and inscribed vases constitute evidence about the cult of Hercules, Asclepius, Dioskouroi, Athena Alea and Cybele. The Archaic marble lion of Kythera is an emblematic exhibit of this section. Next to the sculpture, the projected 10 minutes mixed media film recounts its adventures, with references to its looting by the German army in 1941, its repatriation, its display in the National Archaeological Museum and its return to Kythera.

Fig. 36. Kythera Archaeological Museum, Room 2.

In the third section, labelled “Aigila, the pirates’ island”, representative finds from the prehistoric and Hellenistic periods of Antikythera are displayed. We single out chipped stone tools in Melos obsidian of the prehistoric period and the stamped lead sling bullets, attesting the battles that took place at the Antikythera Castle, at the time of the domination of the pirates from Cretan Falasarna, between the 3rd and the 1st c. BC.

The narration of the exhibition is corroborated by means of the austere architectural design, the staged background of the display cases, the rich visual material with maps, reproductions and drawings clarifying the use of the objects, the explanatory texts with graded information and the imaginative periods’ titles, that render the narration more accessible and comprehensible for the public.

Fig. 37. Display case with exhibits of the Classical Period from Kythera and station with copies for visually impaired visitors.

A bilingual guidebook for the young public and families is provided with the title “Discover and Explore the Archaeological Museum of Kythera”, along with the book “I am the Lion of Kythera and I have a story to tell …” In connection to the core of the exhibition, four Museum educational kits for children were created, focusing on weaving, cult, the symposium and trench excavation.

Finally, the exhibition is also addressed to visually impaired persons. With the help of the available guide, printed in Greek and English Braille, the tour includes twelve stations with exact copies of clay and metal objects, as well as sculptures for tactile recognition. A printout about the history of Kythera and Antikythera in Greek and English Braille is also available.

Εύη Πίνη, 2016. Είμαι ο Λέων των Κυθήρων και έχω μία ιστορία να σας πω..., Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Αθλητισμού.

Evi Pini, 2016. I am the Lion of Kythera and I have a story to tell..., Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports.

Εύη Πίνη, 2016. Ανακαλύπτω και Εξερευνώ το Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Κυθήρων. Οδηγός για μικρούς επισκέπτες, Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Αθλητισμού.

Evi Pini, 2016. Discover and Explore the Archaeological Museum of Kythera, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports.

http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/1/eh151.jsp?obj_id=3518

 

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The new exhibition of the Collections of the Heraklion Archaeological Museum

by Stella Mandalaki (Director of the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Heraklion), translated from Greek by Christina Marangou

The new exhibition of the Collections of the Heraklion Archaeological Museum was realized during the period 2007 - 2015 in the framework of an extended programme of building renovation and rearrangement of the exhibition material, co-financed by the European Union. In May 2014, the Museum opened again its doors to the public (Fig. 38), yet the envisaged works for the physical object of the project continued and were completed in 2015. The new exhibition project included four sub-projects: the conservation and new exhibition of the collections, the supply and installation of the display cases and exterior light fixtures, the construction, electrical and mechanical works, and the museological study with the redaction of the technical dossier for the tender of the display cases.


Fig. 38. View of the exterior of the building.  

During the materialization of the sub-project of the conservation and new exhibition of the Archaeological Collections, a total of about 4800 objects underwent conservation, 4783 new support bases were constructed in accordance with modern standards, and all the material was displayed in 232 new self-lighted, metal showcases, provided with a system of special temperature and humidity control. Four of them have a detachable base, so as to protect more efficiently the most important exhibits in case of earthquake. In parallel, information and visual material was created to accompany the presentation of the exhibits and contribute to better understand the historical and social framework to which the ancient works belong.


Fig. 39. Room I, general view.  

Following modern museological practices, priority was given, on one hand, to the clear structure of the exhibition narrative and on the other, to the captivating presentation of the exhibits. The new exhibition is evolving in 27 rooms on the ground floor and upper floor, on a surface of 2750 m2 and includes 8000 exhibits, dating from the Neolithic (7th mill. BC; Fig. 39) to the Late Roman period (3rd c. AD), and originating from the entirety of the Cretan soil. In spite of the chronological expanse of the exhibited material, the uniqueness of the Heraklion Museum consists, by general consent, of the wealth and singularity of the thousands of exhibits composing its Minoan Collection (Fig. 40), which illustrates the panorama of the Minoan world. The exhibition narrative follows mainly a chronological sequence, yet thematic sections are differentiated, such as architecture (Fig. 41), trade, religion, script, daily life, death, throwing light on important aspects of man’s life in antiquity (Fig. 42). The incorporation of thematic sections into the museological chronological narrative constitutes an innovation of the new exhibition in comparison to the previous presentation of the Collections, which followed a linear chronological course. The display of the Collections of antiquities of historical periods constitutes another important innovation. Thus, besides the treasures of the Minoan art, the Museum visitor can now admire important artefacts of the Archaic, Hellenistic and Roman times and get a complete picture of the ancient history of Crete in its entirety.



Fig. 40. Room III. Kamares pottery.


Fig. 41. Room IV. Thematic section: Architecture.  

The twelve rooms of the ground floor are dedicated to the Minoan civilization, the first urban-palatial civilization in Europe. The extroversion of the coastal Cretan centres and the dominance of the seafaring Minoans in the Aegean, connected to the ancient myths about the demigod king of Knossos, Minos, as well as the establishment, consolidation and decline of the palatial system as a civic institution exercising power and control via the central administration at regional level, constitute essential axes of the exhibition narrative.


Fig. 42. Room IX.


Fig. 43. Room XIII. Minoan wall-paintings.

 The tour continues in the first room of the upper floor with the display of the Minoan frescoes (Fig. 43) and with the finds of the historical times (10th c. BC to 3rd c. AD). The foundation of the Cretan cities, the cult in the organized sanctuaries, the incorporation of Crete into the cultural structures of the Greek world while keeping memories of the Minoan past, as well as ideological convictions and practices which are related to life after death, are distinguished as central thematic axes in the presentation of the Collections of the historical periods. The tour is completed on the ground floor, in the two rooms of the Sculptures Collection. A group of architectural reliefs from Gortys and the Prinias temple (Fig. 44) accentuates Crete’s contribution to the development of Greek monumental plastic art, while Roman portraits and copies of known statuary types of the classical period (Fig. 45) imply the flourish of sculpture also in Roman times.


Fig. 44. Room XVII.


Fig. 45. Room XXVII. Sculptures Collections.

In the new presentation of the exhibits pioneer support techniques were adopted, resulting from the high expertise, knowledge and experience acquired in the framework of the project. A characteristic example constitutes the innovative support of the Minoan rhyta, which give the impression that they are literally floating in the air (Fig. 46), as the interior metallic supportive mechanism is not visible to the visitor. Equally imaginative are the plastic hooks embracing the small finds almost invisibly, focusing the attention of the visitor exclusively to the exhibits. The metal frame on which a historical period pithos (jar) from Arkalokhori has been placed, is not just supporting the glued together fragments; in parallel it restores in an easily understandable way the shape of the vase and permits to attach other possible fragments in the future. The support of the famous ivory statuette of the bull-leaper, rendered at the moment when he executes his dangerous leap over the back of the raging bull, is also impressive (Fig. 47), as is the support of the flying cupids, suspended by means of wire rope from rounded metal bases adhering to the ceiling of the display case.


Fig. 46. Support of exhibits: stone rhyta from Zakros.


Fig. 47. Support of exhibits: the bull-leaper.

Moreover, the wave of vertical glass surfaces in layers (Fig. 39), fixed on the ceiling of the building, which surrounds the exhibition on the ground floor, is exceptionally atmospheric, constituting an indirect reference to the importance of the sea for the development of Minoan trade and the extroverted character of the Minoan civilization.


Fig. 48. Multimedia: Room V.


Fig 49. Multimedia: Room next to the cloakroom.

 The experiential approach of the exhibition narrative is reinforced through the multimedia applications (Fig. 48) including narration and interaction, installed in the display spaces in 2015, in the framework of the project. An artistic video in the Museum entrance hall introduces the visitors to the diachronic Cretan civilization, while video systems with three-dimensional models of the ancient exhibits in animation are focused on cult in the Minoan peak sanctuaries, music, dance and athletics in Minoan Crete. Moreover, two touch screens provide narrative and visual material concerning architecture, scripts, food and technology during the Minoan period. On the upper floor of the Museum, a continuous flow of images and key-words on two large touch screens refers to the Minoan thalassocracy and the influences of Minoan civilization on contemporaneous art via the myth of the flight of Daedalus and Icarus. A timeline with rich photographic and archival material concerning the foundation and history of the Museum, as well as an impressive video system on Roman Crete complete the museum tour. Finally, a specially configured space, next to the cloakroom (Fig. 49), accommodates an interactive application of educative character, utilizing the Museum exhibits, as well as a video system dedicated to the conservation procedure. With these particular digital media, aspiring to attract especially the young public, an integrated experiential approach of the ancient works is attempted, contributing to the full comprehension of their epoch.

In the framework of the promotion of the project and according to the planned activities, two information plates in Greek, English and Braille were installed in the Museum patio, while in parallel, an information leaflet distributed to visitors and particularly an archaeological album dedicated to the masterpieces of the Minoan civilization with the title "Minoan world. Journey to the origins of Europe" were elaborated. The rich illustration and the short thematic sections that are invested in the ancient works, initiate the reader to the fascinating Minoan world. The album has been posted in digital form on the Museum website (heraklionmuseum.gr).

In parallel to the project of the new exhibition, the substructures indispensable for the materialization of various external activities were organized. In particular, the events hall on the first floor of the building, the space for temporary exhibitions and the Epigraphic Collection were renovated. The hall of educational programmes (Fig. 50) was organized and equipped with tablets, touch screens, projector and screen for the support of the two integrated digital educational programmes (Fig. 51) created in the framework of the project NSRP (National Strategic Reference Framework) “Experiential Cultural Environments”, of the European Programme “Education and lifelong learning”, in collaboration with the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Crete. The two educational programmes entitled “A feast in the palace” and “Travelling in the Mediterranean”, are aimed at pupils of the Primary and Secondary School respectively. In a special day conference organized by the Museum in April 2016, they were presented to teachers, after a special invitation via the Direction of Primary and Secondary Education.


Fig. 50. Room for educational programmes.  

In 2016, particular care was taken for the planning and materialization of extrovert activities in the framework of convergence with society and the enlargement of the participation of different social groups to the Museum cultural events. An interactive exhibition on the topic of the art of weaving and its evolution through centuries was presented in the events hall in May, in collaboration with the Mission “Penelope Gandhi” of the non-governmental organization “University of the Mountains”. On the occasion of the celebration of the International Museum Day on the 18th of May, with the theme “Museum and cultural landscapes”, the Yuktas mountain was selected as a representative natural landscape with continuous human presence since antiquity. During the celebration, thematic guided tours were organized by the Museum, as well as lectures about the archaeological sites, the geology and flora of the region, in collaboration with the Museum of Natural History of Crete. The activity was accompanied by an educative excursion to the Yuktas peak sanctuary and to the necropolis of Phourni, Archanes, with the assistance of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Heraklion, the Archanes-Asterousia Municipality and the Archanes Centre of Environmental Education.

Fig. 51. Digital educational programmes.

Other activities include the pilot application of an educational programme of the University of Sheffield about Linear Α΄ and Linear Β΄ scripts, musical events within the exhibition space and in the garden of the Museum, thematic tours of varied content in the Museum collections, a photographic exhibition with rich archival material about the history of the Museum from its foundation until today, educational activities (Fig. 52) with school groups, as well as the presentation of ancient works from the Museum storerooms in the framework of the activity “Unseen Museum”.

Fig. 52. Multipurpose room.

Finally, the promotion of the Museum events and communication via the web and the modern media of social networks were emphasized. A website (heraklionmuseum.gr) was created, as well as pages in Facebook, Twitter and Vimeo.

In addition, in the last few years, the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion has participated with ancient works in temporary exhibitions abroad: “The Greeks: Agamemnon to Alexander the Great” in Canada and the USA, “Power and Pathos” in the Palazzo Strozzi of Florence, in Washington and the Getty, “Α Journey to the Land of Immortals” in Japan, and “Gods and Heroes” in Russia.

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The Rotunda (Hagios Georgios) in Thessaloniki

by Eleni Chrysafi (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)

The Rotunda (Hagios Georgios) in Thessaloniki is a unique monument, a priceless cultural treasure and a vivid site of memory, which offers indisputable evidence of the multicultural tradition of Thessaloniki through the centuries.

The Rotunda owes its name to its circular shape: it constitutes a centrally planned, domed building of majestic proportions, which was erected as an individual building within a temenos to the north end of the palatial complex founded at the beginning of the 4th c. AD, between 305 and 311, on the south-east side of Thessaloniki, by Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus, initially Caesar and later, after AD 305, Augustus of the First Roman Tetrarchy. The Rotunda complex was conceived and built as part of a unified plan, which also included the palace of Galerius and the hippodrome. Nevertheless, it belonged to a separate construction project, and was erected in conjunction with the Arch of Galerius (the so-called Kamara), i.e. the triumphal arch erected in honour of Galerius or the Tetrarchy, very close to the eastern part of the city walls (Figs. 53-55).  The excavations held by the architect Ernest Hébrard around 1918 demonstrated the axial connection between the Rotunda and the Arch of Galerius through a ceremonial access, which intersected with the central thoroughfare of the city and led to the palace complex.

Fig. 53. The Rotunda and the Arch of Galerius (after: Kiilerich-Torp 2017, p. 9, fig. 4).

Fig. 54. Rotunda, view from the south (photo E. Chrysafi).


Fig. 55. Rotunda, view from the east (photo E. Chrysafi).

There is no scholarly consensus regarding the original function of the Rotunda. Its cylindrical shape and its morphological connection to the circular mausolea of the 4th c. led to the theory that the Rotunda was founded by Galerius as part of his palace complex, with the purpose of serving as his mausoleum. The mausoleum interpretation was revived by Sl. Curcic, who proposed that the Rotunda was founded by Constantine the Great, most probably in AD 322-323, in order to serve as his mausoleum, on the occasion of his initial selection of Thessaloniki as the new seat of the Empire. However, most probably the Rotunda was erected as a temple of the official imperial cult, according to the model of Pantheon in Rome, with which it has parallels in shape and size.

The vast cylindrical building of the Roman Rotunda (24.5 m in diameter) was covered by a large dome, which rises to a height of almost 30 m On the ground floor, eight square niches with semi-cylindrical vaults are opened into the thickness of the walls, 6.3 m wide. Originally, smaller niches were opened between the large ones, and were decorated with architraves, pediments, columns and statues, all elements that originally completed the rest of the luxurious decoration of the interior with marbles and opus sectile. The main entrance was formed in the southern niche, where led the processional way connecting the Rotunda with the Arch of Galerius and the palace complex.

After the recognition of Christianity as the official state religion in AD 391, the pagan temple of the Roman Rotunda was converted into a Christian church sometime between the end of the 4th c. and the 6th c. The reasons for this conversion remain uncertain, as does the exact date. When the Roman building was turned into a church, some alterations and additions related to the Christian use were made. The most important of these alterations were: a) the mosaic decoration of the dome, the eight niches in the ground floor and the nine lunettes at the base of the drum, b) the addition of the semi-circular apse and the vault of the holy bema to the east side, c) the addition of a continuous ambulatory around the Roman core, element which was eliminated in later times.

Probably, the various Christian interventions and alterations are dated from different times. In order to create the sanctuary area, the eastern ground niche was pierced and enlarged, as well as a part of the eastern wall around it. This intervention disturbed the static equilibrium of the Roman building. Consequently, after a powerful earthquake, the upper part of the dome collapsed. After its reconstruction, it was decorated with a high-quality mosaic composition. Later than the restoration of the dome and its mosaic decoration, in the course of a second reconstruction of the Christian church, most probably during the Early Byzantine period, are to be dated the following alterations and interventions: a) the addition of a circular ambulatory as a covered loggia of 8 m width (the back walls of the seven ground niches were pierced in order to permit the communication of the ambulatory with the central area of the church), b) the addition of the holy bema at the east side, c) the addition of a monumental entrance at the southern niche, consisting of a vestibulum abutting to a tribelon, which connected the church with the palace complex through a colonnaded passageway that ended under the Arch of Galerius, d) the addition of two annexes near the southern monumental entrance, a circular martyrion at the northern side and an octagonal baptistery at western side. None of these additions, apart from the sanctuary area to the east, are preserved today.

The large-scale interventions at the Rotunda severely aggravated the structural integrity of the initial Roman building. At the beginning of the 9th century, a powerful earthquake caused some heavy damages, the most important of which was the collapse of the barrel-vault of the sanctuary, as well as of a part of the eastern side of the dome. After the restoration of the dome and the sanctuary area, two flying buttresses were added on either side of the apse, for support. The semi-dome of the sanctuary was decorated with a wall painting of the Ascension of Christ, probably in the second half of the 9th century. This has suffered a lot because it was coated with plaster when the church was converted into a mosque in 1591.


Fig. 56. Rotunda, mosaic in the southern niche (from: Pazaras 1985, colour pl. II).

The most important of the alterations made in the Rotunda in connection with the conversion of the pagan temple into a Christian church, was the decoration of the dome and other inner surfaces with impressive mosaics, recognized as masterpieces of the Early Christian and Byzantine mosaic art in concept, as well as in execution. On the dating of the mosaic decoration of the Rotunda, different opinions have been proposed, which vary from the late 4th to the early 6th c. Recently, it has been argued that the dome and the lunette mosaics are to be dated to the reign of Constantine the Great, accepting thus the theory that it was this emperor who founded the Rotunda as his mausoleum.


Fig. 57. Rotunda, mosaic in the south-eastern niche (from: Pazaras 1985, colour pl. I).


Fig. 58. Rotunda, mosaic in the south-eastern niche (from: Pazaros 1985, colour pl. I).

Splendid aniconic mosaics of a purely decorative character are preserved in the barrel-vaults of three of the ground floor niches, as well as in the intrados of four of the lunettes at the base of the drum (Figs. 56-58). All these decorative mosaics are distinguished by originality, refinement, richness in colour and a naturalistic rendering on gold or silver ground. They use a variety of themes and motifs, following patterns already well established in the iconographic repertory of the Roman art, which continued to be used mostly in the decoration of the Early Christian floor mosaics and, to a lesser degree, in the wall-paintings of the same period, mostly in Rome, Ravenna and Thessaloniki.


Fig. 59. Rotunda, mosaic of the dome, south-western panel (from: Pazaras 1985, pl. 12).


Fig. 60. Rotunda, mosaics of the dome, north-eastern panel (from: Pazaras 1985, pl. 16).

The dome mosaics (Figs. 59-62) extend in three successive concentric zones. The lowest zone of the mosaic decoration, known as the martyrs’ zone, is divided into eight panels by vegetal candelabra. In each panel, orant figures, in groups of two or three, stand in front of complicated architectural compositions of impressive luxury. The name, the profession and the month are reported in the inscriptions that accompany each orant figure. It has been suggested that the twenty standing figures of orants in the mosaics of the Rotunda can be identified with martyrs or donors or members of the imperial court. The eastern panel had been lost already in Byzantine times, after the collapse of the eastern part of the dome, but it was restored in 1889 with the addition of an oil painting, executed by the Italian painter S. Rossi. In the second decorative zone of the dome mosaics, which is for the most part lost today, except for a small part at its bottom, we can only see a greenish ground with a few pairs of sandaled feet and occasionally hems of long white garments. These elements seem to belong to a group of moving male figures identified with saints, prophets or, most probably, angels in a glorifying movement. In the third and upper decorative zone at the dome apex, which is partially preserved, the central medallion is encircled by three bands, a strip of 28 starred rosettes, a rich vegetation garland and a rainbow ring. Inside the central medallion, stood a figure of Christ, now mostly lost but possible to reconstruct according to the tracing preserved on the bricks. The cosmic medallion is supported by four flying angels, whose heads and wings are only partially preserved. Among the angels, east of Christ’s head, there is a representation of Phoenix, the mythical fire-bird, symbol of eternity and rebirth.


Fig. 61. Interior view of the Rotunda (after: Kiilerich-Torp 2017, p. 9, fig. 4).


Fig. 62. Rotunda, mosaics of the dome, central medaillon (after Pazaras 1985, colour pl. VIII).

Despite its partial conservation, the mosaic decoration of the Rotunda preserves an original representation of the Heavenly World, a unique synthesis in Early Christian and Byzantine art. The theme of the dome mosaic composition visualizes the triumphal appearance (adventus) of Christ as King of Heaven. Starting from the lower architectural zone of the martyrs, which is a representation of the Heavenly Jerusalem, we pass to the next zone of the Heavenly Court with the Angelic Powers, to end in the theophany of Christ as Heavenly King at the dome apex. The whole mosaic decoration of the Rotunda, full of imperial court connotations, is of an extremely high quality in conception, as well as in execution. The original mosaic composition of the dome represents the earliest known attempt of the Early Christian artists to cover such a large surface with a single unified iconographic program. The extremely symbolic, triumphal, hierarchical and cosmological character of the composition is to be related to a sponsor with a highly developed Christian theological education.

It is highly probable that the Rotunda, in its final form, was used as the church of the palace, a theory implied by different elements. It is obvious that the unique iconographic theme of the dome mosaics was inspired by imperial court ceremony, with emphasis on the hierarchical structure of the different triumphal elements of the palatial decoration. In addition, the Rotunda belonged to the imperial property and was linked to the palace complex through a monumental access with the Arch of Galerius as an intermediate station. Most probably, the rebuilding and mosaic decoration of the Rotunda should be connected with the imperial family and, in particular, with an important event (imperial engagement/marriage etc.) which was planned to take place in Thessaloniki and, in particular, in the palatial church of the Rotunda, which was restored in order to host it.

In the Byzantine period the area around the Rotunda was known as the neighbourhood of the Incorporeal Saints (Asomatoi), while the nearby gateway of the eastern wall was called Gate of the Asomatoi. To these names is related the prevalent opinion regarding the connection of the Christian church with the name Church of the Asomatoi (Incorporeal) or of the Archangels. This name is reported in the written sources and it is to be attributed to the dedication of the Christian church to the heavenly incorporeal powers of the Archangels. The later name Rotunda is related to the circular shape of the monument and it can be found in the texts of the travellers who visited Thessaloniki during the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as in the modern bibliography.


Fig. 63. Rotunda, fragment of the ambo, photo by W. S. George, 1907-1909/10 (BRF; British School at Athens/BRF Archive).

Between 1525 and 1591, the Rotunda became the cathedral of Thessaloniki. After 1591, when the church was converted into a mosque by the sheikh Hortaci Suleyman, it became known as Eski Metropol (Old Cathedral) ή Hortac Efendi Camii. In order to serve the needs of Muslim worship, a minaret and a fountain were added and they are preserved until today. While the Rotunda was a mosque, all of the sacred utensils of the Christian church were transported to the nearby chapel of St George, from which the monument got its later name Hagios Georgios. The church was returned to Christian worship after the liberation of Thessaloniki from Turkish rule in 1912.


Fig. 64. Rotunda, fragment of the ambo, phot. by W.S. George, 1907-1909/10 (British School at Athens/BRF Archive).

At the beginning of the 20th century, the two large sections of the Rotunda ambo (Figs. 63-64), the only ones preserved, were transported in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul, where they are exhibited today. In 1918, the marble base of the ambo was discovered in the centre of a rectangular hall, before the church south porch, where it can still be seen. According to its reconstruction proposal, the ambo belongs to the category of ambos in the shape of an open fan. It has also been proposed that the ambo was originally covered by a circular canopy, which, in turn, was supported by four slender columns. The furniture was accessed at the back by means of two sets of steps. Around the lower part of the ambo exterior there are scalloped niches, each of which is decorated with a figure in high relief. The whole scene represented the Adoration of the Magi, a unique example in the decoration of the ambos of the early Christian period. The niches were separated from each other by Corinthian columns. The whole was crowned all around by a convex intricate frieze, decorated with a band of saw-toothed leaves, which ended in a lesbian cornice. On the dating of the Rotunda ambo, which is considered as a masterpiece of sculpture, given its rare decorative composition and the delicate sculpture work, different proposals have been put forward, from the end of the 4th century to the middle of the 6th century.


Fig. 65. Rotunda, view from the east, phot. by W.S. George, 1907-1909/10 (British School at Athens/BRF Archive).


Fig. 66. Rotunda, view of the interior looking east, photo by R. Weir Schultz and S. H. Barnsley, 1880-1890 (British School at Athens/BRF Archive).

Fig. 67. Rotunda, view from the south-east, photo by R. Weir Schultz and S.H. Barnsley, 1880-1890 (British School at Athens/BRF Archive).

After the earthquake that afflicted Thessaloniki in 1978, many monuments of the city, among which the Rotunda, suffered some heavy damages. The work of restoration and preservation of the monument lasted for decades because of the impeding large-scale interventions in the building and its mosaic decoration. Consequently, the scaffolds set up in the inner surfaces, in order to facilitate the work of the conservators, covered large parts of the splendid mosaics for almost four decades. When the scaffolding was removed in December 2015, the unique and high-quality mosaic decoration of the dome appeared again in all its splendour and beauty. After the completion of the restoration of the building and its interior decoration at the end of 2015, the Rotunda is open to the public every day and offers to everyone the possibility to visit a unique and emblematic monument related to the multicultural history of Thessaloniki (Figs. 65-67) through seventeen centuries, from the late antique period to today. Erected at a crucial historical point, the Rotunda became the symbol of the end of the Roman world and the transition from paganism to Christianity. Since 1988, the Rotunda is one of the fifteen monuments of Thessaloniki included in the UNESCO’s Cultural Heritage Monument List.

Bibliography (selection)

  • Ch. BAKIRTZIS, E. KOURKOUTIDOU-NIKOLAIDOU, Rotunda, in: Ch. Bakirtzis, E. Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou, Ch. Mavropoulou-Tsioumi, Mosaics of Thessaloniki, 4th-14th Century, Athens 2012, p. 48-127.
  • P. CATTANI, La Rotonda e i mosaici di San Giorgio a Salonicco, Bologna 1972.
  • E. CHRYSAFI, Rotunda (Hagios Georgios), in: Impressions. Byzantine Thessalonike through the photographs and drawings of the British School at Athens (1888-1910), Thessaloniki 2012, p. 46-63.
  • A. GRABAR, A propos des mosaïques de la coupole de Saint-Georges à Salonique, Cahiers archéologiques 17 (1967), p. 59-81.
  • E. HÉBRARD, Les travaux du Service Archéologique de l’Armée d’Orient à l’arc de triomphe “de Galère” et à l’èglise Saints-Georges à Salonique, BCH 44, p. 5-40.
  • B. KIILERICH, Picturing Ideal Beauty: The Saints in the Rotunda at Thessaloniki, Antiquité Tardive 15 (2007), p. 321-336.
  • B. KIILERICH, H. TORP, The Rotunda in Thessaloniki and its Mosaics, Athens 2017.
  • W. E. KLEINBAUER, The Iconography and the date of the mosaics of the Rotunda of Hagios Georgios, Thessaloniki, Viator 3 (1972), p. 27-108.
  • W. E. KLEINBAUER, The Orants in the Mosaic Decoration of the Rotunda at Thessaloniki: Martyr Saints or Donors?, Cahiers archéologiques 30 (1982), p. 25-45.
  • A. ΜENTZOS, Reflections on the interpretation and dating of the Rotunda of Thessaloniki, Eγνατία 6 (2001-2002), p. 57-82.
  • A. MENTZOS, Reflections on the Architectural History of the Tetrarchic Palace Complex at Thessalonike, in: L. Nasrallah, Ch. Bakirtzis, S. J. Friesen (ed.), From Roman to Early Christian Thessalonike. Studies in Religion and Archaeology (Harvard Theological Studies 64), Cambridge, Massachusetts 2010, p. 333-359.
  • T. PAZARAS, The Rotunda of Saint George in Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 1985.
  • J.-P. SODINI, L’ambon de la Rotonde Saint-Georges: remarques sur la typologie et le décor, BCH 100.1 (1976), p. 493-510.
  • H. TORP, The date of the conversion of the Rotunda at Thessaloniki into a church, Papers from the Norwegian Institute at Athens I. The first five lectures, Athens 1991, p. 13-28.
  • H. TORP, Les mosaïques de la Rotonde de Thessalonique: l’arrière-fond conceptuel des images d’architecture, Cahiers archéologiques 50 (2002), p. 3-20.
  • H. TORP, Dogmatic themes in the mosaics of the Rotunda at Thessaloniki, Arte medievale, n. s. I.1 (2002), p. 11-34.
  • H. TORP, An Interpretation of the Early Byzantine Martyr Inscriptions in the Mosaics of the Rotunda at Thessaloniki, Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia, vol. XXIV (N.S. 10), Roma 2011, p. 11-43.
  • G. VELENIS, Some observations on the original form of the Rotunda of Hagios Georgios, Balkan Studies 15 (1974), p. 298-307.
  • M. VICKERS, The Date of the Mosaics of the Rotunda at Thessaloniki, Papers of the British School at Rome, n.s. XXV (1970), p. 183-187.

Kozani Ephorate: Mansions of Poulko and Malioga in Siatista: “Animating memories and monuments”

21st November 2016

The Ephorate of Antiquities of Kozani opened the Poulko and Malioga Mansions in Siatista free of charge for the public within the framework of the “Day for the promotion of the manifold work of the Archaeological Service”, established since 2012 by the Association of Greek Archaeologists. Both mansions belong to the Ministry of Culture and Sports and have been restored in the framework of programmes NSFR and 3rd Community Support Framework (Regional Operational Programme for Western Macedonia 2000-2006).

The activity entitled “Animating memories and monuments” gave the opportunity both to the public and to the pupils of Primary and Secondary education who visited them (Fig. 68), to be guided in the monuments – milestone of the recent history of the Kozani Regional Unit, to admire their architecture and amazing decoration and to experience the past of their homeland.


Fig. 68. Siatista, Mansions Nerantzopoulou and Malioga.

Since the middle of the 18th c., “the architecture of the dwelling” greatly flourished in the prefecture of Kozani, reflecting economic prosperity that coincided with the appearance of the new urban middle class of merchants, and the important economic development of several cities. Kozani, Siatista, Eratyra, Tsotyli, Velvendo, and many villages of Mount Voion, such as Pentalofos and Ayia (Sainte) Sotira, all display excellent architectural specimens from that period.

In Siatista, structured from two urban planning webs, approximately one hundred mansions have been registered, dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. Its mansions are considered as the finest. The most important ones date from 1740-1780. They are all built with approximately the same plan and the same interior layout, with a large area and important height. They consist of the basement (subterranean) and the lower ground floor (semi-subterranean spaces), the mezzanine and the upper floor. A characteristic element is the “mesia” that constitutes a sort of inner courtyard and the closed “sachnisia” (traditional bay windows). The rich interior decoration with stained glass, wall paintings and wood carvings creates a heavy and imposing atmosphere, including elements from the tradition of the ecclesiastic post-Byzantine art, the Islamic and the European art (baroque and rococo), while the influence of neoclassicism is obvious after the 19th century.


Fig. 69 Siatista, Malioga Mansion.

The Argyriadi-Malioga Mansion (Fig. 69) is located in the Chora quarter. Together with the Nerantzopoulou building, as well as two small auxiliary buildings and a built enclosure, they constitute a residential unit, typical of the old urban fabric of the Chora. The mansion was probably built in 1759. Remarkable wall paintings are preserved.

The Poulko mansion (or Poulkidi) is located in the Geraneia quarter. According to the inscription over the entrance, construction began in 1752. It bears a remarkable painted decoration, stained glass and wood carvings. The plaster decorations of the mansion’s fireplaces are also of extraordinary workmanship.

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The Museum of Maritime Tradition and Sponge-Fishing of Nea Koutali, Lemnos island

by Christina Marangou (Athens, chrmarangou@yahoo.gr)

From a primary school archaeological collection to the Museum of Maritime Tradition and Sponge-Fishing
The Museum of Maritime Tradition and Sponge-Fishing of Nea Koutali in Lemnos resulted from the enduring efforts of the Nea Koutali villagers. At the outset, in the 1950s, the headmaster (Iordanis Alevropoulos) of the primary school of Nea Koutali started collecting ancient objects, found on the seabed and brought to him by sponge-divers, sponge-fishing being then the main activity of the inhabitants. In 1963, he obtained the authorisation of the Archaeological Service to create a collection of antiquities, hosted in his school. Later, in the mid-70s, sponge fishing started to decline, due to the sponges’ “disease”, the competition of synthetic sponges and the danger and difficult conditions of the profession, and it finally came to an end in 1988. In the 80s and 90s, one of Alevropoulos’ former pupils (Yannis Moschovakis), while mayor of the then Municipality of Nea Koutali, put forward and pursued the idea of creating a museum, which, besides antiquities, would also present all the realities of the perilous sponge-diving activities and life, as well as highlights of the nautical tradition and sponge-fishing at its place of origin, Old Koutali (see further).


Fig. 70. The Nea Koutali Museum of Maritime Tradition and Sponge-Fishing (Photographs by C. Marangou).  

The Museum is housed in an old building, formerly used as a community clinic, in the central square of Nea Koutali (Fig. 70), and now belongs to the Municipality of Lemnos. The building has been renovated and extended in order to host the archaeological and the modern collections of the Museum. Located on the ground floor, it provides easy access to disabled and reduced mobility visitors. The Museum was funded by the Community of Nea Koutali, the former Municipality of Nea Koutali, the legacy of George Petrides and LEADER.

Efforts still continued after the creation of the exhibition in the early 2000s and the opening ceremony of the museum in 2006. A short guidebook in Greek and English was published in 2006, followed by three educational booklets for young visitors, and a catalogue including chapters on related subjects was published in December 2015, in Greek. In addition, as the collection is being supplemented with new exhibits, a total of 327 exhibits were digitized and documented after 2006. An integrated web based system for the documentation, management, recording, translation and classification of the exhibits has been created by Aegean Solutions S.A.[1] , which is subject to continuous evolution.

Mainly donations, the exhibits demonstrate the attachment of the Nea Koutali inhabitants to their past and traditions. In the early days, they brought objects to the school of their community and later gave everything they had at home as their cultural heritage.

[1] Region of North Aegean – Operational programme of « Crete and the Aegean Islands 2007-2013 ». Project : « Supply of cultural infrastructure and application development for the Museum of Maritime Tradition and Sponge-Fishing of Nea Koutali ». Co-funded by Greece and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund). Sub-project 4: «The publication of a bilingual catalogue».  


The background history
The roots of the initial collection and the present Museum of Nea Koutali have a long background saga, the starting point being indeed the sponge-diving profession of refugees settled in Lemnos, originating from a small island more to the north. Till the end of the 19th century, the inhabitants of the islet of Koutali(s) (“spoon”-shaped), with its homonymous village, one of a group of islands in the Sea of Marmara (Propontis), were prosperous seamen, traders, mariners and fishers; their ships transported goods and traded with large port-cities in the Black and Aegean Seas, while the cultural, scientific and education level of the population were particularly elevated. However, after a tragic sea accident in 1862, during which many captains and mariners drowned, but also, mainly, because of the generalization at the time of steam shipping instead of sailing, their activities declined and, since 1885, they subsequently practiced mainly sponge-diving, in the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean, besides continuing fishing and previous activities of salt fish industries. In the beginning of the 20th century, the Koutalians already excelled in sponge-fishing, organized with specialized sailing or oared boats accompanying the divers and supplying them manually with air.


Fig. 71. Nea Koutali in the first decades of the 20th century (personal archive CM).  

In accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) for the exchange of populations, the islanders of Koutali had to migrate as refugees to Greece. A number went ashore in some of their boats, with their heirlooms and their expertise, to Lemnos (Fig. 71), known to them beforehand, as they dived on the reefs close to it and already had some relationships with Lemnians. Many settled on the southern part, around the Gulf of Moudros, in particular on its western coast, including in the area that became a village named Nea (New) Koutali and they continued, as their main occupations, fishing and sponge-diving with an important fleet. Even a state diving school for divers, supervisors and captains operated there since the 1960s. Their ships travelled for sponge-fishing and trading in the Aegean and even to the northern coasts of Africa.

Objectives and collections
The objectives of the Museum of Maritime Tradition and Sponge-Fishing at Nea Koutali are to highlight the history of the islanders of Koutali in their old homeland, sponge diving as it has been practiced in their new homeland, Nea Koutali, in the island of Lemnos, their maritime traditions and their cultural heritage. The thematic sections of the exhibition, “Life of islanders of Koutali in the Marmara Sea before their uprooting”, “Installation in Nea Koutali and Maritime Professions”, “Sponge – Fishing at Nea Koutali in Limnos” and “The Archaeological Collection”, present the historical development of the theme and gradually initiate the visitors into a most exciting Greek traditional activity and livelihood, that of sponge diving (Figs. 72-73). Angeliki Simosi, current director of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, was responsible for the documentary administration, presentation and publication of the objects of the archaeological collection and Smaragda Simeonidou for their conservation. Kostas Damianidis had the responsibility for the exhibition planning and the documentation of the recent exhibits, as well as of the editing of the recent catalogue. The archaeological collection is managed by the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Lesbos (formerly ΧXth Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities).
 

Fig. 72. Sponge processing equipment and part of the archaeological collection (far right).  

The objects of the archaeological collection of the Museum were found in ancient or more recent shipwrecks during diving and were brought to Nea Koutali by sponge – fishers. The archaeological collection includes 106 registered archaeological finds from the seabed, mainly amphorae of different types and origins. These amphorae, part of ship cargoes, transporting oil, wine or salted fish, date approximately from the 6th century BC to the 12th century AD.

The different shapes and types of the vases and their stamped handles, graffiti or symbols indicate the type of transported products, but also their different regions of provenance: Thasos, Paros, Samos, Kos, Chios, Rhodes, the Black Sea, the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts of Italy, Spain, Northern coasts of Africa. In parallel to the origin of the ancient vases, these finds show the sea-routes of early traders, but also the itineraries of the sponge-fishing ships in the whole Eastern Mediterranean in the recent past.

Other ancient exhibits include bowls of the 12th or 13th centuries AD and lead stocks of Hellenistic wooden anchors. Besides, a small collection of 76 coins of various origins, including from far-away places, dating from the Roman times, the Ottoman period, mid-19th century up to 1975 are hosted in the Museum; a few coins bear representations of sailing ships.


Fig. 73. Sponge-diving equipment.  

The maritime tradition of the Koutali inhabitants and its preservation are emphasized in the recent past collection. This includes: the equipment of sponge diving boats and scuba sponge divers (helmet, breastplate, diving suit and shoes, etc.); different species and qualities of sponges; sponge processing equipment; old photos and vestiges from Koutali and Nea Koutali; ten replicas of Greek traditional vessels; tools, machinery and objects from the local shipyard and sponge processing enterprise; documents, such as a sailor’s official identity travelling document by the Council of Elders of Koutali, dated 1921; and small, silver religious votive offerings (tamata) of two- or three-masted ships from Koutali.

The Museum of Maritime Tradition and Sponge-Fishing of Nea Koutali is the illustration of what local initiatives and continued efforts of everyone may achieve, resulting from awareness and affection for one’s history and collective consciousness.


Web site: http://www.spongefishing-museum.gr/en/
Includes “Multimedia” (documentary recordings of songs and memories):

  • A song for old Koutali “Beautiful Koutalis”
  • Narrations about sponge – fishing (even a love-song by a sponge diver!).

References: ​​

Nea Koutali Museum of Maritime Tradition and Sponge Fishing, Municipality of Nea Koutali, Lemnos 2006 (in Greek and English)

Museum of Maritime Tradition and Sponge Fishing of Nea Koutali (ed. K. Damianidis). Municipality of Lemnos, December 2015 (in Greek).  Includes chapters (various authors) on: the creation of the archaeological collection and the Museum; navigation from antiquity to recent times; the Greek community on the island of Koutali, the diaspora of the inhabitants of Koutali, their settlement in Lemnos and Nea Koutali; sponge-fishing, sponge-fishing boats, sponge procession and trade in Lemnos and the contribution of Koutalians to the Lemnian economy; and the archaeological collection and the collection of coins at the Museum of Maritime Tradition and Sponge Fishing.

Educational booklets for children (in Greek). Museum of Maritime Tradition and Sponge Fishing of Nea Koutali. Municipality of Lemnos (1. An adventure in the sea, 2. Sponges and sponge divers, 3. From the Aegean to the Propontis).

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Conferences

Day Conference “Light and Antiquities”
10th December 2016
by Areti Hondroyanni-Metoki (Director of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Kozani), translated from Greek by Christina Marangou

The Ephorate of Antiquities of Kozani and the Public Power Corporation (PPC) co-organized a day conference in the amphitheatre of the headquarters of the Western Macedonia Lignite Centre of the PPC, in parallel to two photographic exhibitions, “Excavation moments and lignite mining”, with black and white photographs, by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Kozani (Fig. 74) and “60 years of mines in Western Macedonia”, by the PPC.

The day conference objective was to present to the scientific and larger public, but also to PPC workers, the 20 years of salvage excavation works conducted by the Archaeological Service in the area of the lignite mines of Kozani (Fig. 75), funded by the company, in accordance with current legislation.


Fig. 74. Photographic exhibition “Excavation moments and lignite mining”.

The Logistical Support Director of the Western Macedonia Lignite Centre Dimitris Zarafidis and the general director of antiquities of the Ministry of Culture and Sports Elena Korka welcomed the assembly, while the director of the Ephorate, Areti Hondroyanni-Metoki opened the meeting, attended by a warmly interested multitude of people, including people working in the PPC and the Archaeological Service and others.

Twenty-six papers by 29 speakers were presented at the conference: archaeologists of various specializations and conservators, working at the Archaeological Service, university professors in Greece and abroad, representatives of the PPC and other bodies, such as the Association of Greek Archaeologists and the workers syndicate “Spartacus”, had the opportunity to present the older and contemporary excavation work, findings of studies and preliminary conclusions, to expose their opinions about the issue of the large salvage excavations at the PPC lignite mines, and introduce their proposals about the management, promotion and distinction of the cultural wealth of the region, brought daily to light in the framework of these excavations.

Fig. 75a-b. Conference “Light and Antiquities” and speaker Areti Hondroyanni-Metoki.  

The PPC has allocated, since 1995, approximately 25 million Euros for archaeological research in the area of the Kozani lignite mines, with multiple important benefits, not only for scientific research, but also for the local communities.

The extended excavations conducted by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Kozani (former ΙΖ΄ and Λ΄ Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities) over 20 years, consistently and with in-house procurement, ensure not only the high scientific level of the works, which constitute a space for training of many students of archaeology and a space for the carrying out of specialized studies with the application of contemporary methods of research, but also the meritocratic selection of the workers, absorbing a large part of the unemployed, both locally and from other prefectures.

The elements that were brought to light or continue coming to light about the history and prehistory of the region, are a daily amazement for excavators and scholars, disclosing important aspects of a primordial and diachronic civilization, dating back to the 7th mill. BC. The stimulus given over the last years to archaeological research, and in particular to prehistoric research of the Helladic and wider Balkan region, can only be described as a revolution, demonstrating that the PPC does not shed light merely to Greece, but also to the civilization that developed in the area of the Kozani lignite mines.

The day conference had the character of a discourse between two bodies with diametrically opposite topics, such as energy and civilization, in a common effort: to render to the local community, through the rehabilitation of the environment and the promotion of its cultural wealth, that of which it was dramatically deprived in order to support the national economy.  

Abstracts:
"Φως και Αρχαιότητες". 20 χρόνια σωστικών ανασκαφών στο χώρο των λιγνιτωρυχείων: Περιλήψεις Ημερίδας, που συνδιοργάνωσε η ΕΦΑ Κοζάνης και η ΔΕΗ Α.Ε.,  Κοζάνη 2016, Έκδοση Εφορείας Αρχαιοτήτων Κοζάνης (in Greek)
“Light and Antiquities”. 20 years of salvage excavations in the area of the lignite mines: Abstracts of a Day Conference, co-organized by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Kozani and the PPC S.A. Ephorate of Antiquities of Kozani, Kozani 2016.  

Scientific Meeting: Medieval Epirus. Recent research, developments and perspectives (Arta, 11th November 2016)

Organized by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Arta and the Musical-Philological Association of “Skoufas”. Co-organizers: Regional Administration of Arta, Municipality of the Artaians, ADAE OTA (Public Limited Company of the Artaians, Organism of Local Authority) and Chamber of Commerce of Arta.

Organizing Committee: Dimitrios Georgakopoulos (University of Ioannina), Varvara Papadopoulou (Director of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Arta) and Efstratia Syngellou (University of Ioannina).

Programme:

Keynote speech: Alcmene Stavridou-Zafraka (Professor Emerita of Byzantine History, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
A. History-Philology-Hagiology
  • Efstratia Syngelou: Recent studies on the history of Medieval Epirus
  • Dimitrios Georgakopoulos: Recent research on Late Medieval Chronicles of Epirus
  • Alexandros Liarmakopoulos: Church and legal philology in the Epirus “Despotate”
  • Dimitrios Yannoulis: Hagiology of Medieval Epirus
  • Discussion

B. Historical Geography - Archaeology and Art - Epigraphy-Numismatics ​​

  • Brendan Oswald: Medieval Epirus: the area and the people
  • Varvara Papadopoulou: Medieval Epirus. Data from the excavation research of the last twenty years
  • Christos Stavrakos: Byzantine and post-Byzantine dedicatory inscriptions of Epirus
  • Pagona Papadopoulou: Numismatic production and circulation in Medieval Epirus: new data
  • Discussion
Closing speech: Panagiotis Vokotopoulos (Professor Emeritus of Byzantine Archaeology – Academician).

3rd IHC International Conference in Heritage Management (HerMa Conference): Developing Best Practices in Heritage Management (Elefsina, 30 September-2 October 2016)
Organized by the Initiative for Heritage Conservation, with the collaboration of the Aeschylia Festival 2016 and the Municipality of Elefsina.

Sessions:
  • Preservation of Heritage Values and Cultural Significance: Landscape Archaeology
  • Return of Cultural Treasures to Their Countries of Origin: Principles and Trends
  • Education and Heritage: Dynamic Tools for Communicating Heritage Values
  • 3D Digital Tools for Heritage Management
  • Public Engagement in Heritage Studies: Local Communities and Archaeology
  • General Assembly: Managing Heritage Resources.
www.inherity.org/3rd-conference  

Elefsina will be the European Capital of Culture in Greece in 2021: https://eleusis2021.eu

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New Publications

Archaeology in Greece of today. Monuments and people in crisis. Proceedings of an Interdisciplinary Conference (19-20 March 2015), C. Mitsopoulou, V. Nikolopoulos and M. Filimonos (eds). Publications of the Union of Archaeologists of Greece “Eos”, nr. 2, Athens 2016 (in Greek).

Acts of the second congress organized in 2015 by the Society of Greek Archaeologists "Eos", 2015.
  • Welcome from the President of the Society of Greek Archaeologists "Eos", F. Zafeiropoulou
  • M. Kayafa : Teaching about Environment and Culture in open archaeological sites : the contribution of Environmental Education
  • K. Tzavelopoulou : Archaeology through school manuals of secondary education. Experience and considerations from school action
  • E. Papanikolaou : Archaeology and constructive learning in secondary education
  • P. D. Scirpo. Italy’s lost Greece. The forgotten Magna Grαecia
  • P. Valavanis. The Crisis, our National Consciousness and the teaching of History
  • A. P. Matthaiou. “Ἀγάπα τὸ ἀρχαῖον σου ὡς σεαυτόν” (Love your antiquity as yourself). Reflections on the functioning of the Archaeological Service
  • S. Katsaounou. An archaeologist’s trail in the labyrinth of the contemporary Greek cultural environment
  • O. Kakavoyanni. Archaeological research and the prerequisites for the certification of the profession of archaeologist as public officer
  • V. Nikolopoulos. The Registry of Archaeologists: Utopia, necessity or unnecessary luxury?
  • O. Kakavoyanni, M. Gikaki. Study and publication of finds from old excavations by young archaeologists and not only
  • C. Doumas. The excavation as a destructive procedure
  • V. Papoulias. The beginnings of “Integrated Conservation” and the “Sustainability” of the cultural wealth of our country
  • S. Lekakis. Heritage Management in Europe and Greece. A review
  • C. Mitsopoulou. Archaeology and Cultural Guiding: deposition of experiential experience and relative considerations
  • M. Filimonos. Some conclusions from the congress.

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Another Greek site to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List

The archaeological site of Philippi was inscribed in the World Heritage List of UNESCO as a site of “outstanding universal value”, after a unanimous decision of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (40 COM 8B.26), at its 40th session, in July 2016, in Istanbul. The decision was based on presented criteria.

“Criterion (iii): Philippi is exceptional testimony to the incorporation of regions into the Roman Empire as demonstrated by the city’s layout and architecture as a colony resembling a “small Rome”. The remains of its churches are exceptional testimony to the early establishment and growth of Christianity.

Criterion (iv): The monuments of Philippi exemplify various architectural types and reflect the development of architecture during the Roman and Early Christian period. The Forum stands out as an example of such a public space in the eastern Roman provinces. The Octagon Church, the transept Basilica, and the domed Basilica stand out as types of Early Christian architecture.”  

Philippi constitutes the 18th Greek listing. 

http://whc.unesco.org/en/sessions/40COM/documents/
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1517

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