Panorama Cultural Society

ANNUAL LECTURE 2010

Inauguration of a new Panorama institution,
the Annual Lecture,
on the occasion of the 25th anniversary
of the Panorama Cultural Society

The Parthenon: church, mosque, monument

Speaker: Garth Fowden

Research Professor, National Hellenic Research Foundation

At the new Acropolis Museum , the monuments of the Holy Rock (perceived thus across time) are presented up till the moment when the Parthenon temple was converted into the Parthenon church. One could hardly claim that the Byzantine Museum continues the story. And as for the Parthenon mosque…

We are heirs to a fundamentalist way of viewing the Acropolis that was conceived immediately after Greek Independence on 31 March 1833 and has led to the excision of nearly every element related to the Christian and Islamic phases. In the context of the current incubation of New Europe which is gradually forgetting its classical Graeco-Roman roots, while at the same time faced with the presence of Islam, once again within the walls, we will suggest a new approach to viewing this monument, which has suffered from a deceptive over-familiarity.

Festal event, Saturday, 18 December 2010

Lecture from 11:30 to 2:00, afterwards we will drink a glass of wine in honor of the year that is coming to a close.

Repeat lecture, Tuesday morning, 11 January 2011

Lecture from 11:00 to 1:30 , followed by a welcoming in of the New Year together.

REGISTRATION from Monday, 8 November.

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The four plans and the engraving by Dodwell (1805) are taken from the book by John Travlos, Πολεοδομική εξέλιξις των Αθηνών [The Urban development of Athens] (2nd edition, Ekdoseis Kapon, Athens 1993)