On Sunday 23 October 2022 the exhibition organised by the Mount Athos Center entitled ′St. Demetrius in the art of Mount Athos’ was officially opened in the ′Casa Băniei′, a traditional-style building in Craiova, Romania. The exhibition has been jointly organised by the Mount Athos Center of Thessaloniki and the Department of Ethnography of the   Oltenia Museum in Craiova, together with the city’s ′Alexandru and Aristia Aman’ County Library, and forms part of the city’s celebrations to mark the feast-day of St. Demetrius, the patron saint of Craiova.
 

The Mount Athos Center was represented at the opening by its Director, Mr. Anastasios Douros, who conveyed the greetings of the Mayor of Thessaloniki and President of the Mount Athos Center’s Board of Directors Mr. Konstantinos Zervas. Mr. Douros spoke about the relations between Thessaloniki and Mount Athos, presented the work of the Mount Athos Center and showed the visitors around the 44 works displayed in the exhibition, which consist in depictions of St. Demetrius in wall-paintings, portable icons, works of minor art, gold embroideries, and marble sculptures etc. from the monasteries of Mount Athos.     

The Archbishop of Craiova and Metropolitan of Oltenia Irineu was represented by Archimandrite Vladimir Daranga, who conveyed the Archbishops’s greetings and spoke about St. Demetrius, who forms a bond between the two cities.

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The Director of the County Library, Mr. Lucian Dindirica, thanked the delegation from the Mount Athos Center for staging its second event in Craiova, and mentioned the excellent collaboration that exists between the two bodies, which is to be continued in the future. Mr Irinel Canureci, Director of the Ethnography Department of the Oltenia Museum, in whose premises the exhibition is being housed, made a brief address and expressed his delight at the fact that the exhibition was being presented in the Museum’s premises. The Mount Athos Center’s collaborator in the exhibition, Prof. Apostolos Patelakis of the Institute for Balkan Studies in Thessaloniki, spoke about the strong bonds between the two cities and about the efforts that are being made to further strengthen these ties.
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The opening was also attended by students from the Department of Fine Arts in the Faculty of Theology of the University of Craiova, who had an opportunity to take a close look at depictions of the patron saint of Thessaloniki dating from the 12^th to the 20^th centuries and to observe and discuss the artistic changes that took place on Mount Athos over the course of those eight centuries.                     

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The exhibition will remain in Craiova until Sunday 30 November 2022.

Exhibition curator: Anastasios Douros, Director of the Mount Athos Center.

Venue: ″Casa Băniei”, Str. Matei Basarab nr.16, Craiova  Tel. +40 351 444.030