Ancient Greek Treasures



1.THESSALONIKI



2.SPIRITUALITY INHERENT




3.MOUNT ATHOS











      
         1.Thessaloniki
 Once again the paths of Thessaloniki and the Holy Mount of
 Athos meet, this time on the occasion of the city's celebration 
of its year as Cultural Capital of Europe. The exhibition of 
"Treasures from Mount Athos", the exceptionally ambitious 
project now being prepared by the Thessaloniki '97
 Cultural Capital of Europe Organization, will be inaugurated
 in June 1997 and remain on view in the Museum of Byzantine
 Culture for six months. For the first time in the more 
than millennial history of the Athonite Theocracy, the 
priceless spiritual and artistic treasures preserved for
 centuries in the "Ark of Orthodoxy" will journey beyond 
the boundaries of the Holy Mount and be displayed to the
 public in what is probably the most important spiritual,
 artistic and scholarly in the entire Cultural Capital
 programme.
This exhibition has been designed to present to the 
Greek and international public the multiple facets
 of the historical, spiritual and artistic importance
 of Mount Athos across the centuries. It will lay especial
 weight on demonstrating its uniqueness and its profound 
significance, not only for Greece and the Orthodox world
 but for all mankind. A fabled universe for the Western 
visitor, a place of veneration for the Orthodox faithful. 
And a supreme opportunity for the female public, barred from
 setting foot on the "forbidden territory", to make a 'pilgrimage'
 to Mount Ethos and its monasteries. 
The heart of the exhibition is the selection on the "Treasures 
of the Monasteries", not merely because of the Mount Athos has 
the largest and finest collection of Byzantine and post-Byzantine
 art anywhere in Greece, but more importantly because in an 
atmosphere of profound reverence the history, the intellectual 
and spiritual life, the art, and of course the objects themselves,
 expressive of the liturgical life of the monks, give shape and 
vitality to the profound meaning of the Holy Mountain. 
          2. Spirituality inherent
   The central focus is on the spirituality inherent in every 
manifestation of the life of the Athonite community.
 Monumental painting, portable icons, manuscripts illuminated
 and plain, ivories and silvercraft, embroidery, wood-carving, 
ceramics, ecclesiastical vessels, furniture and furnishings and 
craftsmen's tolls: these are but a few of the material testaments
 to this cultural heritage. Immanent in each and every one of
 these are Byzantine and post-Byzantine art, history, impact 
and influence - dogmatic and aesthetic - on the Orthodox peoples, 
contribution to the education of the Greek nation, participation 
in spiritual movements. 

The section on the "Daily Life and Worship" will present the
 everyday routine of monastic life, which is lived within
 the confines of Monastery - Skete - Cloister and which is
 centred on the Church (respectively, katholikon - kyriakon 
- parekklesi, or chapel). But the monk's day also includes 
both private player and study in his own refuge as well as 
handcrafts, labour for the sustenance of the hospitality 
towards the visiting pilgrim. The community of the Fathers 
has not lost its religious and social traditions: the underlying 
intend of the submission of the novice to the elder is to
 permit the undisturbed transmission of the familiar rules and 
customs from 
one generation to the next.   
                      3.Mount Athos
But the cultural heritage of Mount Athos is not limited to the 
marvels of its architecture and the artistic treasures of 
its churches, monasteries, sketes and cloisters: it extends
 to its unmatched and equally unique natural environment,
 the landscape which provides their physical setting. 

Characterised above all by the untouched naturalness of its 
ecosystem, at least in the quality of their fascinating variety 
of plant and animal species in an aboriginal natural habitat, 
unaffected by grazing and by unwarranted human intervention, 
the natural environment refreshes the visitor and causes the 
reclusive soul to soar. 

The fundamental purport of the section on "Architecture" is to 
display the extraordinary variety and cohesiveness of the 
architectural forms on Mount Athos, their dense historical 
stratification and their significance for the Orthodox world. 
The central axes of this section are the meeting of liturgical 
requirements, the satisfying structural solutions and the 
impressive aesthetic results. The anonymous craftsmen who 
built these monasteries were exceptionally successful in 
adapting them to their natural settings, providing a 
secure place for the requisite of daily worship. 
Perimeters and surfaces expanded with growing needs, 
creating what amount to entire cities where nothing 
is ponderous, discordant, hasty or alien.  
 
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