‘Mount Athos: Photographs, 1956-2001’
Arta Archaeological Museum
Tuesday 12 March 2019
 
The Arta Ephorate of Antiquities and the Mount Athos Center in Thessaloniki are to present the exhibition of photographs by the Academician Panayiotis Vokotopoulos entitled ‘Mount Athos: Photographs, 1956-2001’. The exhibition will be opened on Tuesday 12 March at 19.00 in the Arta Archaeological Museum. The exhibition is being jointly organised with the Metropolis of Arta and the Municipality of Arta and forms part of the programme of events celebrating the feast-day of Arta’s patron saint, St. Theodora.

The exhibition presents part of the photographic archive of the Academician Panayiotis Vokotopoulos from the period 1956-2001. The photographs cover an extremely interesting period in the life of Mount Athos, recording as they do a critical period plagued by the problems of declining numbers of monks and lack of resources, at a time when the state was anxious to preserve the republic’s unique architectural heritage. At the same time, the photographs record the spiritual life of Athos and the unbroken continuity in the devotional and liturgical lives of the monks.   

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•  

The exhibition was first presented in the galleries of the Mount Athos Center in May 2008 and since then has travelled to a number of different cities in Greece and abroad: in Chania it was presented at the Grand Arsenal in April 2009, in collaboration with the Centre of Mediterranean Architecture; in Belgrade it was displayed at the Municipal Library of the Municipality of Belgrade in February 2015, in collaboration with the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences, and between April and June 2015 it was presented in the new wing of the Nestorideion Melathron in Rhodes, in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Greek Art of the Municipality of Rhodes.  Its most recent stop was in the city of Chalkida, where it was presented at the ‘Red House’ in June 2016, in collaboration with the Metropolis of Chalcis, Istiaia and the Northern Sporades.         

Panayiotis A. Vokotopoulos was born in 1930 in Athens, where he studied history and archaeology. He served as Epimelete of Byzantine Antiquities (1965-1976) and then Professor of Byzantine Archaeology at the University of Thessaloniki (1976-1987) and the University of Athens (1987-1991).   
Since 2000 he has been a regular member of the Academy of Athens, holding the Chair of Byzantine Archaeology and Art.   
MAIN PUBLICATIONS:

• Ecclesiastical Architecture in West Mainland Greece and Epirus from the Late 7^th until the Late 10^th Century (1975).
• Icons of Corfu (1990).
• Byzantine Icons (1995).
• Miniatures in the Byzantine Manuscripts at the Patriarchate of Jerusalem (2002).
• He edited and oversaw the publication by the Academy of Athens of the book entitled ‘Directory of Monumental Painting on Mount Athos (10^th-17^th Cent.)’ (in Greek), the fruit of a research project conducted on behalf of the Mount Athos Center by its associates Nikolaos Toutos and George Fousteris.

 
During his long career Panayiotis Vokotopoulos took countless photographs of Byzantine monuments and the Greek countryside. 
 
Exhibition Opening: Tuesday 12 March 2019 at 19.00.
The exhibition will run until 12 July 2019. 
Opening hours: 8:30 – 15:30, except Tuesdays.

Exhibition director: Barbara N. Papadopoulou, Head of the Arta Ephorate of Antiquities

Exhibition supervisor: Anastasios Douros, Director of the Mount Athos Center

Working Group:
Mrs. Theodora Kontoyianni, archaeologist
Mrs. Athina Bouzaki, architect – museologist
Mr. Constantine Ipsilos, conservator of antiquities
 
Information:
Arta Ephorate of Antiquities: Mrs. Vasiliki Galani, tel. 26810 24636, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Mount Athos Center, (Egnatia 109, Thessaloniki, tel. 2310 263308, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | www.agioritikiestia.gr