The monastic community of Mount Athos, situated on the easternmost finger of the Halkidiki peninsula, is a religious community with a continuous history stretching from the Byzantine era to the present day.
In modern Greek, the community is commonly referred to as Agio Oros translating to 'Holy Mountain', while Mount Athos is used to denote the physical mountain and Athos Peninsula in respect to the peninsula.
Unique artifacts of great historical, spiritual and cultural significance are kept in the numerous libraries, archives, icon treasuries and sacristies of the historic monasteries and their dependencies.
The spiritual and cultural heritage, the unconquerable monastery buildings and the beauty of the athonite landscape beguiled local and foreign artists, since the 19th century. During the 20th century, artists such us Lykourgos Kogevinas, Spyros Papaloukas , Dimitris Gioldasis and Georgios Moschos visited the monastic community. Their works depict views of the monasteries, sketes, main churches [katholika] and scenes from the monastic life. The first photographs of Mount Athos date back to the middle 19th century. Many relevant illustrations can also be found in travel accounts of journeys to Greece and the Mediterranean.
The present virtual exhibition includes photos, depictions of the historic monasteries (paintings, prints, icons), archival material, codices, books, relics and other documents related to the important monastic center, a World Heritage Site, included in the UNESCO list since 1988.
The exhibition contains items from the following institutions:
