Once again the paths of Thessaloniki and the Holy Mount of Athos meet
Euaghoras
Participating in the Exhibit is the Protaton
of the Holy Community of Mount Athos,
as well as the Holy Monasteries of:
彪atopedi 肘viron 匹helandari 疋ionysiou 必outloumousiou 姫antokrator
氷eropotamou 瓢ographou 疋ocheiareiou 必arakalou 百imonopetra 百t. Paul
百tavronikita 氷enophontos 膝regoriou 百t. Panteleimon - Russian
------------------------------------------------------------------------
the Sketes:
百t. Anne,
Megistis Lavras 百t. John the Baptist,
Megistis Lavras 百t Andrew,
Vatopediou 百t. John the Baptist,
Iviron 姫rophet Elijah,
Pantokratoros 逼ew Skete,
St. Paul
Bogoroditsa, St. Panteleimon-Russian
<Picture>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.
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.
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.
Boris Docevski
-boris docevski