Parallel Actions

Ι. Exhibition «Шедевры Византии/ Byzantine Masterpieces».

The Exhibition was organized by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport and the Tretyakov Art Gallery and held in the Gallery’s historic main building in Moscow (08/02/2017 – 09/04/2017), with exclusive sponsor the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation. It was inaugurated by the Greek Ambassador to Moscow, His Excellency Andreas Phryganas, and the Cultural Attaché of the Greek Embassy in Moscow, Professor Dimitrios Gialamas. The Exhibition was visited by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

In connection with the Exhibition, on 7 April 2017 the event «Εικόνες και Ανθίβολα από τη Συλλογή Βελιμέζη ταξιδεύουν στη Ρωσία» (‘Icons and Drawings from the Velimezis Collection travel to Russia’) was organized in the amphitheatre of the Tretyakov Gallery, with speakers the Curator of the Exhibition and Researcher in the Department of Byzantine and Russian Art of the Τretyakov Gallery, Dr Elena Saenkova, and Messrs Christos Ph. Margaritis and Alexandros G. Makris.

II. Exhibition ‘TEMPLON. Holy figures, invisible gates of faith. 20th and 21st centuries’.

We organized the exhibition TEMPLON. Holy figures, invisible gates of faith. 20th and 21st centuries’ in the Museum of Byzantine Culture of Thessaloniki (27/10/2017). Its inauguration by the President of the Hellenic Republic Professor Prokopios Pavlopoulos was attended by representatives of the political, religious and academic world. The project was funded entirely by the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation.

Whilst the exhibition was in progress, we presented in the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation (7/12/2017) the accompanying volume of the same name.

Next, we presented the volume in Cyprus (ΡΙΚ, 25-1-2018) and in various cities in Greece:
-Athens, in collaboration with The Friends of the Benaki Museum (central building of the Museum, 8/2/2018)
-Patras (Cultural Organization of the Municipality of Patras, 16/3/2018)
-Kalampaka (N. Liapis Municipal Hall, 20/3/2018).
-Volos (Giorgio de Chirico Art Centre, 14/5/2018).

ΙII. MEMORIAL MEETING for Nikos Gavriil Pentzikis. ‘Mortals and saints in litany’.

In memory of Nikos Garvriil Pentzikis (1908-1993), in 2018, the year of the 25th anniversary of his death, we organized three one-day colloquia honouring his multifaceted oeuvre. For these events we collaborated with his son, the well-known literary figure Gavriil Nikos Pentzikis, as well as with distinguished scholars. The events were held in Piraeus, Athens and Thessaloniki, with the support of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation.

-in the hall of ceremonies of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation (Piraeus, 13-3-2018), with speakers: Nikolaos Graikos, Dimosthenis Davvetas, Christos Ph. Margaritis, Spyros Moschonas, Gavriil Nikos Pentzikis, Father Stamatis Skliris and artist Martha Mavroeidi (for the video of the event press here.)

-in the Melina Mercouri amphitheatre of the Museum of Byzantine Culture (Thessaloniki, 9-5-2018), with speakers: Nikolaos Graikos, Alexandros G. Makris. Christos Ph. Margaritis, Gavriil N. Pentzikis, Chrysostomos Stamoulis, Archimandrite Ephraim Triantaphyllopoulos, Georgios Tsigaras. (for the video of the event press here).

-in the central building of the Benaki Museum (Athens, 24-1-2019), in collaboration with The Friends of the Benaki Museum, with speakers: Christos Ph. Margaritis and Alexandros G. Makris.

IV. a. Inauguration of the permanent Exhibition of the Emilios Velimezis Icon Collection.

On Wednesday 23 October 2019, at 19.00 hours, His Excellency the President of the Hellenic Republic, Professor Prokopios Pavlopoulos, inaugurated the exhibition ‘Faith and Art. Selected Icons from the Collection of Emilios Velimezis and his successors’.

This special event was held in the Historical Library of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, in Piraeus.

In his address the President of the Foundation, Panos Laskaridis, thanked the donors Christos and Emilios Ph. Margaritis and Alexandros G. Makris for the honour of entrusting to the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation this rare Collection of Post-Byzantine Icons, formed by Emilios Velimezis, which the said donors continued to enrich with new acquisitions from purchases and gifts, with pricked cartoons (anthivola) and working drawings of painters of religious works, from the eighteenth century to the present.

IV. b. Presentation of the bilingual Album Ταξιδεύοντας με τις Εικόνες της Συλλογής Βελιμέζη/Travelling with the Icons of the Velimezis Collection», edited by Christos Ph. Margaritis.

The presentation of the Album took place in the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation on 24 October 2019, one day after the inauguration of the permanent Exhibition of Icons from the Velimezis Collection.

Members of the panel were Sophia Chiniadou-Kampani, Head of Cultural Affairs at the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic, journalist Nikos Xydakis and the editor of the publication Christos Ph. Margaritis.

The presentation was followed by a guided tour of the Exhibition of Icons, by Christos Ph. Margaritis, this time in his capacity as curator of the Emilios Velimezis Icon Collection and one of the donors of the Collection to the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation.

From December 2019, guided tours of the Exhibition are available, by arrangement with the Directorate of the Foundation.