New temporary exhibition: Smyrna in the early 20th century. Through the eyes of the Byzantinist Georgios Lampakis

18 December 2022

The temporary exhibition “Smyrna in the early 20th century. Through the eyes of the Byzantinist Georgios Lampakis” is inaugurated on Thursday, December 22 at 18:30 at the Byzantine and Christian Museum. The exhibition is co-organized by the Interdepartmental Postgraduate Programme “Cultural Heritage Management: Archaeology, City and Architecture” and the Byzantine and Christian Museum. The Lampakis Family Archives, a valuable source for the Asia Minor Greek communities before 1922, provides the majority of the exhibits, to which objects of the BCM Collections are added. The Lampakis Family Archives encompass the archives of the Lampakis family members, who have been playing an essential role in Greek society since the late 19th century. The archive of the Byzantinist Georgios Lampakis, in particular, contains a plethora of information on the monuments as well as the Greek communities of Asia Minor of the early 20th century. The Archives, a significant tool for researchers, constitute a collection of individual archives, such as the Inscription Archive that preserves Greek inscriptions, originally found in churches and objects, now forever lost; the Correspondence Archive, consisting of letters by important agents of the Greek communities that shed light on the problems, the anxiety and the differences between the Greeks in the region; and the Archive of Journals from the journeys of Georgios Lampakis, which he did not succeed in publishing in his lifetime, and concern mainly Christian monuments of all periods. Georgios Lampakis, also on account of his position as Queen Olga’s private ....