On Friday, 27 October at 19.00, in the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, the following exhibition is inaugurated by H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Prokopios Pavlopoulos.

TEMPLON. Sacred figures, invisible gates of faith. 20th and 21st centuries

The exhibition is organized by the Museum of Byzantine Culture, the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation and the MVN Consultants.

The Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, continuing the tradition of recent years, organizes thematic exhibitions of particular scientific interest, related to its exhibits, to the various aspects of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine civilization in general and to its impact on the contemporary and modern artistic creation.

This year, twenty years after the exhibition of the Velimezis Collection in the Museum of Byzantine Culture, which traveled around the world and was presented in twenty three museums, Christos Ph. Margaritis and Alexandros Ger. Makris, who are responsible for the collection, curated and present the exhibition TEMPLON. Sacred figures, invisible gates of faith. 20th and 21st centuries, with representative works from the second part of the Velimezis Collection, from their own collections and from many other private collections
and archives, museums, churches and monasteries, all works created in the 20th century and in our time.

A natural border between the human world (the nave) and the heavenly one (holy sanctuary), the iconostasis is a symbolic meeting point of the conceivable and the perceptible, the transient and the ephemeral. In particular, ecclesiastical barrier screens (iconostasis) form the most characteristic and imposing architectural and decorative elements of the interior of modern Greek churches. In the context of the Exhibition, a reading of the iconostasis is attempted as a complex devotional, artistic and cultural representation, following its evolution through concrete examples of churches from the 19th century to the present.

Ninety seven exhibits which are inseparably linked to the “Templon”, such as royal doors, icons, drawings and anthivola for icons of the iconostasis and its epistyle, creations of the renowned artists St. Almaliotis, K. Artemis, Sp. Vassiliou, G. Gliatas, N. Engonopoulos, G. Karoussos, F. Kontoglou, R. Kopsidis, M. Matsakis, K. Parthenis, D. Pelekasis and P. Rengos constitute a panorama of modern Greek religious painting.

Additionally, drawings by N. Andravidiotis, G. Nomikos and E. Stikas for wood carved iconostasis, which were sculpted by the wood sculptors Th. Nomikos and members of the Andravidiotis family, are exhibited. Moreover, wood carved capitals and slabs, works of the same sculptors, and a set of tools for wood carving are shown. Finally, the royal doors “Time issue” is exhibited, which was created specifically for the exhibition by Stelios Phaitakis.

In a fruitful dialogue, the work of the contemporary creators, M. Kampanis, G. Kordis, K. Papatriantaphyllopoulos, P. Samios, father St. Skliris and St. Phaitakis is exhibited in “Templon”, not exclusively with liturgical significance, but with a personal character and in purely painted terms.

Eighty two of the total of ninety seven works of the Exhibition are presented for the first time, along with a series of documents from the personal archives of the artists.

The exhibition is held with the support of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, the contribution of MVN Consultants and of experts of the Museum of Byzantine Culture for its design and organization. Two European museums have already requested for the exhibition to be displayed in their premises.

The catalogue, accompanying the Exhibition, is edited by Christos Ph. Margaritis and it contains brief descriptions of all exhibits, while for most of them, there are also extensive descriptions in the thirty scientific texts which constitute the main part of the book, with short summaries in English. This luxurious edition includes 320 pages, with 190 color photos and 100 designs. The largest number of copies will be offered free of charge by the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation to Libraries and Cultural Institutions in Greece and abroad.

The exhibition is under the auspices of H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Prokopios Pavlopoulos.

During the Exhibition, special guided tours are organized for the visitors, while an educational program and a conference on the same subject are organized.

Guided tour program:

The first tour will take place on Sunday 29 October at 12:00.

For the rest, a program will be announced.

Exhibition duration: 27 October 2017 to 28 February 2018.

Information: www.mbp.gr, 231 330 6400 and 6945995700.

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