World Media on Greece - Culture and Education in 2008
Going Greek in Alexandria (Al-Ahram, 25-31.12.2008)
As recently as the 1950s some 100,000 Greeks called Alexandria home. During the first half of the century, Greeks were estimated to have constituted more than 25 per cent of the ever-so-diversified foreign community of the city. During these decades, they dominated the grocery trade, patisseries, food processing and manufacturing of soft drinks and spirits. Ezzat visits Baudrot cafe in downtown Alexandria, a place that during early 20thn century was frequented by clients such as the famous Greek poet Constantine Cavafy, E M Forster, author of Alexandria: a History and a Guide, and Laurence Durrell, who wrote The Alexandria Quartet. Elegant and inviting, the Baudrot reflects a nostalgic image of a once-upon-a-time Alexandria where elegant patisseries, tearooms and restaurants for a wide clientele were found almost on every street. However, the Baudrot cafe in Downtown Alexandria is not the only Greek tearoom that reminds residents and visitors of the city of the cosmopolitan past of this Mediterranean harbour city. Delices, Athenios, Pastroudis , Elite, Santa Lucia, Zephyrion and Hamos are some of the remaining Greek traces of 20th-century Alexandria. "What we have today is about 60 per cent of what we once had, but it is still nice and good to have and it is still nice to keep," says Maria Vrionidis, an Egyptian-Greek resident of the city Today there are a few hundred Greeks who still inhabit the Quartier Grec at the heart of Alexandria, attend the Greek school, socialise at the Greek Club and Greek tearooms and dine at Greek restaurants. "We still live and work here as our parents and grand-parents did," Vrionidis said.. Read more... See also: |
Dina Ezzat explores the cafes, shops and restaurants of Alexandria's still vibrant Greek community.
Wikipedia on
Angelopoulos pulls the punches at Thessaloniki (Guardian Film Blog, 25.11.2008)
"This year, tributes were paid to the Dardenne brothers, Oliver Stone and Terence Davies, who all gave masterclasses to packed, enthusiastic young audiences, and there was a nine-film homage to Ousmane Sembθne, who died last year. Takeshi Kitano was also presented with an Honorary Golden Alexander, for lifetime achievement. [...] The big news at Thessaloniki was the world premiere of the 73-year-old Angelopoulos's new film, The Dust of Time. The film, a Greek-German-Italian-Russian co-production, mainly in English, features such stalwarts of European art cinema as Bruno Ganz, Michel Piccoli and Irene Jacob, with American Willem Dafoe in one of the main parts. [...] The film is a true fin-de-siθcle drama, a cry of pain derived from the wounds the previous century inflicted. It is film as metaphor." Read more... |
Accrording to Ronald Bergan, the
Smuggled £1m painting returned to Greece (The Daily Telegraph, 20.11.08)
The icon is believed to have been painted by a master iconographer in the 14th century and depicts the removal of Christ's body from the cross. It is thought to have originally been a gift by the emperor A. Palaeologos to the monastery of Timios Prodromos in Serres, from where it was stolen in 1978. The return of the icon is an "example of Greece's determination to track down and claim back illegally exported artefacts" Greek Minister of Culture Michael Liapis said. Read more… See also: |
A stolen icon, estimated £1 million and considered one of the finest examples of Byzantine art, was returned to Greece after decades of police work, diplomacy and a key ruling by the high court in London.
Colossus of Rhodes to be rebuilt as giant light sculpture (The Guardian, 17.11.08)
A long-held dream of the people of Rhodes is about to be fulfilled by German artist Gert Hof, the artist who lightened the Acropolis for the Millenium. The new Colossus of Rhodes is about to be constructed under the auspices of the island's mayor, Hatzis Hatziefthimiou, who presented the plan in Dubai last week. "It will be a unique architectural creation," he said. The modern-day wonder will be dedicated to celebrating peace and parts of melted-down weapons from around the world will be used for its construction. According to the mayor, Gert Hof's plan is to make it the world's largest light installation, a work of art that will allow visitors to physically inspect it by day and enjoy it through light shows by night. Read more… See also:
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Greek films grab more market share (Variety, 06.11.2008)
Most of the funding for Greek films comes from the Greek Film Center. The organization’s Stavroula Geronimaki says that “the steady upward in admissions for Greek films and the international distinctions garnered have generated new hope and development possibilities”. The renowned International Thessaloniki Film Festival is doing its part to promote Greek films: local picture “Without” unspools in competition at the festival and the picture is expected to nab foreign sales. Read more... |
According to this Variety article by Will Tizard, a Hellenic film renaissance is underway: Greek features like “
Greeks honour fallen hero Byron with a day of his own (Guardian, 18.10.2008)
Lord Byron, British poet and leading figure in Romanticism had travelled to Greece to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence. Read more... |
The Greek government has announced a "Byron Day" on April 19, the annniversary of the writer's death. Readings, drama and school outings will celebrate the role of the peer who invoked the battles of Marathon and Thermopylae to "dream that Greece might still be free".
Sotheby's To Sell the Finest Private Collection of Books on Greece in 20 Years (Artdaily.org, 26.10.08)
The collection, which will showcase the representations of travellers, adventurers, historians and writers, includes a first edition of Louis Dupre’s Voyage ΰ Athθnes et a Constantinople, considered to be the most beautiful book ever produced on Greece and Turkey. Also included, among others, are a first edition of Peter von Hess’ Album of Greek Heroism, Ferdinand Stademann’s Panorama von Athen and portraits of the best-known leaders of the War of Independence in a first edition by Karl Krazeisen. Read more… |
An exceptional collection of books on Greece and the Levant will be on sale by
Greek Stone Age household remains found intact: ministry (AFP, 24.10.08)
In its statement, the Ministry of Culture points out that the find is rare and offers valuable information about everyday 6,000 years ago. A kitchen area with two ovens, clay pots and stone tools and two more rooms were found in the rectangular 58-square-metre structure, which appears to have burned down and was built in the fourth millennium BC. It was discovered near the town of Aridaia in central Macedonia prefecture. Read more… See also:
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The ruins of a Neolithic house, left intact for 6,000 years, have been unearthed by archaeologists in northern Greece.
Spectacular Paintings by Volanakis, Ralli and Gysis lead Sotheby's Sale of Greek Art in November (Artdaily.org, 20.10.08)
The star of the show will be a masterpiece by Constantinos Volanakis entitled “The Arrival of Karaiskakis at Faliro”, which is “arguably the most important 19th Century Greek painting to ever appear on the international market” comments Constantine Frangos, Senior Director and Specialist in Charge of the Greek Sales at Sotheby’s. The Sale will include all the leading names of 19th and 20th centuries, featuring paintings of Nicholas Gysis (1842-1901), Ioannis Altamouras (1852-1878), Nikos Kessanlis (1930-2004), Alecos Fassianos (b. 1935), Yannis Gaitis (1923-1984), Pavlos (1914-1973) and Georgios Bouzianis (1885-1959) among others. Read more… |
Following the record-breaking April Greek Sale,
University of Athens in top 200 QS World University Rankings (topuniversities.com, 09.08.2008)
The Greek university ranks 200, however it must be noted that there are 4,000 universities in the world, and as the magazine’s contributing editor Martin Ince says: "Being on this list means you are one of the top ones, whatever your position. Many universities want to be globally important and being in these rankings is the measure of their success – most don’t manage it." Read more: |
The
Roman statue remains found in submerged ancient city (The China Post, 06.10.08)
The findings – the bearded head of a man and the torso of a warrior wearing a Roman-era breastplate – were at a depth of 2.5 meters (eight feet) underwater in the island bay of Mandraki on the western side of Kythnos. The exact age of the two pieces, which had apparently been used as building materials, has not been certified. Read more… Read also: |
Marine archaeologists uncovered two ancient statues buried in a wall of the submerged ancient port on the Cycladic island of Kythnos, the Greek culture ministry said last week.
Thanos Anastopoulos' "Diorthosi" is Greek Oscar entry (screendaily.com, 28.09.08)
The film produced by Anastopoulos' own Fantasia Audiovisual outlet and backed by the Greek Film Centre, is a powerful drama that tackles the interracial tensions between Greeks and immigrant Albanians living and working in Greece. The film has earned a critical praise in home and abroad since its appearance at the 2007 Thessaloniki film festival. The decision to submit Anastopoulos' film instead of the State Cinema Awards Best Film Trophy winner Yiannis Smaragdis΄El Greco, marks a change from the current film law. Read more… |
Diorthosi (Correction),
An Islamic Museum in Athens Dispels Stereotypes (Newsweek, 30.08.2008)
The Benaki Museum has one of the world's finest collections of Islamic art, featuring more than 8,000 pieces that delineate the evolution of Islamic civilisation from the first appearance of Islam up to the Ottoman period Accoding to Athanasiadis, in November, the Benaki - along with the British Museum, the V&A and a private collection - will join in the opening of a long-awaited Islamic museum in Qatar. Read more... |
Iason Athanasiadis writes about the "Modern Arab World "exhibition on display in the
Titian paintings going on show on Athens museum (IHT, 22.09.08)
The exhibition, held on the occasion of an official visit to Greece by Italy's president, includes seven works by the 16th-century master, as well as canvases and prints by Annibale Carracci, Giovanni Antonio de Sacchis and Domenico Campagnola. Read more… |
The three-month exhibition "From Titian to Pietro da Cortona: Myth, Poetry and the Sacred" at the
Robert Lindsay: 'I've fallen in love with Aristotle Onassis' (The Daily Telegraph, 22.09.08)
In Aristo, Martin Sherman's new play about Aristotle Onassis, Lindsay plays the Greek tycoon who as a young man survived his family's decimation at the hands of the Turks in Smyrna to acquire millions and, along the way, seduce Maria Callas and marry Jackie Kennedy. Lindsay says that he has "genuinely fallen in love with this character for all its flaws" and the "terrifying" photographic likeness between Onassis and his own father. Read more… |
A play at the
Ancient Graves Discovered in Greece (NYTimes, 12.09.08)
According to the Culture Ministry, the graves and tombs span an 800-year period starting in the fourth century B.C. Coins from Persia, gold jewellery, clay vessels and glass perfume holders are among the findings. Read more… |
More than 1,400 ancient graves have been unearthed by archaeologists during the excavation for a subway in the northern city of Salonika.
Hungary to return looted antiquities to Greece (IHT/AP, 12.09.08)
22 antiquities on display in a leading Budapest museum that were illegally exported from Greece will be studied, in order to be decided which will be repatriated, Hungarian Foreign Minister said Thursday. Hungary has offered to return the collection of antiquities after acknowledging that they “... were illegally brought to Hungary”. "We are ready to return these artifacts," Hungarian FM Kinga Goncz said. The Hungarian government's decision to launch talks on the artifacts return set "an example for the international community. The return of antiquities ... tops the culture ministry's agenda," Greek Culture Minister Liapis said. |
Ancient gold treasure found in northern Greece puzzles archeologists (AP, 29.08.08)
The University of Thessaloniki said in a statement Friday that the discovery was made during its excavations this week in the ruins of ancient Aigai. Saatsoglou-Paliadeli, a professor of archeology at the university, said the find probably dates to the fourth century BC, during which Philip and Alexander reigned and probably belonged to a high-ranking person. Read more… |
A priceless gold wreath has been unearthed in an ancient city in northern Greece, buried with human bones in a large copper vase.
Turkish, Greek institutes launch joint program (Today's Zaman, 13.07.2008)
The foundation will be supporting Turkish-Greek Studies at İstanbul Bilgi University, providing scholarships and fellowships for students from Greece pursuing a master's in international relations with a concentration in Turkish-Greek relations at the university. Read more... |
The
Mouskouri plays farewell concert (BBC News, 24.07.2008)
Mouskouri is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time and has sold more than 300 million records. She was born on the island of Crete, has recorded 1,500 songs in seven languages, toured with Harry Belafonte, recorded with Quincy Jones and Julio Iglesias, and had a song written for her by Bob Dylan. Read more... See also: |
Greek singer
Greek director wins Best Documentary award at Roma Fiction Fest (express.gr, 14.07.08)
The awarded documentary is a co-production with the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the production company Orizontas, with the support of the Greek Film Center and Al-Jazeera. Read more… |
Greek director Anneta Papathanassiou won the Best Documentary Award at the 2008
In the lap of the gods (The Guardian, 10.07.08)
In the first part of this article she talks about her experience in Epidaurus last August, when her performance was cancelled due to the official mourning because of the fires. In the second part, she shares the feelings brought about by the site of the ancient theatre and the performance of Beckett's "Happy Days" to 6,000 attentive people. Read more… |
A year after the Greek fires halted her performance of Beckett, Fiona Shaw makes an emotional return to Epidaurus.
Agreement on return of two antiquities to Greece (MarketWatch, 11.07.08)
Two antiquities from Shelby White’s collection will return to Greece. The agreement was concluded July 10, 2008, between the Greek Ministry of Culture and Shelby White, a philanthropist and antiquities collector who has established the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. The first object is the upper part of a grave stele depicting a warrior and a youth dated to the early part of the 4th century B.C. The second object is a bronze calyx krater dated approximately to 340 B.C. The repatriation of both antiquities will take place within July 2008. They will first be exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Read more… Read also:
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Rebetika - I guess that's why they call it the Greek blues (The Times, 02.07.2008)
Paphides runs through the history of rembetika, from its foremost practioners who were refugees from Asia Minor, its development in the hash dens of the port of Pireus, its subsequent prohibition, to its integration, in the 60's, with the mainstream of popular Greek music. Paphides' makes special mention to legendary rebetika musician Markos Vamvakaris, "the Robert Johnson of rebetika, with a back story just as mythical as Johnson's crossroads encounter with the Devil" and to famous composer Manos Hadjidakis. Hadjidakis assimilated rebetika melodies and lyrics into his own music, setting about to create a music "that Greece could call its own, using rebetika, traditional rural folk songs and Byzantine influences.” Read more...
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British music journalist Peter Paphides writes about the music of
Roman horse skeletons, chariot unearthed in Greece (ABC News, 12.06.08)
Archaeologists have dug up the skeletons of 16 horses, a two-wheeled chariot and two human skeletons in a grave dating back to the Roman Empire in a dig near Lithohori, in the Kavala region, in north-east Greece, the culture ministry announced. In addition to the horses, diggers found a grave and four tombs covered with a ceramic lid, as well as a shield, weapons and various other accessories. Read more... |
Leonidas Kavakos: 'Music is about devotion, and knowing when to be free' (The Daily Telegraph, 05.06.08)
Kavakos, who directs his own festival at the Megaron concert hall in Athens and last year became artistic director of the Camerata Salzburg, tells the reporter about his first steps, which were guided by an ambitious father and a teacher who followed Plato. Read more... |
In view of Leonidas Kavakos’ two performances in Glasgow and London, Ivan Hewett interviews the famous Greek violin virtuoso.
Athens museum shows its priceless Egyptian collection (AP/International Herald Tribune 13.05.2008)
The exhibition centrepieces are a bronze statue of the princess-priestess Takushit, dating to around 670 BC and a 3,000-year-old loaf of bread with a bite-sized chunk missing. The exhibition also includes products from the so-called Egypt's "death industry," such as pierced wooden tags from embalmers' workshops. The core of the museum's Egyptian collection was donated more than 100 years ago by two rich merchants from Alexandria's then-thriving Greek community. Read more... |
A priceless ancient Egyptian collection opened to the public on Wednesday, May 14. The National Archaeological Museum in Athens is putting more than 1,100 pieces from the collection on permanent exhibition, as more of its halls open to the public following years of renovation.
Greece reclaims ancient vase (AFP/ The Times, 22.04.2008)
More than one metre high, the decorative vase - known as a lecythus - was made by Athenian sculptors in the fourth century BC, and depicts a banquet scene in which a seated woman greets another woman. Read more... |
Greece has reclaimed an ancient funerary vase found in the possession of a Swiss art dealer after it had been illegally exported, the Greek culture ministry said.
Death of leading scholar of Greek archaeology (Daily Telegraph, 04.04.2008)
His magnum opus, Greek Geometric Pottery (1968), a painstaking work of description, classification, chronology, and attribution of geometric pottery styles from the entire Greek world, became the ultimate reference work for anyone studying the Geometric period. Read more... See also: |
Professor Nicolas Coldstream, who has died aged 80, was a leading scholar of Greek archaeology and one of its greatest teachers. His work on the Early Iron Age in Greece, Crete and Cyprus and on the impact of Greek civilisation on the Mediterranean world broke new ground and had a huge influence on generations of scholars.
Jules Dassin: US cinema prodigy who found refuge in Greece (AFP, 01.04.2008)
Dassin married the legendary Greek actress Melina Mercouri, joined her campaign for the return of Greece's lost Parthenon marbles and was eventually awarded honorary Greek citizenship. Read more... Read also: |
Veteran US moviemaker
World-Class Docfest (Indiewire.com, 19.03.2008)
In 2006, as if a light switch had been thrown, festival attendance doubled and the fest hasn't looked back since. Screenings are full but not packed, audiences are lively and engaged; classes and other talks and discussions are among the standout qualities of this festival." Read more... |
David Wilson reports on the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival: "153 films appear and they represent, for the most part, the cream of the recent international crop of docs, plus about fifty standouts from Greece.
Annual flour war gets colourful (Reuters/New Zealand Herald, 12. 03.2008)
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The annual flour war in Galaxidi, marks the end of the carnival season as it turns into Orthodox Lent and draws participants from across the country. It's called Clean Monday but in reality it's exactly the opposite.
Sotheby's London to stage its most important Greek sale to date (Artdaily.org, 09.03.2008)
Major paintings by 19th century Greek artists such as Constantinos Volanakis, Georges Jakobides, Theodoros Rallis, Nikiphoros Lytras, Theofilos Hadjimichael and Nikolaos Gysis will be offered alongside the leading 20th century names of Yannis Tsarouchis, Diamantis Diamondopoulos, Nikos Hadjikiriakos-Ghika, Pavlos, Yiannis Gaitis and Alekos Fassionos, among others. An unprecedented ten works by Constantinos Volanakis will be presented for sale and these will represent the most important group of paintings by the artist ever to appear at auction. Read more.... More news items on this story: |
Following the rise and growth of the Greek Art market in recent years, Sotheby’s forthcoming
Hellenic Offerings, Beyond Feta and Ouzo (New York Times, 02.03.2008)
First, there are the Greeks of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in the Greek and Roman Galleries that reopened in April 2007. Then, there are the real live Greeks of Astoria, the hub of Greek life in New York. Kugel, among other "Greek" things to do, suggests going out at Greek reastaurants and clubs in Astoria, as well as seeing Greek modern theater plays ("Madam Sousou Conquers Manhattan" and "With Power from Kifissia"). Read more... |
Seth Kugel proposes a Greek Weekend in New York:"A Greek weekend in New York means dividing your time between the city’s two Hellenic factions".
Dr. King and the Greek classics (Washington Times, 20.02.2008)
Alexandros P. Mallias, Greece's ambassador to the United States writes about how the words of Martin Luther King Jr stirred hope in the hearts of many Greek people like himself during Greece’s darkest hours of an oppressive military dictatorship. Ambassador Mallias also refers to Rev. King's profound understanding and appreciation of the Greek classics, apparent in many of his speeches and homilies. Read more...
Experts examine "Van Gogh" sketchbook in Greece (Reuters, 16.01.2008)
 A sketchbook believed to have been Vincent van Gogh's containing portraits similar to those in his most famous works has been found in Greece. Taken by a Greek resistance fighter from a Nazi train, the sketchbook was discovered in storage boxes by his daughter, who is seeking to establish its authenticity with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Read more...
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Actors Dafoe and Ganz in Athens to shoot new Angelopoulos film (e-Kathimerini, 08.01.2008)
In Athens, the shooting involves a scene about political refugees meeting in Tashkent in the mid-1950s, and takes place in venue Pireos 260, the former Tsaousoglou factory and current "star" venue of the revamped Athens Festival. Read more.. |
Actors Willem Dafoe, Irene Jacob and Bruno Ganz arrived in Athens to begin shooting parts of a new film by Greek director
