Hadrian – SvetaNYC http://svetanyc.com/ "Traveling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller" --Ibn Battuta Fri, 25 Mar 2016 14:38:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.1 Malta. July 2015 https://svetanyc.com/2015/07/malta/ https://svetanyc.com/2015/07/malta/#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2015 14:29:13 +0000 http://svetanyc.com/?p=2214 I chose Malta as my wedding venue! Yes, I chose the entire island where early Christian catacombs and Byzantine walls, Muslim streets and Norman towers, megalithic temples and Knights’ forts defined the world history for thousands of years. When D. and I started to plan our wedding, we considered a few options, however, it didn’t take...

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I chose Malta as my wedding venue! Yes, I chose the entire island where early Christian catacombs and Byzantine walls, Muslim streets and Norman towers, megalithic temples and Knights’ forts defined the world history for thousands of years. When D. and I started to plan our wedding, we considered a few options, however, it didn’t take us long to settle on Malta as it had everything we wished for and even more (and of course, D’s great-grandma was Maltese-born).

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Malta isn’t just another European island. Its history goes back to the 5000 B.C. blending together the cultures of ancient Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans etc. It is home to one of the oldest European Christian military orders – Maltese Order of Hospitallers of St. John the Baptist (dating back to 1023), three UNESCO World Heritage Sites and seven Megalithic Temples, which are considered to be the world’s oldest free-standing structures (way before the Egyptian Pyramids). Island’s rich history, beautiful sea, incredible archeological sites, authentic food and traditions as well as compact size (27 kms by 14 kms) made it a perfect vacation destination as well.

Literature and information sources:

  1. Lonely Planet Malta & Gozo
  2. “My Maltese Guide” app (both –iTunes and Google Apps)
  3. A Concise History of Malta by Carmel Cassar
  4. Malta: Pre-History and Temples by David H. Trump
  5. Malta: Phoenician, Punic and Roman by A. Bonanno
  6. Malta: The Medieval Millenium by Charles Dalli and Daniel Cilia
  7. Malta: The Order of St. John by Thomas Freller
  8. The Great Siege: Malta 1565 by Ernle Bradford
  9. Fortress Malta: An Island under Siege 1940-1943 by James Holland
  10. The Kappillan of Malta by Nicholas Monsarrat
  11. 5000 years of architecture of Malta by Leonard Mahoney

History. Tiny islands of Malta (which include Malta, Gozo and Comino) are treasure troves of historical events and prehistoric sights. The earliest evidence of human occupation here goes back to 5200 B.C. mainly by stone age hunters or farmers who had arrived, allegedly, from the Italian island of Sicily, possibly the Sicani (assumption is based on similar pottery designs found on both islands). A culture of megalithic temple builders arose from this early period. Around 3500 to 2500 B.C., these people built some of the most sophisticated, oldest existing, free-standing structures in the world in the form of the megalithic Ġgantija temples on Gozo and Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra on Malta. It was a seemingly peaceful era, perhaps due to the islands’ then geographical isolation, as no evidence of defensive structures remain. The temples have distinctive architecture, typically a complex trefoil design, and assumed to be used from 4000 to 2500 B.C. Another interesting archaeological feature of the Maltese islands often attributed to these ancient builders, are equidistant uniform grooves dubbed “cart ruts” which can be found in several locations throughout the islands with the most prominent being those found in an area named “Clapham Junction“. These may have been caused by wooden-wheeled carts eroding soft limestone. It is a mystery why the population died out: some theories are drought and famine, an epidemic or an attack from overseas – or perhaps a combination of these afflictions. Whatever the reason, mysterious “temple builders” disappeared from the Maltese islands around 2500 B.C. The temples fell into disrepair, and the Bronze Age culture that followed was completely different, including its practices (ex. cremation rather than burial), and artwork.

TemplesSea travel put Malta back on the map as it was impossible for ancient vessels to sail overnight or attempt long, continuous trips. Hence Malta was the ideal place to stop on a journey between mainland Europe, Eastern Mediterranean and Africa. From around 800 to 218 B.C. Malta was ruled by the Phoenicians and by Carthage, Phoenicia’s principal North African colony. Phoenicians inhabited the area now known as Mdina and Rabat which they called Maleth (“haven” or “port”). The direct legacy of that period is visible in contemporary Malta – islands’ colorful fishing boats (called luzzu or kajjik), which little changed from the Phoenician trading vessels, are decorated with watchful eyes painted on the prow.

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During the Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.) Rome took control of Malta before finally crashing Carthage in the Third Punic War (149-146 B.C.). Since then, Malta became Foederata Civitas, a designation that meant it was exempt from paying tribute and fell within the jurisdiction of the province of Sicily. However, Malta retained a strong Punic influence by speaking Punic language and minting coins with Punic motives and inscriptions in Ancient Greek. During the 1st century B.C. the island was mentioned by Pliny the elder and Diodorus Siculus: the latter praised its harbours, the wealth of its inhabitants, its lavishly decorated houses and the quality of its textile products. In 2nd century, Emperor Hadrian upgraded the status of Malta to municipium or free town: the island local affairs were administered by four magistrates and a municipal senate, while a Roman procurator, living in Mdina, represented the proconsul of Sicily. In 58 AD, Paul the Apostle was washed up on the islands together with Luke the Evangelist after their ship was wrecked on the islands. Paul remained on the islands for three months, preaching the Christian faith, which has since thrived on Malta. The islands seem to have prospered under the Roman rule. The Phoenician Maleth became a main Roman town Melita (modern Mdina), where excavated remains of town houses (ex. Domus Romana), villas, farms and baths suggest that the inhabitants enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle and occupied themselves with the production of olives, wheat, honey and grapes.

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In 395, after the last division of Roman Empire, Malta fell under the control of the Western Roman Empire, however in 533 Belisarius, on his way to conquer the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa, reunited the islands under Imperial Byzantine rule, where it remained until 870. The rapid expansion of Islam in the 7th to 9th centuries saw an Arab empire extend from Spain to India. The Muslim chronicler and geographer al-Himyari recounts that in 870, following a violent struggle against the occupying Byzantines, the Muslim invaders, first led by Halaf al-Hadim, and later by Sawada ibn Muhammad, looted and pillaged Maltese islands, destroying the most important buildings, and leaving them practically uninhabited until they were re-colonized by the Muslims from Sicily in 1048–1049. The Arab rulers tolerated the Christian population who were allowed freedom of religion; they had to pay jizya, a tax for non-Muslims, but were exempt from the tax that Muslims paid (zakat). The Muslims introduced new irrigation, some fruits and cotton and the Siculo-Arabic language which would eventually evolve into the Maltese language.  Apart from the names Malta and Gozo which are thought to have Latin roots, most Maltese place names date from Arab time.

In 1091 Normans captured Malta, as a part of their conquest of Sicily and for 400 years the histories of Maltese islands and Sicily were linked. Myth says that the Norman leader, Roger I of Sicily, was welcomed by the native Christians and reportedly tore off a portion of his checkered red-and-white banner and presented it to the Maltese – forming the basis of the modern flag of Malta in gratitude for having fought on his behalf. Despite the succession of powerful rulers (Normans, Angevins, Aragonese and Castilians) Malta remained a European backwater where small population of downtrodden islanders paid their taxes by trading, slaving and piracy and were re-paid in kind by the marauding Turks and barbary corsairs. This was the reality when the Knights of St. John arrived in 1530, having been given the islands (much to the islanders’ dismay) by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V; the Knights were to rule the islands until the arrival of the French in the 18th century.

In 1479 the marriage of Fernando II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile unified Spain thus Malta became part of the vast Spanish Empire. When their grandson, Charles V, came to power, one of the Europe’s greatest threats was the expanding Ottoman Empire of Suleiman the Magnificent. Sultan had already driven the Knights of St. John from their island stronghold of Rhodes (1522-1523). When the “homeless” Knights begged European leaders to find them a new home, Charles V offered them Malta along with the governship of Tripoli (Libya), hoping that they might help to contain the Turkish naval forces in the eastern Mediterranean. The nominal rent for this perpetual lease was to be two Maltese Falcons a year – one to the emperor and one for the viceroy of Sicily. 25 years later, in 1565 Malta will become a place of one of the mightiest battle between East and West, speaking of which Voltaire said, “Nothing is better known than the siege of Malta.”

Here, I will go into more details because the Great Siege of 1565 and presence of the Knights of St. John on Malta, shaped not only the destiny of the Maltese nation and islands’ topography, but also the future of European history (“The Great Siege: Malta 1565” by Earnle Bradford is a page-turning account on this topic). Grand Master Philippe Villiers de L’Isle Adam (1530-1534) of the Knights of St. John was not particularly impressed by the gift of the Maltese islands, which were barren, waterless and poorly defended. Equally unimpressed were the 12,000 or so locals, who were given no say in the matter; likewise the aristocracy, who remained aloof in their palazzi in Mdina. However, determined to make the best of a bad job and hoping one day to return to Rhodes, in 1530 the Knights settled not in the heart of the island but in the fishing village of Birgu (now Vittoriosa) on the south side of the Grand Harbour and set about fortifying their defences. While in Rhodes, the Knights had been a constant thorn in the side of the Ottoman Turks. In Malta their greatest adversary was the Turkish admiral Dragut Reis, who invaded Gozo in 1551 and carried off almost the entire population of 5,000 into slavery. Later, in 1559, the Knights lost half of their galleys in a disastrous attack on Dragut’s lair on the island of Djerba (Tunisia). With the power of the Knights at a low ebb, Suleiman the Magnificent saw an opportunity to polish off this troublesome Order, while at the same time capture Malta as a base for the invasion of Europe.

Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master between 1557 and 1568, was a stern disciplinarian and an experienced soldier. He foresaw the threat of a Turkish siege and prepared for it as well as he could, renewing Fort St. Angelo and building Fort St. Michael and Fort St. Elmo. The Knights’ galley fleet was hidden in a creek below Birgu, and a great chain was stretched across the harbour entrance between Fort St. Angelo and Fort St. Michael to keep out enemy vessels. Food, water and arms were stockpiled, and de Valette sent urgent requests for aid to the emperor, the pope and the viceroy of Sicily. No help came (even though many Knights of St. John from all over Europe came to his call, they got stranded in Sicily when its viceroy failed to provide with transportation). In May 1565, when an Ottoman fleet carrying more than 30,000 men (some accounts say it was almost 100,000 men) arrived to lay siege to the islands, de Valette was 70 years old and commanded a force of only 700 Knights and around 8,000 Maltese irregulars and mercenary troops. Turkish forces made three fatal mistakes:

  • they were jointly led by two very ambitions men with two different strategies and agendas – Admiral Piali, an experienced sailor and soldier and Mustafa Pasha, a son-in-law of Suleiman the Magnificent.
  • instead of going straight to the Grand Harbour and attacking the main forts, they chose to drop anchor in the south of the island, by the Bay of Marsaxlokk, hence delaying the attack.
  • they attacked Fort of St. Elmo first, it was the newest and the weakest of all Knights’ forts but it stood to the last soldier thus hindering Turkish plans on fast and speedy victory. It is important to remember that no ship could be at sea in the fall, as it was a dangerous season of sirocco.

Before the Turkish soldiers set up camps on the plain of Marsa near the Bay of Marsaxlokk, the entire population of Malta took refuge within the walls of Birgu, Isla and Mdina, taking their livestock with them and poisoning the wells and cisterns they left behind. The Turks began their campaign with an attack on Fort St. Elmo, which guarded the entrance to both Grand and Marsamxett Harbours. The fort was small, holding a garrison of only 60 Knights and a few hundred solders – Pasha was confident that it would fall in less than a week. However, despite continuous bombardment and repeated mass assaults on its walls, Fort St. Elmo held out for over four weeks and cost the lives of 8,000 Turks before it was taken. When the fort finally fell, Mustafa had the surviving knights decapitated and their bodies floated across the bay on mock crucifixes. In response, de Valette beheaded all his Turkish prisoners, loaded their heads into the cannons and fired them into the Turkish camp (according to the historical evidence, he regretted of doing it for the rest of his life).

Looking across at the looming bulk of Fort St. Angelo from the smoke and rubble of St. Elmo, Pasha is said to have muttered, “Allah! If a small son has cost us so dear, what price shall we have to pay for so large a father?” Then he began the final assault on the strongholds of Birgu and Isla, but each time, Turks were beaten back. Morale of the Ottoman army was drained by the long hot summer, their increasing casualties, and the impending possibility of having to spend the entire winter in Malta. The ferocity of their attacks decreased. On 7 September, the Knights’ long-promised relief force from Sicily finally arrived – 28 ships carrying some 8,000 men landed at Mellieha Bay and took command of the high ground around Naxxar as the Turks scrambled to embark their troops and guns at Marsamxett. However, seeing the unexpectedly small size of the relief force, Pasha ordered some of the troops to land at St. Paul’s Bay, while the rest marched towards Naxxar from Marsamxett. Instead, tired and demoralized Turkish soldiers ran for their galleys anchored in St. Paul’s Bay. Thousands were hacked to pieces in the shallow waters of the bay as they tried to escape. That night the banner of the Order of St. John few once again over the battered ruins of St. Elmo. Once you visit Fort St. Elmo in Valetta, remember the heroism of its defenders who for four weeks held Turks at bay and with their lives changed the course of European history.

The part played in the Great Siege by the ordinary people of Malta is often overlooked, but their courage and resilience was a deciding factor in the Turkish defeat. Besides the 5,000 or so strong defence force made up of Maltese soldiers, the local women and children contributed by repairing walls, supplying food and ammunition and tending the wounded. The date of the end of the siege, 8 September, is still commemorated in Malta as the Victory Day public holiday.

The period following the Great Siege was one of building – not only massive new fortifications and watchtowers (the Wignacourt, Lascaris and De Redin towers), but also churches, palaces and auberges. The military engineer Francesco Laparelli was sent to Malta by the pope to design the new defences of Valletta (a new city named after the hero de Valette and current capital of Malta), and Italian artists arrived to decorate its churches, chapels and palazzi. A pious Grand Master Jean de la Cassiere (1572-1581) oversaw the construction of the Order’s new hospital, the Sacra Infermeria, and the magnificent St. John’s Co-Cathedral. However, in later years, with the Turkish threat removed, the Knights occupied themselves less with militarism and monasticism, and more with piracy, commerce, drinking and duelling.

By the late 18th century around 3/4th of the Order’s income came from the Knights of the French langue; when, after the French Revolution, authorities confiscated all of the Order’s properties and estates in France, the Order was left in dire financial straits. In 1798 Napoleon arrived in Malta aboard his flagship L’Orient at the head of the French Navy, on his way to Egypt. After Knights refused Napoleon to dock his ships in the Grand Harbour, the French landed and captured the island with hardly a fight. On 11 June 1798 the Order surrendered to the French. Napoleon stayed in Malta for only six days (in the Palazzo de Parisio in Valetta), but when he left, L’Orient was weighed down with silver, gold, paintings and tapestries looted from the Order’s churches, auberges and infirmary. Most of this treasure went to the bottom of the sea a few months later when the Royal Navy under Admiral Nelson destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. The French also abolished the Maltese aristocracy, defaced coats of arms and closed down monasteries. Napoleon left behind a garrison of 4,000 men but very soon they were taken unaware by a spontaneous uprising of the Maltese and had to retreat within the walls of Valletta. With a help of British naval blockade, the French finally capitulated in September 1800 – and the British government, having taken Malta, was somewhat unsure what to do with it.

The Treaty of Amiens (March 1802) provided for the return of Malta to the Order of St. John, but the Maltese, fed up with lazy and troublemaking Knights, petitioned the British to stay. A new war between France and Britain forced the British government to change its mind regarding the potential usefulness of Malta and with the Treaty of Paris of 1814, the island was formally recognized as a Crown Colony of the British Empire and was used as a shipping way-station and fleet headquarters. After the Suez Canal opened in 1869, Malta’s position halfway between the Strait of Gibraltar and Egypt proved to be its main asset, and it was considered an important stop on the way to India, a central trade route for the British.

During WWI Malta served as a military hospital, providing 25,000 beds for casualties from the disastrous Gallipoli campaign in Turkey. But prices and taxes soared during the war and the economy slumped, causing riots and death of four Maltese citizens, shot by panicking British soldiers. In response, the British government gave the Maltese a greater say in the running of Malta, by creating a diarchic system of government, with a Maltese assembly presiding over local affairs and a British imperial government controlling foreign policy and defence. The Fascist threat of WWII was remote until the fall of France in June 1940. Thus Malta was unprepared and undefended when on 11 June, the day after Mussolini entered the war, Italian bombers attacked Grand Harbour. The only aircraft available on the islands at this time were three Gloster Gladiator biplanes – named Faith, Hope and Charity – whose pilots fought with such tenacity that Italian pilots estimated the strength of the Maltese squadron to be at least 25 aircrafts. It is mind boggling that those three planes battled on alone for three weeks before fleet of modern Hurricane fighters arrived to bolster the islands air defences. The remains of the sole surviving Gladiator – Faith, can be seen at Valletta’s National War Museum located in Fort St. Elmo.

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Malta’s greatest ordeal came in 1942, when the country came close to starvation and surrender. It suffered 154 days and nights of non-stop bombing and in April alone some 6700 tonnes of bombs were dropped on Grand Harbour and the surrounding areas. On 15 April, King George VI awarded the George Cross – Britain’s highest award for civilian bravery – to the entire population. Just as Malta’s importance to the Allies lay in disrupting enemy supply lines, so its major weakness was the difficulty of getting the supplies to the island. At the height of the siege in the summer of 1942 the governor made an inventory of remaining food and fuel, and informed London that Malta could only withstand until August. A huge relief convoy known as Operation Pedestal, consisting of 14 supply ships escorted by 3 aircrafts carriers, 2 battleships, 7 cruisers and 24 destroyers, was dispatched to run the gauntlet of enemy bombers and submarines. It suffered massive attacks, and only 5 ships made it into Grand Harbour – the crippled oil tanker Ohio, with its precious cargo of fuel, limped in on 15 August, lashed between two warships as it no longer could float on its own.

In July 1943 Malta served as the operational headquarters and air support base for Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, and the Italian Navy finally surrendered, to the Allies on 8 September. Fortress Malta is a fantastic account of the lives and deaths of the Maltese people during the WWII. As a Belarusian, whose country suffered enormous losses and buried every 4th of its citizens in WWII, I was surprised and inspired to learn about the importance of this small island for the Allies and the immense heroism shown by the Maltese people.

WWII left the islands with 35,000 homes destroyed and the population on the brink of starvation, the economic slump called for either closer integration with Britain or for island’s independence. Maltese chose the second and in 1964 became an independent republic. In 1980 they adopted a policy of neutrality and in 1989 Malta hosted a summit between US President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, their first face-to-face encounter, which signaled the end of the Cold War.

Equipped with all this historical information, get ready to explore the Maltese islands. They are indeed small but don’t let the size fool you, as it is impossible to see them all in just a few days! Oh wait, perhaps it is possible if you get in touch with Stephen Place at My Maltese Guide. While panning the destination wedding and hoping to provide our guests with the most comprehensive Maltese experience, I reached out to Stephen and he has been an invaluable source of information and help. I might even admit that he has done more for me than my own wedding planner, who got generously paid for her services! Stephen came up (and fully organized) with two unique itineraries for Malta and Gozo and managed to accommodate the requests of all 35+ people who joined those tours. To complicate the situation, everything had to be done in two languages – English and Russian – but even this didn’t stop Stephen, he personally led the English group and found a fantastic tour-guide Anna to take over the Russian-speaking guests. I bow my head to you, Stephen, and after all you’ve done for me and D, I am happy to call you my new friend!

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Another good and economical way to see the islands is to take one of Malta Sightseeing buses. They run two routes in Malta (North in blue and South in red) and one in Gozo and cover many of Malta’s sights. They start in Sliema, cost €20 each and take about 3 hours to complete, but you can hop on and off anytime you want. I did it on my last day of the trip, as even after 3 weeks in Malta, I still felt that I haven’t covered/seen it all. I found the routes to be very well planned and the audio guide very helpful in learning about the island.

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The islands have a very well connected network of public buses that take you to pretty much any place in the country, but if you need a taxi, use only www.ecabs.com.mt. To our sad amusement we realized that many taxi drivers (who must be called in) didn’t speak English and didn’t even know the island well, add a not-so-friendly attitude and you’ve get a pretty unattractive experience. So, follow my advice and book an ecab (with a notice)!

I won’t be talking about my trip to Malta in chronological order, as I usually prefer to do, but in geographical one, simply because many of our 15 days in Malta we spent organizing the wedding: visiting the venues, arranging pre-wedding drinks, activities, etc. So I have separated our experience by locations and events and would like to start with one of the most touristic parts of the island – Paceville (reads “Pacheville), St. Julians and Sliema. Those three towns, flanking the eastern coast of Malta, despite their lack of interesting things to see or any major beach to speak of (except for a small St. George’s bay beach) – are the bustling area to stay, promenade, eat, drink, shop and party on the island. St. Julians is home to two best hotels in Malta – Hilton and The Westin Dragonara Resort, where we chose to spend part of our time on the island.

Prior to its transformation, the Dragonara Hotel served other purposes. Originally it was the summer residence of Malta’s wealthiest banker, Marquis Emanuel Scicluna, known as ic-Cisk. In times of war, the palace was converted into a military hospital and headquarters of voluntary services. It was redeveloped as a casino, and since the 1990s run as a Resort by Westin Hotels. Located on its own peninsular, it offers several safe water entrances (note that most of Malta’s coast is rocky), 3 pools and plenty of unique coves to seclude yourself from the crowds.

DragonaraWe’ve fully enjoyed all the facilities at the hotel, including its Executive lounge, the ORVM lounge and Piano bar where we hosted our pre-wedding reception, Palio’s restaurant and the Bedouin bar, where our wedding guests relocated for the after-hours.

DragOnce you leave the gates of the Dragonara, you are in a world of shopping malls, discos and restaurants. If you forgot your bathing suit, need a Maltese sim card or simply want to join a party – head to the streets of St. Julians. We tried two wonderful eateries there – Gozitan (try a local rabbit dish) and Il Lokalino that serves simple yet delicious food and excellent fresh-squeezed juices. Paranga Restaurant on the beach was nice too, it was conveniently located between Paceville and St. Julians, right on St. George’s beach.

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The best way to get a feel of this place is to walk, as I did the day before my wedding when I got totally fed up with the planning. I packed my sunblock, loaded my camera and walked along the Mediterranean Sea waterfront from The Westin Dragonara to Valletta – a beautiful 8+ km walk. On this scenic route, you will see the beautiful green-blue bays and bare rocky beaches, lavish lidos (private pools with sun lounges, bars and water sports) and old watchtowers, churches and shopping centers, tourists and locals, but if you are lucky or if it is really hot outside – no tourists at all. None of the towns have clearly defined boarders, or so it seems; so Paceville slowly becomes St. Julians and the latter eventually grows into Sliema. However, Sliema has a more exclusive and sophisticated feel than others, and has been long associated with the Maltese upper class. Its elegant backstreets remain largely residential and the busy waterfront is dotted by some exceptional eateries.

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Tigné Point, a promontory east of Sliema was one of the sites where the Turkish commander Dragut Reis ranged his cannons to pound Fort St. Elmo into submission during the Great Siege in 1565. The tip of the Tigné peninsula is still known as Dragut Point and it is home to the previously neglected Tigné  Fort, built in 1792 by the Knights of st. John. Right in this area we decided to host our pre-wedding dinner at The Chophouse restaurant that served great food and offered one of the most fantastic views of the Marsamxett Harbour and Valletta.

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I also got to stay for one night at Le Meridien in Sliema and even though many locals advised me not, claiming that the hotel was outdated and not as good as it used to be, I really enjoyed it. First of all, as a Platinum SPG member I’ve got one of the largest suites I’ve ever stayed at, but also the hotel was located in a very picturesque Il-Balluta Bay where you can swim into the sea straight from the staircase and of course, because of the famous Le Meridien Myoka Spa where I’ve got to experience one of the best massages of my life. I would definitely stay at this place again!

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Le merdThe closer to Valletta you get, the more residential and commercial area becomes; it is sort of a mix of totally dilapidated mansions, middle-class apartment buildings and different sort of facilities, from pharmacies to garages. It is all fascinating until you glance over the Marsamxett Harbour and see the Valletta’s formidable city walls, it will take your breath away!

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Valletta – a tiny capital of Malta (measuring 600m by 1000m and home to about 6,500 people) is a treasure chest. Just like everything in Malta, it might seem small, but I bet you won’t be able to see everything in one or even two days. I will speak of Valletta in two parts – as a visit on our own and then as a part of a Tour of Malta with Stephen Place. The building of a city on the Sciberras Peninsula had been proposed by the Order of St. John as early as 1524. Back then, the only building on the peninsula was a small watchtower St. Elmo, which had been built in 1488. In 1552, it was replaced by the larger Fort St. Elmo (story of which I’ve already told in the Great Siege of 1565). After the victory over the Ottomans, Grand Master de Valette set out to build there a new fortified city to reinforce the Order’s position in Malta and bind the Knights to the island. On 28 March 1566 de Valette placed the first stone in what later became Our Lady of Victories Church and Valletta appeared on the map.

Francesco Laparelli was the city’s principal designer and his plan departed from medieval Maltese architecture, which exhibited irregular winding streets and alleys. He designed the new city on a rectangular grid plan, and without any collacchio (an area restricted for important buildings). The streets were designed to be wide and straight, beginning centrally from the City Gate and ending at Fort Saint Elmo (which was rebuilt) overlooking the Mediterranean. Completed in early 1570s, Valletta became Malta’s capital, an elegant “city build by gentlemen for gentlemen”. Unfortunately, Valletta and harbours were heavily bombed during the WWII, nevertheless, UNESCO named it a World Heritage Site in 1980, describing it as “one of the most concentrated historic areas in the world”. Smartly and tastefully renovated, the architecture of Valletta’s streets and piazzas ranges from mid-16th century Baroque to Modernism; it is the island’s principal cultural centre and has a unique collection of churches, palaces and museums.

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We arrived to Valletta by taxi with a goal to explore the wharfs, Upper and Lower Barrakka Gardens and Fort St. Elmo with its National War Museum. We also had plenty of time to wonder around the hilly streets of Valletta and walked its main pedestrian Triq ir-Repubblika (Republic Street).

We started at the beautiful Pinto Wharf, a place of the Cruise liners’ mooring and home to a mid-18th century shopping center. To our left and right, we could see one of the most beautiful baroque architectural waterfronts along Grand Harbour’s shores. These stores were financed and built by Grand Master Emanuel Pinto (1741-1773) in 1752. Over the years, this complex served as Government storage facility during emergencies and exigencies. In 1827, due to the Battle of Navarino, many Russian ships stopped over for a prolong period of time and in order for the Customs to cope with related shiploads of supplies, one warehouse was given to the Russians and was subsequently known as the “Russian Government Magazine” (‘magazine’ means “shop” in Russian). During WWII, the wharf was severely damaged but was recently restored and is used for commercial purposes and as a promenade. There is also a chapel, flanked by stores on both sides, which is dedicated to the “Holy Family on its Flight into Egypt”. It was also built by Grand Master Pinto in 1752 to serve the people living and working in the area. The Chapel was extensively damaged on 16 January 1941 during the air raid on H.M.S. Illustrious but has been restored in 1988 and once again it is serving its parishioners.

PintoFrom Pinto Wharf, via Lascaris Wharf, we continued towards the Upper Barrakka Gardens and Saluting Battery. There is a lift that takes you up to the Garden level and you do have to pay (€2) only if you are going up. Upper Barrakka Gardens (allow 45-60 mins) are a public garden (hence – it is free) twinned with the Lower Barrakka Gardens located just 300m to the east. It is situated on the upper tier of St. Peter & Paul Bastion, which was built in the 1560s, while the lower tier contains the Saluting Battery. It is the highest point of the city walls, thus its bordering terrace offers the most breathtaking views over the Grand Harbour, the Three Cities, as well as over the shipyard and the lower-lying parts of the capital. The garden’s terraced arches were built in 1661 by the Italian knight Fra Flaminio Balbiani as a place of recreation to the Knights of the Italian langue of the Order of St. John, but were opened to the public following the end of the French occupation of Malta in 1800. They were originally roofed, but the ceiling was removed following the Rising of the Priests in 1775.

BarrakkaIn the park there are several monuments and memorials to a number of prominent people, including Gerald Strickland, Sir Thomas Maitland and Sir Winston Churchill, as well as a replica of the statue Les Gavroches (The street boys) by the Maltese sculptor Antonio Sciortino.

GardenThe bastion’s lower tier contains the Saluting Battery (€3 entry which includes a very useful audio guide) – a real artillery battery that gun-salutes every day at 12.00 and 16.00. During the siege of 1565, Ottoman forces mounted cannon on the Sciberras Peninsula to bombard the Knights in Fort St Angelo. One of the siege batteries was located close to where the Saluting Battery is now, since the area is on high ground and has clear views of St. Angelo and the rest of the Grand Harbour. During the Order’s rule in Malta, the battery was used for both military and ceremonial purposes. By the late 18th century, the battery was armed with sixteen 12-pounder bronze cannons that fired stone spherical shots. Between then and the beginning of WWII, the guns were added and their purpose has been changing all the time, but in 1939 the guns were all removed to be deployed for coastal defence. A single Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gun was placed on the right salient of the battery to protect the Malta Dockyard. During the war, the Lascaris War Rooms were built in tunnels dug under the battery and gardens, which were severely damaged by the air bombardments. After the war, the damage to the battery and gardens was repaired and in 1965, the part of the battery that was still military property was handed over to the civil government and the whole area was turned into a garden. In 2004 the Malta Heritage Trust, acquired the battery and began to restore it to its late 19th century configuration. It now has working cannons, artillery stores, a gunpowder magazine, a collection of historic ordinance and a small museum. We did consider this place as our wedding venue in Malta and if I had another chance, I would have totally been sold on this idea!

Saluting batterFollowing the Barriera Wharf along the southern shore, we proceeded to the Lower Barrakka Gardens, situated on the bastions overlooking the entrance to the Grand Harbour and the Breakwater. There are two monuments in the gardens, one dedicated to Alexander Ball and another in remembrance of the Great Siege of Malta. The prominent feature of the Gardens is the neo-classical temple folly at the center of the park, but it is also a very nice and relaxing place to hang out, refuel and get some shade from the burning summer sun.

lowerA starred-shaped Fort St. Elmo stands on the seaward shore of the Sciberras Peninsula that divides Marsamxett Harbour from Grand Harbour, and commands the entrances to both harbours along with Fort Tigné and Fort Ricasoli. Ticket is €10 and includes entrances to Fort St. Elmo, National War Museum, Prison cells and Cavalier. Please allow 1.5-2 hours.

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I have already mentioned about the Fort’s importance during the Great Siege of 1565, however, its role didn’t diminish with a construction of Valletta and fort’s integration within the city walls. The fort was modified a number of times in the 17th century by the Knights of St. John and in the early 19th century by the British, when a musketry parapet was built. Its military legacy didn’t end with Ottoman attack, as it was the site of the first aerial bombardment of Malta on 11 June 1940 when 6 RMA gunners lost their lives – they were the first victims of WWII. It also played an essential part in the defeat of the Italian seaborne attack of 26 July 1941 on the Grand Harbour. Parts of the fort were severely damaged during the war and some scars of the bombing can still be seen to this day. The Royal Malta Artillery left the fort on 26 March 1972, ending its long military history and after many years of restoration, the Fort was re-opened in 2015.

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Since 1975 part of the Fort houses National War Museum, which contains a superb collection of items from pre-historic to modern times displayed in chronological order, starting with the early phases of the Bronze Age around 2,500 B.C. But before we enter the Museum, let me walk you through the Fort.

After buying our tickets and passing by a row of Casemates to our right, we entered the Fort through La Porta del Soccorso – during the Great Siege of 1565 supplies and men from Birgu (a town across the Grand Harbour) were brought in through this sally gateway under cover of darkness to never leave this fort again. The gate is decorated with 3 coats of arms and a mystery eye, which appears to be scanning the horizon for storms or an enemy. Traditionally, the eye represents royal power, good health and protection.

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As you walk in to your left is a small chapel of St. Anne which housed an icon of the saint which had been brought to Malta in 1530 by Knights aboard the Carracca St. Anna. The chapel was the final battleground of the Great Siege of 1565 – knights and chaplains were slaughtered here as they defended the altar. It is a tranquil and inspiring place to take a moment and say a prayer for all souls lost in wars.

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Then we came to the main square called Piazza D’Armi & Church of St. Anne, where multiple buildings (named “Blocks”) house the collection of the National War Museum.

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We began our journey at “Block C” exhibiting items from Prehistory to late Middle Ages. Tools and weapons used by Malta’s early inhabitants are displayed together with information relating to the material culture of the people who used and fashioned them.

Block CBlock O contains the galleries related to military history of the Knights of St. John, Great Siege of 1565 and the pivotal role Fort St. Elmo played in defending Malta from Ottoman invaders.

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Two Blocks FO-K host the exhibits telling the stories of the People’s War and Maltese courage and tenacity during WWII. Displayed in these halls are three most important icons of the museum –  the only surviving Gloster Sea Gladiator “Faith”, Roosevelt’s Jeep “Husky” and Malta award for gallantry, the George Cross. The exhibit also concentrates on the stories of supply convoys that helped in Malta’s heroic struggle during the darkest years of the war.

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From there we proceeded to the Dungeons, which were always a part of the Fort and served, initially, to discipline members of the Order of St. John. It was later used as a prison for knights, chaplains or servants-at-arms and then for political prisoners such as Mustafa Pasha of Rhodes (1749) and the rebels of the 1775 “Priest’s Uprising”. These prison cells tell the story of Malta’s nationhood, from independence in 1964, to becoming a republic in 1974, the closure of the British military base in 1979, and joining the EU in 2004. Recent restoration found in dungeons and some other parts of the Fort stone inscriptions, dating to as far as the times of the Knights.

DungeonsOne side of Piazza D’Armi is occupied by a large Church of St. Anne. Built by Grand Master Perellos, this garrison church was dedicated to St. Anne and housed an icon of the Blessed Virgin brought to Malta from Rhodes by the Knights in 1530.

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The Fort has a very interesting interactive 3D film about its history, and I have to admit that I’ve never met more accommodating attendants than there, they were very kind to fill us in with the details about the fort and show us not so obvious sites (like the wall inscriptions).

We left the Fort around 17.30 and spent a few hours just wondering the streets of Valletta, making photographs and taking in the unique ambience of this beautiful city – old palazzos, auberges, residential buildings, embassies, narrow streets. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to visit neither St. John Co-Cathedral – Malta’s most famous church and last resting place of all the Grand Masters nor the National Museum of Archeology. The former was closed (perhaps for renovation) and for the latter we simply didn’t have enough time. But there is always another time!

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Attard, Mosta & Hal Saflieni Hypogeum (Paola). It might seem that I randomly picked these “off-beaten path” places in the middle of the island, however, they absolutely deserve to be discovered by the travelers. Attard has been inhabited since the Classical Period and takes its name from the Arabic “Atr” meaning “perfume” due to town’s abundance of gardens, ornamental trees and flowers. During the 1980s Attard experienced a boost in development, however the area surrounding the church and the Sant’Anton Quarter features a number of converted farmhouses (recognizable by their wooden doors and flat, rustic roofs) and residences built by the Knights of St John.

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One of the places to visit is The San Anton Palace and Gardens. It owes its origin to the Knight Antoine de Paule, a French knight from the Langue de Provence, who was elected the 54th Grand Master in 1623. De Paule (who also founded Paola in 1626) acquired a sizable plot of land near Attard and set about building a country villa which would be nearer to Valletta than Verdala Palace (Knight’s official summer residency). He planned a generously sized chateau to provide accommodation for his guests and for his large domestic staff which included cooks, food tasters, torch bearers, pantry boys, wig makers, a winder of the clocks, and physicians, as well as a baker to make black bread for his hunting dogs. The Grand Master named the villa ‘Sainte Antoine’ after his patron saint, Anthony of Padua. De Paule also provided the palace with a private chapel dedicated to the Madonna del Pilar with a vault decorated with the coats-of-arms of Grand Masters. He designed a symmetrical walled garden that consisted of mostly orange groves, fruits of which he sent as gifts to those he desired to honor.

Successive Grand Masters used the place as their country-residence but Sant’Anton has also greeted numerous royalties across the centuries, including Queen Marie of Romania, the Russian Empress Maria Feodorovna, King Edward VII and Queen Elizabeth II. It has seen the most distinguished visitors in contrasting personal situations – Napoleon’s younger brother Louis Bonaparte as a prisoner, the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge as an admiring recluse. After the French occupation the Palace was the seat of the Maltese National Assembly. It later became the residence of the Governor of Malta and since 1974 Sant’Anton Palace has been the Official residence of the President of Malta. So it is out of reach for mortals like you and I, however the gardens of San Anton, part of which have been open to the public since 1882, have officially re-opened in 2015 for everyone to visit. They are laid out in a formal manner, with graceful walkways, sculptures, ornamental ponds, families of ducks and swans, and a small aviary. The gardens contain a large variety of trees and flowers from around the world, including a variety of palm trees, cypress, jacarandas, araucarias and other exotic plants, some of which are over three centuries old. For many years it has been customary for visiting Heads of State to plant a tree in memory of their stay in Malta. The gardens also contain an orangery, and following the tradition started by de Paule it was the practice of incumbent Governors to give baskets of oranges grown in the palace gardens as gifts at Christmas time.

Another important place to visit is Villa Bologna – a Maltese stately home, built in opulent Baroque style. Villa Bologna has been called “the most beautiful 18th century country house to be built for a Maltese family” and “of similar grandeur to the finest palaces on the island”. It is as interesting for its history as it is remarkable for the beauty of its architecture and gardens, which, together with the neighboring San Anton Gardens, are the largest historic gardens in Malta. Once the seat of the Counts della Catena, Villa Bologna is now held by the great-grandson of the 6th count Gerald Strickland, 1st Baron Strickland. Built during the rule of the Order of St. John, expanded during the British colonial period and currently undergoing revival, Villa Bologna is a comprehensive record of the architectural, artistic, cultural, social and political history of Malta in the two and a half centuries since it was built.

Villa Bologna was constructed, by Fabrizio Grech, in 1745 as a gift for his daughter Maria Teresa Grech on her marriage to Nicholas Perdicomati Bologna, later the 2nd Count della Catena. Fabrizio Grech was both sindaco of the Maltese Università and uditore, or advisor, to Grand Master Pinto, which made him an immensely wealthy and influential man. A story, much repeated but never substantiated, has it that he was provoked into building a residence of surpassing beauty and magnificence for his daughter by aspersions cast by his new in-laws on his social standing. This is unlikely. Whatever the case may be, Nicholas Perdicomati Bologna and Maria Teresa Grech got married on 25 April 1745 and received Villa Bologna as thier wedding present. Nicholas was succeeded by their youngest daughter Angela Perdicomati Bologna (the 4th Countess), who married Baron Sciberras and the title, together with entail and the Villa passed on to their son Nicholas Sciberras Bologna in 1798. After the death without a will of Nicholas Sciberras Bologna, in 1875, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council awarded the title and lands, including Villa Bologna to Gerald Strickland, the great-grandson of Angela Perdicomati Bologna.

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Gerald Strickland, now Gerald Bologna Strickland 6th Count della Catena, later also raised to the peerage of the United Kingdom as Baron Strickland of Sizergh, was to usher in a new age for Villa Bologna. He was also the most politically influential native of Malta in its history. The son of Walter Strickland, a British naval officer of a family of landholding gentry descended in part from the Plantagenet and Norman kings through Edward III, Lord Strickland had a spectacular political career and held many political offices in both Malta (he was elected Head of Ministry, office equivalent to that of Prime Minister), and around the British Empire (he had a seat in the House of Lords). He was also appointed governor of a number of British colonies, the only colonial ever to hold such an office.

Lord Strickland also made two highly advantageous marriages. In 1890, he married Lady Edeline Sackville-West, the daughter of the 7th Earl de la Warr. Lady Edeline gave him eight children, including the Hon. Mary Constance Strickland, the Hon. Cecilia Victoria Strickland and the Hon. Mabel Edeline Strickland. Of the two boys born to Lord Strickland, neither survived infancy. During these years, Lord Strickland held numerous governorships of British colonies around the British Empire and, while the family was absent from Villa Bologna, he generously allowed an order of religious nuns to occupy the villa until the family returned to Malta. Lady Edeline died in 1918 and in 1926, Lord Strickland married Margaret Hulton, daughter of the newspaper magnate Edward Hulton. It was Lady Strickland who was to modernize Villa Bologna and, together with her friend Count Giuseppe Teuma Castelletti, she extended the gardens far beyond their original limits, raised the walls of the property and decorated them with crenels. She added turrets, planted hundreds of trees, many of exotic species, and laid out fountains and ponds of unique character and beauty. If Fabrizio Grech had built a fabulous villa, it was Lady Strickland who transformed it into a horticultural paradise.

In 1940, Lord Strickland died and, for the first time since its construction, the ownership of Villa Bologna was estranged from the Catena title. The title passed on to the son of Lord Strickland’s eldest daughter, while Villa Bologna passed on to Gerald Edmund Hubert de Trafford (1929-2015), the eldest son of the Hon. Cecilia Victoria Strickland with her husband Captain Hubert de Trafford. After the death of Gerald in 2015, his son, Jasper inherited Villa Bologna and is now its current owner, the seventh of his line. This Anglo-Maltese family is of great interest to students of History and Genealogy. Not only is its forebear, Lord Strickland, unique in the annals of British Colonial History, but through the intermarriage of Stricklands, de Traffords and the descendants of the Perdicomati Bolognas they blend some of the most notable English blood with that of a glittering constellation of European royal families.

Villa Bologna is a palatial country house typical of the Mediterranean Baroque. Though regally splendid in its own right, it is through its gardens that it acquires a character that is absolutely unique in the annals of Maltese architecture. The gardens of Villa Bologna were laid out in two phases. The original garden, better known as the Baroque Garden, dates back to the original construction in 1745. This garden was laid out in the traditional style with a symmetrical layout and citrus trees throughout. Later on, lawns were added and exotic trees were planted. This garden is remarkable for its nymphaea, one large and one small, the larger of which is said to be one of the best examples of the use of rocaille in Malta. Its rocaille includes gagazza, coral-like material, and real seashells. Rusticated columns frame the niches and panels while figures drawn from Classical mythology, or personifications of nature, fill the fountain. There are also dolphins serving as waterspouts and Nereids serving as caryatids. On top of the fountain are busts of the four seasons. Over the fountain is a carving of the face of Neptune and the main panels contained statues of Bacchus and Pan. The Baroque Gateway is less complex but no less imposing. On the left side of the gate is a statue of Cleopatra over which is the reclined figure of the god of river Nile. On the other side of the gate is a statue of Mark Antony and above this statue is the reclined figure of the god of the river Tiber. The gateway, beautiful as it is, comes into its own when one looks through it towards the west, upon which it appears to frame the large Nymphaeum to ravishing effect.

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*picture by Alexey Leonov (One Special Day)

The New Garden was laid out by Lady Strickland after she married Lord Strickland in 1926. An Englishwoman, Lady Strickland came from a culture that reveres gardens and, being extremely wealthy in her own right, she was able to indulge her passion for gardens by letting her imagination run wild on the grounds of Villa Bologna. She planted Malta’s first grapefruit and avocado trees, an exotic vegetable garden, including asparagus, and cherry trees as well as tangerines. But perhaps the most spectacular additions were the Dolphin Pond and the Sunken Pond, two ponds that, for beauty and character, have no equal in Malta.

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In the middle of the the Dolphin Pond is the statue of a boy embracing a swan from whose beak springs a fountain of water. In each corner of the pond, a toad spouts water into the pond. Soaring on columns around the pond are four arches meeting on the corners of a rectangle just above the pond. On each arch is a stone dolphin carved in the Baroque style.

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As you have already guessed, I spent so much time talking about Villa Bologna because D and I were married there. We thought that the story behind Villa Bologna, its heritage and most importantly, its beauty resonated well with our high requirements. We couldn’t have been happier to host our families and friends at this absolutely gorgeous venue. But ….. The Gardens at Villa Bologna are also open for public (€6), so you might as well spend an afternoon there.

Just 4 kms from Attard is a small but mysterious town of Mosta, associated not with one but with two inexplicable events that happened there. The first miracle of Mosta is associated with a small Speranza Chapel (‘Speranza’ meaning ‘hope’), which was built between 1760 and 1761. A legend says that a few sisters were herding their family’s sheep when Turks attacked the island. While all other sisters escaped, the youngest one couldn’t follow them as she was born lame. Instead she hid in a cave (which was found on the left side under the Chapel), and prayed to Our Lady promising her that, if she was to get out of there alive, she would build a chapel in her name. When the Turkish invaders chasing her pass by the cave, they failed to look inside as the entrance was all covered with miraculously appeared spider web.

The second miracle of Mosta is related to the Rotunda of Mosta (Mosta Dome) – The Parish Church of Santa Maria. Designed by the Maltese architect Giorgio Grognet de Vasse and built between 1833-1860, it is a remarkable circular church, closely based on the Pantheon in Rome, with one of the world’s largest domes, visible from most parts of Malta. With a diameter of 39,6 m, its interior is stunningly decorated with blue, gold and white. On 9 June 1942, Mosta Dome took a direct hit from a German bomber, while 300 people gathered inside for a Mass. Two bombs bounced off and landed in the square without exploding. The third bomb pierced the dome, smashed off a wall and rolled across the floor of the church. Miraculously, no one was hurt and the bomb failed to detonate. A replica of the 200kg bomb can still be seen in the sacristy of the Church.

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Another “must visit” site in Malta is located in a small, and somewhat sleepy town of Paola. Founded by the Grand Master Antoine de Paule (the same Master who built Sant’Anton Villa) in 1626, it is home to a group of megalithic temples, called Kordin Temples, which were built around 3700 B.C. and abandoned after 2500 B.C., the Malta’s largest parish church and Mariam Al-Batool Mosque, the only mosque in Malta. It is also a place that conceals two of Malta’s post important pre-historic sites, both of which have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List – the remarkable Tarxien Temples (pronounced tar-sheen) which represent Malta’s most complex network of temples (they were unfortunately closed for public) and Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, a 6,000 year old subterranean necropolis. Tickets (€30 per person) must be purchased via www.heritagemalta.org far in advance (I acquired ours 3 months before the visit) as entrance is allowed at scheduled times and only as an organized guided tour with no more than 6 people at the time. No photos allowed!

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Under the crowded streets of housing south of Paola Square, built around 1900, lies a unique monument. The Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum is an underground prehistoric burial complex made up of interconnecting rock-cut chambers set on three distinct levels which cover some 500 sq. m. Earliest remains at the site date back to about 4000 B.C., and it is known that the complex was used over a span of many centuries, up to c. 2500 B.C. and contained an estimated 7,000 bodies. The ancient workers mimicked built masonry in carving out these underground chambers, and exploited the rock’s natural weaknesses and strengths to carve out the spaces by hand and create a safe underground structure.

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*picture is taken from www.heritagemalta.org

The uppermost level consists of a large hollow with burial chambers on its sides. This hollow was probably originally exposed to the sky and excavations in the early 1990s indicate that there might also have been a monumental structure marking the entrance.

A doorway leads to the Middle Level, which contains some of the best known features of the Hypogeum such as the intricate red ochre wall paintings and the beautifully carved features in imitation of architectural elements common in contemporaneous Megalithic Temples. This level features several apparently important rooms:

  • Main Chamber – carved out from rock in a roughly circular shape with a number of trilithon entrances, some of which are blind, and others – leading to another chamber. Most of the wall surface has received a red wash of ochre. It was in this room that the famous statuettes of the sleeping lady were recovered.
  • Oracle Room is rectangular and one of the smallest side chambers. According to our guide (and we tried it) it produces a powerful acoustic resonance from any vocalization made inside it. This room has an elaborately painted ceiling, consisting of spirals in red ochre with circular blobs.
  • Decorated Room (just out of the Oracle’s Room) is another spacious hall, circular, with inward slanting smooth walls, richly decorated in a geometrical pattern of spirals. On the right side wall of the entrance is a petrosomatoglyph of a human hand carved into the rock.
  • Snake Pit – a 2 m deep pit which could have been used for either keeping snakes or collecting alms.
  • Holy of Holies room which focal point is a porthole within a trilithon, or structure consisting of two large vertical stones, which is in turn framed within a larger trilithon and yet another large trilithon. The corbelled ceiling has been taken as a hint that Malta’s surface temples, now uncovered, could have been roofed similarly.

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The deepest of the three levels is known as the Lower Level, which is accessed down seven steps in the ‘Holy of Holies’ chamber. The end of the site appears to have been quite sudden, as enlargement of the chambers was interrupted, and perhaps that lower level would have been brought into more obvious use if the temple culture had survived a little longer.

We can only guess at the activities in this mysterious place. The burials are obvious, though the actual funeral rites less so. We might assume that the bodied were placed, probably in a crouched position, in the side chambers, together with their personal possessions (many of which were discovered at the site). Even in this vast labyrinth there is hardly space for 7,000 complete corpses, or even skeletons, so almost certainly bones, as they fell apart were pushed to the back to make room for their successors, their descendants, century after century. The central chambers doubtless witnessed religious ceremonies, honoring both the dead and the gods, though nobody any longer remembers those ceremonies or can recover them. The reverberations of the Oracle Room may well have played a part here. The cast cistern to one side, certainly contemporary though kept open for use until much later than the rest of the site, as its contents showed, provided water for use in those ceremonies. The baffling problems of interpretation merely add to the mystery, and to the powerful feeling of religious awe this remarkable monument inspires.

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* source www.malta.com

Discovered in 1902 during construction works, the site was first excavated by Fr Emmanuel Magri between 1904 and 1906, however when Fr Magri died in Tunisia he didn’t leave any notes behind him. Excavations were taken over by Sir Themistocles Zammit, who continued works until 1911. The visit, about 50 minutes long, starts with a brief exhibit and multilingual film, which provides an introduction before you descend into the dimply lit, mysterious and silent world that lies beneath. There were talks about closing the Hypogeum for tourists as people’s presence provokes a speedy deterioration of artifacts, however, you might still be lucky and visit this amazing site.

On July 3, 2015 D and I got married in Villa Bologna and to celebrate this occasion, besides the wedding and the after-party at the Bedouin Bar, we hired a catamaran for the sunset cruise of Malta (which coincided with the US Independence Day – July 4). We used Tip Top One Day Cruise Malta and couldn’t have been happier with service, food and drinks. It was one of the highlights of our, and ours guests, time in Malta. We embarked at Sliema dock at 19.30 and for 4 hours navigated along Malta’s east coast, stopping for a sunset swim, finishing the trip in the Grand Harbour and witnessing multiple fireworks as if they were specially planned for us. It was a remarkably beautiful night with a completely orange moon that took everybody’s breath away.

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Other activities that we planned for our guests were two tours, one of Malta and one of Gozo, organized by Stephen Place. Those were all-day adventures that covered the most important and/or beautiful places of Malta and Gozo and even though they were good substitutes for people with little time, they just wetten my appetite for more. We started Tour of Malta at 9.00 at the Westing Dragonara (Stephen arranged a coach for our 35+ guests, a Russian speaking guide for non-English speaking friends and water/snacks/map gift packages) and we made stops at Valletta & Birgu (walking tour), took a boat in Blue Grotto (€8), visited Ħaġar Qim and Mnajra Temples, dropped by Dingli Cliffs for some photos and finished with a walking tour of Mdina.

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We first visited Valletta, where we took a 2 hour walking tour with a brief stop for coffee and pastries at Caffe Cordina. We parked at Valletta’s bus terminus, next to The Triton Fountain and crossed the bridge spanning across Valletta’s deep ditch leading to the gate.

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The Main City Gate which was built in the Porta Reale Curtain, a curtain wall at the centre of the Valletta Land Front, located between St. James’ and St. John’s Bastions. Completed in 2014, it is the fifth Gate to replace Valletta’s main city entrance since 1566. It marks the beginning of Republic Street (formerly Strada Reale), Valletta’s main street which goes all the way until Fort Saint Elmo at the opposite end of the city. “The City Gate” project by Renzo Piano comprised of four parts: the Valletta City Gate and its site immediately outside the city walls, an open-air theatre within the ruins of the former Royal opera house, the construction of a new Parliament building and the landscaping of the ditch. All three constructions (highly controversial and frequently discussed) are built in modern style and are strikingly different to the rest of Valletta’s Baroque architecture, however, the combination of the same limestone with new technologies, made them blend in well with the rest of the city, in an unusual way.

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The New Parliament House, just to the right of the Gate, occupies a square originally built up with houses and later served as the Valletta Station of the Malta Railway. The area was bombarded during WWII, hence the station and other buildings were demolished in the 1960s as part of a project to redevelop the entrance to Valletta. The area was converted into an open space known as Freedom Square but was more commonly used as a parking lot. The Parliament House, looking suspiciously new and modern (it was completed in May 2015), is made up of two massive blocks in stone that are balanced on slender columns to give the building a sense of lightness, the whole respecting the line of the existing street layout. Energy use and environmental considerations were principal components in the design of this building. On the one hand, stone is used for the building’s facade to diminish solar heat gain and to allow natural ventilation, but it is also effective as part of the building’s geothermal heat exchanger (with 40 geothermal boreholes sunk into rock to depths of 140m, 100m below sea-level). In addition, the roof is covered with 600 sq m of photovoltaic panels – an ambitious energy strategy that allows the building to generate 80% of the energy required to heat it in the winter and 60% of its requirements to cool it in the summer months.

The Royal Opera House, a construction just next to the Parliament Building, was also a part of Renzo Piano project. The original Royal Opera House was erected in 1866 and was arguably one of the most beautiful and iconic buildings in Valletta. In April 1942 it received a direct hit from arial bombing and the building was reduced to rubble. Even though, the area was cleared and plans were made to rebuilt the theater, very soon it became clear that a modern theatre of conventional size, would not fit in this site considering today’s requirements for rehearsal, backstage facilities, accessibility, etc. Piano’s statement that he strongly believed that “after more than 60 years of controversy, the ruins of the demolished opera have undeniably reached the status of monument, irrevocable witness of history and the dignity of collective memory”, won the day and in 2013 a New Royal Opera House was inaugurated. It looked nothing like the old traditional theater, but a combination of surviving ruins and modern technology – all are under the open skies, which reminded me of the traditional Greek Theaters.

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We turned right at South street, just after the Opera House, and walked one block to a small square framed, from the west side by the Church of Our lady of Victory and from the east side by the Church of St. Catherine and Auberge d’Italie. A small statue of de Valette decorated the center of the square.

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Our Lady of Victories Church was the first church and building completed in Valletta. In 1566, after the end of The Great Siege, Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette and the Order showed interest to build a church in the name of the Nativity of the Virgin as a form of thanksgiving for the victory over the Ottoman Turks. It was built on the site where a religious ceremony was held to inaugurate the laying of the foundation stone of the new city of Valletta on 28 March 1566 and the Grandmaster de Valette personally funded the building of this church. On 21 August 1568, when de Valette passed away after coming down with a fever, in line with his final wishes, he was entombed in the crypt of the church. However, as St. John’s Co-Cathedral was built, de Valette’s remains were moved there. The church was damaged during WWII and is currently undergoing restoration.

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Just the opposite is the Church of St. Catherine adjacent to Auberge d’Italie. The Church of St Catherine is a Roman Catholic church built in 1576 by the Italian Langue of St. John to serve as their church. Throughout the centuries, the church was enlarged and new chapels were added. In early 2000s it underwent restoration and after reopening in 2011, it continues to serve as the parish church of the Italian community of Malta. Auberge d’Italie was the second Auberge Italian Langue of St. John built in Valletta. The first one was built in 1570 in Saint George’s Square but a year later, it was integrated into the Grandmaster’s Palace. The construction of the second Auberge started in Strada San Giacomo (now corner of Merchants Street and South St) in 1574. The Italian knights moved into the Auberge in 1579 but three years later in August 1582 construction resumed when another storey was added to the building. In the 1680s the facade was extensively refurbished in Baroque style. After dissolution of the Order of St. John, the auberge served as the French Military Command (1798), British Corps Headquarters (1800-1920), first public dispensary and the Museum of Archeology (1920-1940) before it was bombed and damaged during WWII. After restoration, it became a School ofArt (1956), law court (till 1971) and even Malta’s GPO (from 1974), until yet another restoration, in 2002 it became a Ministry of Tourism.

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Just past the Auberge d’Italie, is another very imposing building – Auberge De CastilleThe Auberge was originally built between 1571-1574 to house the Langue of Castile, León and Portugal, one of the most powerful langues of the Order. The Auberge was completely rebuilt from 1741 to 1745, during the Grand Mastership of Manuel Pinto da Fonseca to a Baroque design and the coats of arms of Castile and León and of Portugal, along with Pinto’s personal coat of arms were sculpted on the facade of the building. After the French occupation, the building served as the headquarter of the British armed force and a Protestant chapel, however in 1942 the Auberge was bombed and sustained severe damage on the right side of the entrance. After the rebuilding in 1972, the Auberge de Castille became the office of the Prime Minister of Malta.

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As one big happy family, we proceeded to the Upper Barrakka Gardens. Luckily, D and I already visited them otherwise, 15 minutes wouldn’t be enough time to listen to the guide and enjoy the breathtaking views.

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We continued via Merchants Street towards the St. George’s Square and along the way passed one of the famous bars in Valletta “The Pub” as well as a group of “guards”, who were on their way to the Fort St. Elmo, where they were to take part in a historical re-enactment of a full 16th century military parade from the time of the Knights. It is actually a scheduled performance that takes place few times a month, so check out the local calendar.

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St. George’s Square is home to the largest palace in Valletta – the Grandmaster’s Palace – once the residence of the Grand Masters of the Knights of St. John, it is now a museum and the official residence of the Maltese President. The Palace was originally built in 1569, as the palace of Eustachio del Monte. It was purchased by Grand Master Jean de la Cassière in the 1570s, and was enlarged into his own residence. It grew further in size and grandeur by successive Grand Masters, and its present configuration dates back to around mid-18th century. Currently, you can visit the Armoury (the collection of over 5,000 suits of 16th to 18th century armour is all that remains of an original 25,000 suits) and the State Apartments (the long Armoury corridor with paintings, Council Chamber, State Dining Room, Supreme Council Hall, Hall of the Ambassadors and Pages’ Room). Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go inside, but we’ve been told that the Grandmaster’s Palace is haunted by a ghost of a large cat.

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Next to St George’s Sq is a small Republic Sq where the National Library of Malta, commonly known as the Bibliotheca, is located. The building was commissioned when larger premises were required for the Order’s library and was completed in 1796. Due to the French occupation of Malta, the library did not open until 1812. Now, it is accessible for visitors and mostly serves as a research and reference library; its vaults contain many interesting documents, such as a papal bull issued by Pope Paschal II in 1113 confirming the establishment of the Order of St. John, the complete archives of the Order and its Treasury from the Middle Ages to 1798, 1617 codices and manuscript and many more. A statue of Queens Victoria, dressed in famous Maltese lace, was erected on a piazza in front of the Bibliotheca in 1891 and since then, the square became known as Piazza Regina.

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Across from the Bibliotheca is another Valletta’s landmark – Caffe Cordina, founded in 1837 it is both, locals and tourists, favorite place to grab some coffee and a delicious dessert. This is exactly what we did before getting back on a bus and proceeding to Birgu, or as it is also called Città Vittoriosa. This old fortified city is ideally situated for safe anchorage, and over time it has developed a very long history with maritime, mercantile and military activities. Birgu is a very old locality with its origins reaching back to medieval times as Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, the Angevines, the Aragonese and the Order of Saint John all contributed to the development of the city. Upon arrival to the island in 1530, the Knights made Birgu their capital, they strengthened and fortified it by building Fort St. Angelo, and all their efforts paid off during the Ottoman invasion in 1565. After the Siege, in 1571, the Knights transferred their convent and seat to the new capital, Valletta, and Birgu lost some of its importance. It is hard to get lost in tiny Birgu, that is only 800m long and 400m wide, but it is home to a few fantastic sites that require a visit – The Inquisitor’s Palace (built in 1530s to serve as law courts, it later became the Tribunal and prison of Inquisition), Fort St. Angelo (initially a site of Roman and Phoenician temples, after 1530s fort served as a residence of the Grand Master and was a headquarter of de Valette during the Great Siege of 1565; the upper part of the fort, including the Grand Master’s Palace and the 15th century Chapel of St. Anne is now occupied by the modern Order of St. John) and Maritime Museum (built in 1840s it houses a wealth of material on Malta’s maritime past). Modern Birgu is also home to world’s finest mega-yachts and this part was the most interesting for my friends to see.

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Our next stop was not a man-made historical place, but a huge natural arch in the sea cliffs called Blue Grotto. We first took a look at the Grotto from above and then descended into a small harbour, set in a narrow inlet in the cliffs and guarded by a watchtower. There, we bought our tickets (€8) and patiently waited in line to get in a small boat (suitable for 7-8 people) for a 30 minutes ride. The trip took us to seven caves, including the Honeymoon Cave, Reflection Cave and Cat’s Cave, where water, depending on the time of the day brilliantly changed responding to the light. It was fun!

GrottoJust a short drive away from Blue Grotto is a UNESCO World Heritage Site – Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra Temples. The prehistoric site of Ħaġar Qim consists of a group of monumental megalithic buildings, built during the late Neolithic, around 5,000 year ago. Similar buildings have been found in more than 20 different places in Malta and Gozo, and the nearest site to Ħaġar Qim is that of Mnajdra, which is about 500 m downhill to the west. Today these buildings are usually called “temples” however, very little is known about what went on inside them.

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The megalithic buildings at Ħaġar Qim are located on the crest of a ridge. To the south, the site commands views over the open sea, while to the north, it overlooks the edge of a large plain that extends over much of southern Malta. The temples are built of Globigerina limestone, a relatively soft, yellowish stone that is still widely used for buildings. The main building at the site has the most complicated plan of all the Maltese megalithic temples. It is clear that the building was not planned at a single moment, but was modified and extended at different times.

I thought Ħaġar Qim was a perfect location for another wonderful wedding tradition that I saved for later – bride’s bouquet tossing.

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Before visiting the ruins (€10, please allow 1 hour), we spent about 30 minutes in the visitor’s center, watching a 3D movie about the history of the temples and being “hands-on” with the exhibits explaining how and why the structures may have been built. Walking around the outside of the building, we could see a few interesting features. The upper part of the facade around the entrance has been partly rebuilt in modern times. Tent-like shelters were built over the Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra Temples, to protect them from the elements and help preserve them. The main building at Ħaġar Qim is unusual because it has several doorways facing different directions. Today, you can enter the doorway facing the sea and come out through another doorway facing inland. After entering through the monumental trilithon entrance, you appear in an internal court, floor of which is made of megalithic flagstones. To the left of the walkway there is a finely carved altar with a design that looks like a tree, and a slab with spiral motifs. On either side of the court, there is a screen with a doorway cut from a single megalith, knowns as a “porthole” doorway. These doorways give access to circular rooms or apses. The doorways are positioned so that, if you are standing in one apse, you can’t see across the corridor into the opposite apse. It is still a mystery whether the central courts in these buildings were partially or wholly roofed. On the other hand, most agree that the circular apses that lead off the courts had a corbeled roof, made of successive rings of megalith, each one smaller than the one below. Moving down the walkway, we came to another apse on the right, where the lower part of the corbelling may still be seen. Note how the upper megaliths overhang the ones below. On the other side of the walkway, the original plan of the building appears to have been modified and extended during prehistory. Note the two unusual mushroom-shaped altars. The famous “fat lady” statuettes and the so-called Venus de Malta figurines were found there in 1949 and are now on display in the National Museum of Archeology in Valletta. Another interesting feature is a block which has the remains of two figures carved in high relief.

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From Ħaġar Qim we went downhill to Mnajdra Temples, which are tucked into a hollow overlooking the south coast of Malta. The garigue landscape between the two sites is dotted with dry-stone huts built by bird-trappers. The tower that comes into view on the left half way down the path is the Hamrija Tower, one of 13 coastal watchtowers built by Grand Master Martin de Redin in 1659. A short distance further on, a small monument on the cliff edge commemorates Sir Walter Norris Congreve, a British Governor who died in office in 1927. Congreve was buried at sea between this point and the rocky islet of Filfla, giving his name to the Congreve Channel that separates Filfla from the mainland. Part of the charm of Mnajdra Temples lies in the fact that no modern development is visible from the site, so that it may still be appreciated in its original setting. It was first excavated a year after Ħaġar Qim, in 1840 and was then investigated further through various excavations over the years. Remarkable finds uncovered during these excavations include examples of clay vessels decorated with various intricate designs, flint tools, as well as a clay representation of a human head. Mnajdra Temples are more elaborate, consisting of three temples side by side, each with a trefoil plan and a different orientation. The oldest temple is the small one on the right, aligned towards the southwest and Filfla Island. Unlike in Ħaġar Qim, the harder-wearing Coralline limestone along with the Globigerina were used in the construction of these temples.

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As you stand in the oval forecourt outside the prehistoric structures at Mnajdra, look around and take this moment in. The first and oldest structure is the small three-apsed temple built in the Ggantija Phase, around 3600-3200 B.C. The South Temple (on the left), with its concave facade was next to be completed early in the Tarxien Phase, shortly after 3000 B.C., followed by the Central Temple which was built on an artificial platform between the two earlier buildings. The entrance to the small trefoil temple appears to have consisted of three doorways and just opposite the entrance one may see a niche bearing a series of drilled holes. The South Temple was built in such way that its main doorway is aligned with sunrise during the spring and autumn equinoxes (20 March and 22 September). During the winter and summer solstices (21 June and 21 December) the beams of the rising sun pass along the sides of the main doorway hitting two decorated slabs within the first chamber.

MnaOn the way to our next stop, Dingli Cliffs, we passed the famous Misrah Ghar il-Kbir (informally known as Clapham Junction) a prehistoric site known for its “cart ruts” – a complex network of tracks gouged in the rock, dated to about 2000 B.C. Cart ruts can be found in a number of sites in Malta and Gozo, however the site near the Dingli Cliffs is the most impressive, creating a picture of the Broze Age “traffic gam”, origin of which is not yet clear. Ruts are up to 60 cm deep and have an average distance between them of 110 to 140 cm. Some cross while others form junctions, creating the illusion of a great railway station switching yard.

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The highest point in the Maltese islands, 250 m above sea level, Dingli Cliffs, offer the most majestical views of the entire western coast. It is definitely worth a stop and a hike, if you have free time.

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And the final stop before heading back to St. Julians was in the ancient capital of Malta, the mysterious and fairylike “silent city” of Mdina. Founded as long ago as 1000 B.C. by Phoenicians, it was the favored residence of the Maltese aristocracy and the seat of the Università (government council) in medieval times. After the arrival of the sea-based force of the Order of St. John (who, as I mentioned earlier founded its capital in Birgu), Mdina became a holiday destination for the nobility and today, with its massive walls and peaceful, full of legends streets, it is a must visit place in Malta. Luckily, D and I were staying the last 5 days of our wedding trip in the only hotel in Mdina – The Xara Palace, so I will get back to the history and sites of this place later on. While we slowly walked the narrow winding streets of Mdina, Stephen pointed out a few interesting places to visit – Knights’ summer residency at Vilhena Palace, Malta’s main St. Paul’s Cathedral, Palazzo Falson etc. The city of 300 noble families felt so pure and spiritual, that I hardly wanted to hear any human voice.

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Everyone was ravenous when we finally landed on the upper terrace of Fontanella Tea Gardens for late lunch. Service was quick, portions were enormous and food was truly delicious. That was a perfect way to complete a trip to Malta for some of my friends who were already heading back home.

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Mdina. The last few days of our stay in Malta, D and I chose to escape the young crowds of St. Julians and spend romantic time in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a golden-stone walled city of Mdina. Many cities can pride themselves for preserving and restoring some medieval parts within their vicinities, Mdina, as a whole, is a medieval town – taken from a history book and placed in a modern time. When you walk the streets of Mdina, especially during the twilight hours, when even the most curious tourists already left, you live in the medieval times, you touch the stone and walk the corridor-like streets, hear the sounds and breath the air of that time. A car-free (almost) town of Maltese nobility, palaces, piazzas and churches is one of the most authentic living places I’ve ever got to visit in my life. And for several days, D and I stayed at The Xara Palace Relais & Chateaux. Built in the 17th Century as a residence for the noble family of Moscati Parisio, palazzo is inextricably linked to the medieval Mdina as its walls form part of the city’s bastions. All rooms have been individually designed with romantic décor, original paintings, antique tapestries and furnishings. They are reminiscent of the noble origins of the Xara Palace and boast spectacular 180 degree panoramic views of Malta. We had room 11 and it was the best room in the whole of the hotel.

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Evidence of settlements in Mdina goes back to before 4000 B.C. It was possibly first fortified by the Phoenicians around 700 B.C, because of its strategic location on one of the highest points on the island and as far from the sea as possible. When Malta had been under the control of the Roman Empire, the Roman Governor built his palace there. Legend has it that it was here, in around 60 CE, that Paul the Apostle lived after his shipwreck on the islands.

In 870 AD, Byzantine Melite, which was ruled by governor Amros was besieged by Aghlabids led by Halaf al-Hādim and later by Sawāda Ibn Muḥammad. After the siege, which lasted few weeks or even months (it is unknown), Melite fell to the invaders, the inhabitants were massacred, the city was destroyed and its churches were looted. But the city was rebuilt as Medina when Muslims resettled in Malta in 1048–49, and according to Al-Himyarī, “it became a finer place than it was before.” The present layout of the city still has features typical of a medina, a legacy of the period of Arab rule. Malta, and Mdina was conquered by the Normans in 1091 and was then dominated by a succession of feudal lords. Various alterations to Mdina were made over the following centuries. The Byzantine fort was converted into a castle known as the Castellu di la Chitati. By the 15th century, Mdina’s land front consisted of a series of double walls, flanked by four towers, including the Turri Mastra (also known as Turri dila bandiera) near the main entrance and the Turri di la Camera at the southeast corner of the land front. When the Order of St. John arrived in Malta on 26 October 1530, the Order went on to settle in Birgu, and Mdina lost its status as capital city. However, the medieval fortification of the city were upgraded during the reign of the Knights, which helped Mdina to withstand several Ottoman attacks in the mid-16th century.

The city was severely damaged by the 1693 Sicily earthquake, and a large number of buildings were destroyed. It was extensively restored in the course of the eighteenth century, and Baroque elements were introduced in the largely medieval city. “Modern” Mdina displays an unusual mix of Norman and Baroque architecture, including several impressive palaces, most of which serve as private homes. It was home then, as now, to Malta’s 300 noble families; some are descendants of the Norman, Sicilian and Spanish overlords who made Mdina their home from the 12th century onwards. Until recently, the sales of property were restricted to only residents of Mdina but I believe this restriction was recently lifted.

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The present configuration of Mdina’s fortifications consists of an irregular perimeter of medieval or Hospitaller curtain walls, which are stiffened by five bastions, all of which were built during the Hospitaller period. You can enter the city via two city gates, both on the land front facing Rabat: Main Gate – a Baroque gate built in 1724 to a design by Charles François de Mondion, and Greeks Gate – a medieval gateway. A third gateway known as the Għarreqin Gate was opened within the Magazine Curtain in 1890 to facilitate access to the nearby railway station. The Torre dello Standardo, located just within the city walls near the Main Gate, also forms part of the city’s fortifications since it was used as a signalling tower to communicate with the coastal watchtowers. It was built in 1725, by de Mondion, on the site of the medieval Turri Mastra, which also had the same function. 

An arched stone bridge, decorated with statues of lions holding the coat of arms of Vilhena or the town of Rabat, leads to the gate. You have to cross this bridge to enter Mdina through its Main Gate. The Mdina Gate consists of a Baroque portal and a superstructure serving as a gatehouse. The portal is decorated with double pilasters, the coats of arms of Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena and the city of Mdina, a trophy of arms and a Latin inscription. The walled up medieval gate which it replaced can still be seen to the right of the Main Gate. The back of the gate is decorated with reliefs of St. Publius, St. Agatha and St. Paul, who are the patron saints of Malta.

Mdina gateOnce you are inside the city, to you right is a magnificent Baroque-styled Palazzo Vilhena. The site was originally occupied by a punic-period building and then by a Byzantine fort, which during the Middle Ages was developed into a castle known as the Castellu di la Chitati. The castle’s inner walls were demolished in the 15th century, and the remaining part was converted into a palace by Grand Master Philippe Villiers de L’Isle-Adam in the 1530s to house the civil administrative council known as the Università. After the earthquake, on 3 November 1722, the newly elected Grand Master, António Manoel de Vilhena, issued orders for the restoration and renovation of Mdina. The city entrance was completely rebuilt, and the seat of the Università made way for a summer palace for the Grand Master. Construction of Vilhena’s new palace took two years, and was completed in 1728.

The building was designed by de Mondion in the French Baroque style similar to the Parisian Hôtel Palaces, and it was constructed under the supervision of the Maltese capomastro Petruzzo Debono. The Palazzo has a U-shaped forecourt which follows the plan of the original castle, and it possibly contains some remnants of the 16th century palace incorporated into the structure. The forecourt is approached through a gate decorated with Vilhena’s coat of arms. The central façade of the palace contains the ornate main doorway, which is flanked by Corinthian columns and is surmounted by a bronze relief of De Vilhena and another coat of arms. Palazzo Vilhena is linked to the Corte Capitanale, which was built at the same time and served as Mdina’s law courts. It was a symbolic gesture to convey that the courts were under the jurisdiction of the Order of St. John (the Corte Capitanale now serves as the seat of Mdina’s local council).

From 1837 till 1956 Palazzo Vilhena housed a hospital for cholera patients, sanatorium for the British military, temporary barracks and a hospital for patients suffering from tuberculosis. On 22 June, 1973 it officially became The National Museum of Natural History and its collections include samples of flora and fauna, fossils, rocks, minerals and dioramas of Maltese habitats.

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Just beneath the Magisterial Vilhena Palace, there is The Mdina Dungeons (€5, allow 30-45 mins) – a museum set in the secret underground passageways, chambers and cells to recreate the mysterious circumstances from the dark side of Maltese history. From Roman times to the Arabs, the Knights and even Napoleon, you will find episodes and characters from the ancient past portrayed in startling realism and with great annotations. Torture, witchcraft, crucifixion, plague, inquisition, events and personalities, famous and infamous, from Malta’s sometimes gory history, you can see it all there if you dare to come in. I visited it at 9.30 and at times I felt a bit uneasy in those subterranean hallways.

DongeonsIf you continue via main street, on the crossroads, there is a small St. Agatha Chapel. Originally built in 1410 by the nobleman Francesco Gatt and his consort Donna Paola Castelli, the chapel was damaged during the 1693 earthquake but was rebuilt in 1694 to a design of Lorenzo Gafa (the architect responsible for the Mdina Cathedral). There is a miraculous legend attached to this Chapel. In 1551, Muslim forces under the command of Sinam Pasha landed in St. Paul’s Bay and marched on Mdina. According to the writings of Giacomo Bosio (1602), a pious nun from the Benedictine Abbey of Santa Scolastica had a vision, in which she was told that the enemy was about to siege the city. However, if Holy Mass would be celebrated, the marble statue of St. Agatha would be placed on the Walls of Mdina and all solders and civilians would walk in procession carrying her image which should be displayed on the bastions facing the enemy, then the city would not fall in the hands of the enemy. The Turks indeed besieged the city but were not able of conquering it; impressed by the numerous defenders seen marching on the Mdina’s walls, they lifted the siege and left to attack Gozo instead. This Chapel, during WWII also housed two refugee families and helped them survive the war. DSC_2974

Further down the Triq Villegaignon is Misraħ San Pawl (Piazza San Paul), the main square of Mdina, home to Metropolitan Cathedral of Malta (knowns at St. Paul’s Cathedral), Cathedral Museum and Old Banca Giuratale, as well as Casa Gourgion.

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A baroque building to your right is an Old Banca Giuratale, built between 1726 and 1728 to house the Università, after their original premises were taken over by the Palazzo Vilhena. The new building was designed also by de Mondion, who, in fact, was responsible for rebuilding many buildings in Mdina. In later years, Old Banca Giuratale housed the National Assembly and served as a secondary school, but since 1988, it is home to the Legal Documentation Section of the National Archives of Malta. Its archives contain all the court records from 1530 to 1899, including the documents of the Consolato del Mare di Malta, Malta’s maritime tribunal between 1697 and 1814.

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Cathedral Museum, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Palazzo de Piro can be accessed with one ticket (€5, allow 2-2.5 hours for all). I started my exploration with the Cathedral Museum, located in a beautiful baroque 18th-century palazzo originally used as a seminary. The Cathedral Museum at Mdina traces its origin to a fabulous donation made by Marquis Saverio Marchesi, who decreed, in his last will, that once his family became extinct, all the artistic works the family possessed were to be given to the Cathedral Chapter. This came about in 1896. The idea of turning some halls adjacent to the Cathedral into a museum matured during the 1960s. Displaying tapestries and liturgical vestments from St. John Cathedral, the old Mdina Seminary was officially opened and renamed the Mdina Cathedral Museum in 1969. Both, the building and the collection require time and deserve admiration. The Museum’s outstanding highlight is a series of woodcut and copperplate prints and lithographs by the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Durer. However, there are other items of interest, including Egyptian amulets dating from the 5th century B.C., a remarkable coin collection spanning 2000 years, which includes Carthaginian and Romana-Maltese examples, engravings by Rembrandt and a set of 15 Silver and Gold statues of the Apostles etc. Three large halls, previously used as dormitories of the Old Seminary, now feature the earliest painted panels from the Spanish Romanesque period till the 17th century as well as a small collection of 19th and 20th century painting from both local and foreign artists.

MuseumThe St. Paul’s Cathedral is said to be built on the site of the villa belonging to Publius, the Roman governor of Malta who welcomed St. Paul in A.D. 60. The original Norman church was destroyed by an earthquake, and the restrained baroque edifice we can see today was built between 1697-1702 by Lorenzo Gafa. Note the fire and serpent motifs atop the twin bell-towers, symbolizing the saint’s first miracle in Malta. Church

Upon entering the Cathedral, you notice the large number of gravestones along the central passage; most of which are commemorations rather than tombs. Some of Malta’s bishops are buried in the side chapels and in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. The Cathedral’s ceiling is covered with frescoes and with paintings depicting the life of St. Paul. The Altar’s painting The Conversion of St. Paul by Mattia Preti survived the earthquake, so did the beautifully carved oak doors to the Sacristy on the north side, and the apse above the altar, featuring with the fresco St. Paul’s Shipwreck. The top slab of the main altar of the Cathedral, made of precious marble, also survived the earthquake and is a large part of a Lapis Lazuli completed in 1726. During the main religious feasts, this altar is decorated by a beautiful silver frontal and by fifteen solver statues representing the Apostles, St. Paul, St. John and Our Lady.

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Palazzo de Piro is Xara’s Multicultural center, hosting the extension of the Metropolitan Cathedral Museum, The Museum of Tools, Trades and Traditions, Xpresso Cafe and Bistro and a fully functional venue for meetings, functions and all sorts of events. Palazzo de Piro is a 17th Century Palazzo nestled in the bastion walls of Mdina. What we know as Palazzo de Piro as an existing structure now was originally three separate houses, the oldest parts of which date back to the second half of the 16th century. The emblem in what is now the main entrance hall indicates that they were built by Malta’s most famous architect Girolamo Cassar or his equally renowned son Vittorio. In 1868, Alexander de Piro D’Amico Inguanez and his new wife Orsola took up residence here soon after their marriage. Orsola was an heiress with various properties including a palace and small church in the heart of Florence, but it was here she decided to bring up a family of seven boys and two girls. Over the last two centuries, Palazzo de Piro has been extensively remodeled a number of times. The internal floor levels were changed, the monumental stone and marble staircase was constructed in Victorian times and in the 1950’s, extensive structural changes were made to accommodate the school that was run by the Dorothean nuns after the house was sold by Orsola’s heirs. In 2005, Palazzo de Piro was acquired by The Metropolitan Cathedral Chapter and extensive restoration works were undertaken to create this cross-cultural and artistic venue.

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Three stately, inter-connecting rooms within Palazzo feature displays of artistic and historical patrimonial artifacts from Maltese parishes and other sources. Another unique space that is housed inside the Palazzo de Piro is The Museum of Tools, Trades and Traditions (Free, allow 20 mins). It presents a single private collection of objects and tools related to an array of trades. In the current display the prime role has been given to the relics, both as a tool matching specific requirements but also as a collectable in its own right, exhibiting aesthetic and historic qualities. Joseph Zammit Tabona started his collection in the early 1970s when his wife Susan inherited a few items from her step-father, the late Dr. Thomas Agius Ferrante. A consultant pediatrician, he had over the years, received several tools as presents, from the farming families he was visiting. This formed the basis of the collection and the start of a lifetime obsession. During the following two decades the collection grew at the rhythm of the weekly visits to the Sunday market in Valletta, but also to local antique shops where old tools could still be found. Each item has a story, a connection with the collector and in most cases with Malta. However, what prompted the idea of creating a museum, was the acquisition, some years back, of Pawlu Tanti’s collection, which almost doubled the initial number of items. Fascinated with the artistry, ingenuity and skill that were applied to make an instrument produced to perform sometimes a very humble task, Pawlu Tanti was very interested in old tools.

Only a portion of the collection is being presented here. Many artifacts were used and incorporated in the design for the refurbishment of The Xara Palace Hotel, and also in the adjacent Trattoria AD 1530. As I already mentioned, most of the furniture within the hotel consists of very fine antiques specifically selected and purchased for their current use, whilst the walls of the Trattoria are adorned with an impressive tools collection.

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The museum is designed around five main sections. Each collection has its own qualities, logic, shortcomings that have been curated into a contemporary assemblage which highlights the creative diversity and constant innovation that is hidden behind each of these objects. This place offers a window on past tools and trades, a place where to learn and recall memories, but also a place for intimate and silent discoveries.

Tool picWell, if you have very little time and can’t visit all the places in Mdina, then go to one – Palazzo Falson, the second oldest building still standing in the walled city offers a rare glimpse into the sumptuous private world behind Mdina’s anonymous aristocratic walls (€10, a very good audio-guide, no pictures allowed). Fashioned on the Siculo-Norman examples of its period, this building forms part of the imposing heritage of palazzi built by the Sicilian, Spanish and local nobility in this city, and parts of it date back to the 13th century. In the early 16th century, the property was inherited by the Vice Admiral Michele Falsone, who was the Head of the Town Council. In 1530, it is recorded that Grand Master Philippe Villiers de L’Isle Adam was hosted by Maltese nobles at Palazzo Falson, after Malta was donated to the Order of St. John by Emperor Charles V. In 1927, the part of Palazzo was bought by Captain Olof Frederick Gollcher (1889-1962) who was a researcher, artist and philanthropist. The Palazzo by then has been split among different tenements, but Captain Gollcher managed to purchase the rest of it some years later, as he was very concerned with the conservation of the cultural heritage of the Maltese islands. He was also a discerning collector of objects d’art and historical items. Included in his 45 varied collections on display at the Palazzo are silver, furniture, jewelry, Oriental rugs from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, armour, and an impressive library of more than 4,500 books. The paintings collection includes a number of significant 17th century works attributed to Mattia Preti, Jusepe de Ribera, Jakob-Ferdinand Voet, Charles Beale and others. Gollcher’s wish was to bring this unique and extraordinary treasure-trove to the general public, and as of May 2007, we can fully enjoy it.

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After several days of browsing the almost always empty streets of Mdina and devouring its not very well hidden past, I still decided to visit The Mdina Experience (€6, 30 mins) and learn more about the town in a very animated way. I thought it gave a very good overview of this place and could be a valuable start to exploring the town.

Also, while in Mdina, we lunched and dined at several venues. We visited Fontanella at least a couple of times, as it was a delicious, fast and cheap place to eat. We also had a dinner at de Mondion restaurant located in our hotel. I expected a lot from The Xara, since I myself used to work at one of the Relais & Chateaux properties in NYC, and the restaurant didn’t disappoint. Weather was fantastic so we were seated on the top of Mdina’s bastions offering the beautiful views of Malta. Ingredients were carefully selected and many dishes were to die for, for ex. Foie Gras Terrine with Orange and Seared Foie Gras. It is an upscale restaurant, so please dressed appropriately and don’t forget your credit card. We had also tried Trattoria 1530 – The Xara’s casual restaurant located in the piazza next to the hotel’s main entrance. It is a charming place serving a very simple but delicious food for a very good price.  Another place we had dinner at was Sharma, a restaurant offering a few ethnic cuisines – Mediterranean, Arabic and India – in a very picturesque setting and at a very good price. Please book in advance as this place filled in very quickly.

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And of course, if you still haven’t bought a souvenir, head straight to Mdina Glass shop (either in Mdina, Valletta or Ta’Qali village) for a spectacular choice of unique, locally blown vases, plates, bowls, glasses etc. Whatever you buy there will forever remind you of this enchanted walled-town.

Rabat. Medieval Rabat (Arabic word for “suburb”) emerged in the area which had formerly constituted the western two thirds of Roman Melite (old name of Mdina). The area was defined by the ancient walls of Melite as well as a ditch which can still be partly seen behind the parish church of St. Paul. It is a very attractive town in its own right with narrow streets and wooden balconies. It is full of interesting sights, and has a splendidly traditional feel. The Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See to the Republic of Malta is seated in this village and parts of the films Munich and Black Eagle were shot here. I could easily spend a couple of days there because the place is jammed with gems.

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We exited Mdina through the Greek’s Gate and appeared at the roundabout – small park that serves as a stop for local buses, horse carriages, taxis but also as an invisible dividing line between Mdina and Rabat (not counting a huge ditch that separates the two). To your right, there is one of the most interesting places of visit – The Domvs Romana (€6, allow 1 hour). It is believed to have been built in the beginning of the 1st century B.C., and it remained in use until the 2nd century A.D. The house had a colonnaded peristyle inspired by ancient Greek architecture, and its best features are the well-made polychrome Hellenistic style mosaics found in the peristyle and the surrounding rooms, which show decorative motifs or mythological scenes. The domus also shows fine painted wall plaster imitating colored marbles and showing partly stylized architectural elements which would place them somewhere between the 1st and 2nd Pompeian Styles. Although the house was mostly destroyed over time, its mosaics have survived largely intact, and they are comparable with those found at Pompeii or Sicily. A number of 1st century A.D. statues of the imperial Roman family, along with coins, glassware, tableware, bath accessories, amphorae and other fine artifacts have also been found in the domus.

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The term “domus” stands for a Roman town-house which was not just a private residence but served a major part in the public and political relations of the house owner with the outside world. It was a place where most of the business was conducted and if the owner was powerful enough, people would flock into the first rooms of the house to receive his blessing in the morning. The main parts of the house were thus designed to served these public needs and to portray the power of the owner. Like many Roman houses, the one in Rabat seems to have originally been built according to the customs of a Domus Italica. The rooms were oriented around one main central area, the atrium. The typical plan of this type of house was later supplemented by influences from the Greek house, with the addition of areas like the peristylium, which became the second focal point of the house and thus created Domus Romana. This carefully setup succession of rooms created a perfect background for the rich social life of a Roman aristocrat. The rooms around the atrium were usually used for everyday social needs, like the salutatio (morning salutation), whereas those around the peristylium were more intimate and were reserved for the family and close acquaintances.

RomanaThe remains of this extensive rich Roman town house and its mosaic pavements were discovered in 1881 during the planting of trees. The site was investigated further between 1920-1924 when at least 245 Muslim burials were discovered along with a number of limestone (and one marble) tombstones with Naskh or Kufic inscriptions. In the 11th century, while Malta was part of the Fatimid Caliphate, the site of the domus was transformed into a Muslim cemetery, with rows of graves facing eastward. It is evident that the graveyard was systematically laid out over the foundations of the domus, with some of the graves placed on the original pavements. A solid silver ring inscribed with the verse “rabbit Alah Wahid” (“My Lord is the One God”) was the only piece of jewelry discovered there. Unfortunately, the excavation of this unique Muslim site remains incomplete, and the cemetery has yet to receive the serious scientific attention it deserves.

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After the domus was first excavated, a museum was built on the site of the peristyle in order to preserve its mosaics. The museum opened in February 1882, and it was the first building in Malta constructed specifically to house a museum of a particular archaeological site. Apart from the mosaics and other Roman or Muslim artifacts uncovered from the domus, it also exhibited some other Roman marble pieces which were found in the streets of Mdina and eventually, many Roman artifacts found elsewhere in Malta. In 1922, the museum was enlarged and a neoclassical façade and a large display room were added.

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Following the main street in Rabat, Triq San Pawl, to our left we saw an open church (which is a rarity in Malta), which was The Church of Santa Marija Ta’Giezu and it housed a museum of history of Rabat (free entry). It was an unusual combination of beautiful medieval frescoed walls and ceilings with modern stands and exhibits occupying the main floor.

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We stopped at the Palazzo Castelletti for a delicious lunch and I took a short stroll around their premises. I wish we have discovered this unique place earlier, because it was definitely a rival to some of Malta’s best restaurants, food, ambience and character wise!

CastellettiRight next to the Palazzo Castelletti is Casa Bernard – a 16th century Palazzo recently restored to its splendor (€8, allow 60-80 mins). The name of the house – Casa Bernard – was chosen in 1723 because Dr Salvatore Bernard, the French personal physician of the Grand Master, lived in this palazzo. The Bernards, who were a family of doctors, occupied the Palazzo until the second quarter of the 20th century when the current owners, Mr and Mrs Magri, bought it in 1993 to revive it to its former glory. It is not a museum but private family home where you will be personally guided by one of the home’s charming owners. She (or he) will take you through the barred-vaulted hallway, the Chapel, the Dining Room, the three Drawing rooms, the Library and the main bedroom, pointing out in the rooms important pieces of furniture, paintings and objets d’art which till a short while ago were not available for public viewing. Started off as a medieval watch-tower built on Roman foundations, the house progressed to a double-fronted Palazzo in the mid 16th century and then acquired some Baroque additions. According to Maltese tradition, the oldest son of a noble family was sent on a many-year long journey around Europe, where he would learn about art, culture, languages, etc and hopefully acquire an exquisite taste in things. He would be given significant amount of money to purchase the best “things” European artists produced or invented and send it back home. Hence, the personal collection (or rather collections of multiple generations) at Casa Bernard speaks for itself. One of the things I’ve learnt from the owner was the story of a “missing brick of maltese balcony”. Apparently, the main entrance to almost every Palazzo or home has a balcony just above it and in the middle of the balcony there is a hole, plugged with a wooden peg. As the legend goes, when ladies of the house were sitting on their beautiful Maltese balconies, needling lace and the front door bell rang, they didn’t have to go downstairs to see who it was, they could just quietly pull the peg and through the hole in the balcony’s floor “spy” on the visitor while deciding, whether they should appear to be home or not. It served as a sort of a peephole. Overall, Casa Bernard offered us a fantastic way to see the insights of the Maltese Noble family home and their style of living. It was one of the most interesting private tours we’ve taken in Malta and I would definitely recommend visiting this unique home.

CasaThe religious complex of San Paolo fuori le mura – that is, the Church of St. Paul outside the walls – and the venerable shrine of St. Paul’s Grotto next to it, is reminiscent of Rabat past. In 1536, Quintinus testified to the strength of the cult of St. Paul amongst the Maltese and the Grotto would become well known abroad as a source of earth which was reported to have miraculous healing power. The Church of St. Paul is built on part of the site of the Roman city Melite, which included all of Mdina and a large part of present-day Rabat. There were numerous churches built on the site of the present church. In 1336 bishop Hilarius refers to the church as ecclesia Sancti Pauli de crypta, and also mentions the cemetery and the Roman ditch. The present church was built (1653-1683) to replace a church of 1578 with funds provided by the noble woman Guzmana Navarra.

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To the church’s right is a small annexed St. Publius church that now serves as an entrance to the mysterious Grotto of St. Paul, a cave where the saint is said to have preached during his three months stay in Malta in around A.D. 60. The statue of St. Paul was gifted by the Knights in 1748, while the silver ship to its left was added in 1960 to commemorate the 1900th anniversary of the saint’s shipwreck. The Grotto was visited by two Popes, Pope John Paul II in 1990 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

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In 1617, control of the grotto was passed to the Order of St. John, and Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt raised the status of the grotto and the church above it to a collegiate church in 1619. He also established the Wignacourt College in order to manage the church and the grotto. The building which now houses the Wignacourt Museum (€5, allow 60 mins), completed in 1749, is on three levels: the underground level consists of a labyrinth of Punic, Roman and Christian Hypogea with interesting architectural features as well as a complex of World War II shelters with two main corridors and fifty rooms. The ground floor level consists of a corridor with on one side a number of rooms used as offices and minor collections and on the other side a spacious garden with a built area which once included the refectory of the Chaplains of the Order and an oven which during WWII provided daily more than 2000 loaves of bread for the population of Rabat. The main floor has an impressive picture gallery with works by Mattia Preti, Antoine Favray, Francesco Zahra and other Maltese as well as European Artists. Also a collection of 17th- 19th century Spanish, Italian and Maltese silver; a unique wooden altar used for the celebration of Mass on the galleys of the Order; a collection of old relics and reliquaries, sculptures in wood, alabaster and bronze, including a medallion by Alessandro Algardi; maps, coins, prints and rare books among which is King Henry VIII’s ‘Septem Sacramants” written to confute Martin Luther and above all a baroque chapel for the private devotions of the residing chaplains.

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As much as I enjoy the sun, I preferred to spend my time in Rabat underground and I couldn’t have chosen a better place as it is home to two largest networks of Catacombs in Malta dating back to the 3rd century A.D. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the time to see the splendid St. Agatha’s Crypt and Catacombs, but I thoroughly explored the St. Paul’s Catacombs (€4, free 45-mins audio guide with €20 deposit, allow 60-90 mins, pictures allowed) so-named for their proximity to the church.

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St. Paul’s catacombs are part of a large cemetery once located outside the walls of the ancient Greek city of Melite, which also comprises of the catacombs of Saint Agatha, San Katald, St. Augustine and many others. The cemetery probably originated in the Phoenician-Punic period, when burials had to be located outside city walls and was used for around 500 years. The early tombs consisted of a deep rectangular shaft with one or two chambers dug from its sides. This type of burial was used well into the Roman occupation of the islands, but the chambers grew larger and more regular in shape over time. It is probable that this enlargement joined neighboring tombs and led to the creation of small catacombs, which became the norm by the 4th century A.D. The site that is currently open to the public comprises of two catacombs out of the 24 in the St Paul’s cluster. The main complex, covering an area of more than 2000 sq m, is so far the largest catacomb ever to be found on the island. Its entrance leads to two considerably large halls, adorned with pillars made to resemble Doric columns and painted plasters most of which have now disappeared. On either side of the entry there are loculi, small niches used for the burial of children, indicating the high infant mortality rate. The main halls are equipped with two circular tables set in a low platform with sloping sides which resemble the reclining couch (triclinium) present in Roman houses. In all cases found in the main complex and the numerous other Christian Hypogea of the site, both table and couch are hewn out in one piece from the living rock forming a single architectural unit within an apsed recess. Although various interpretations may be found, these triclinia, or Agape tables, were probably used to host commemorative meals during the annual festival of the dead, when the rites of burials were renewed. The catacomb is large enough to have served as a communal burial ground in successive phases of Malta’s history. One of the halls was transformed into an early church following the expulsion of Arab conquerors in the second century A.D.

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Although the complex contains almost all of the burial types found in the Maltese repertoire, the best represented are so-called baldacchino tombs. These free-standing, canopied burials dominate the main corridors of the complex; their four elegant arches and supporting pillars are exemplary. Other decorations within this catacomb include illustrations and written messages in red paint.

The second catacomb that can be visited is much smaller than the first. The surgical tools carved in relief on one of the three blocking stones in the inner chamber suggest that it was the burial place of a particular family or group of surgeons.

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It is an atmospheric yet at times downright scary (with no other visitors in sight) labyrinth of rock-cut tombs, narrow stairs and passages, and it is one of the most thrilling places to check out in Rabat.

Gozo. Of course, we wouldn’t have seen all of Malta if we didn’t visit Gozo. Stephen Place organized a day-long Tour of Gozo for us and our guests with a Russian-speaking guide Daiva Griguoliene (her email is hrota@maltanet.net). We visited Popeye Village (on Malta), Ggantija Temples, Ramla Bay and Calypso Cave, took a boat-trip under the Azure Window, ate ice-cream in Xlendi and explore the capital of Gozo, Victoria.

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We got picked up at Mdina’s Main Gate (as it was convenient for us) and before heading to the Ferry terminal, we stopped by Popeye Village (also known as Sweethaven Village), located at Anchor Bay just a few miles of Mellieħa. In 1979 the entire village (19 wooden buildings) was built as a set for a new Paramount Pictures production of musical feature “Popeye” starring Robin Williams (a story of a sailor Popeye who arrives to Sweethaven village to find his father). After the movie was completed, the set remained and now serves as a wonderful attraction place for children and adults. We didn’t go inside, but it is definitely a place to visit and explore for another time.

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At Cirkewwa our minibus boarded a ferry and for 30 mins we enjoyed the views of Gozo and Malta’s smallest brother Comino island. Gozo, called “Għawdex” in Malti, is a much slower and relaxed island. Although it is more than 1/3rd the size of Malta (it is the size of Manhattan), it has less than 1/10th of the population and people living here consider themselves Gozitnans first, Maltese second. According to our guide, about half of them, never left the island, not even to visit Malta (6 km away). I guess, much more fertile land, more space and greenery, superb coastal landscape and excellent scuba diving, plus history in the form of megalithic temples and medieval citadels make their lives complete and happy. The island is definitely a destination on its own and offers fantastic farm lodging facilities, away from everyone. I believe Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt rented one of the farms during their work on “By the Sea”, a film produced in Gozo. BTW, for Game of Thrones fans, some of the episodes were also shot in Gozo.

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The history of Gozo goes back to 5000 B.C. when a group of people from Sicily succeeded in crossing over on some form of sea-craft. These people who first colonized Gozo (Neolithic 5000 – 4100 B.C.) probably lived in caves around Il-Mixta on Ghajn Abdul Plateau on the outskirts of San Lawrenz village, to the north-west of Gozo. This site consists of one huge cave separated into two by a natural column and a man-made wall. Pottery sherds unearthed on this site are of a purer pedigree than any other pottery found elsewhere in the Maltese Islands suggesting that Gozo might have been settled earlier than Malta. The history of Gozo is strongly coupled with the history of Malta, the Temple Period (4100-2500 B.C.) was followed by Bronze Age, Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, the European domination and the rule of the Knights of St. John. In 1551, Gozo suffered its worst siege in history. In July, the citadel was besieged by the Turks of Sinam Pasha (the same one whose army was re-routed from attacking Mdina). The Medieval walls of Rabat (Gozo’s citadel capital) without flanks and terreplein to resist gunpowder bombardment were easy prey to the besiegers and the fortifications soon succumbed. A tombstone in the local cathedral conveys some of the horror in its commemoration of the nobleman Bernardo Dupuo, who died fighting the Turkish pirates, after killing his own wife and daughters to save them from slavery and concubinage, two fates worse than death. The entire population of about 5000 was taken into slavery.

After the terror of 1551, recovery was slow and painful. Some Gozitan slaves were traced and ransomed, but life was shattered and families left permanently split asunder, their various members sold to different owners in far–off lands. Grand Master de la Sengle encouraged resettlement from Malta, by promising to waive the new settlers debt, if they would take the risk of living in undefended territory. Others, it is said came over from nearby Sicily. The vulnerability to pirates and slavery is the reason why villages in Gozo did not develop until the late 18th – early 19th century. Before that, the tiny population stayed close to the citadel, taking shelter within its walls between dusk and dawn, in line with a curfew order that was only lifted in 1637 and whenever there was notice of a raid by pirates. The villages remain, today, completely different in structure to those of Malta. They are open–ended and do not form the Maltese pattern of tightly-winding, narrow and easily defended streets. As a result of pirate raids, a reluctance to communicate information crept irremediably into the Gozitan character. As one writer recently put it in his guide to Gozo, Gozitans “have now accepted that not all tourists are direct descendants of 16th century Turkish slave-traders”, and their natural wariness has eased into friendliness, though they still prefer to keep their distance.

The first place we visited in Gozo was perched on the crest of the hill next to Xaghra, the megalithic Ggantija Temples (3600-3000 B.C.) (€9, allow 30-45 mins). Commanding a splendid view over most of southern Gozo and beyond to Comino and Malta, they represent an important turning point in the cultural evolution of prehistoric men and along with Ta’Hagrat and Skorba in Malta are documented as the oldest free-standing structures in the world. The temples take their name from the Maltese term “Ggant” meaning “giant”, an apt name when one views the sheer size and height of these megaliths, the largest of the all temples found on the Maltese islands – the walls stand over 6 m high and the grounds span over 40 m.

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We entered the Ggantija Temples through a contemporary Interpretation Center, a museum that illustrates various aspects of Neolithic life to provide a context for understanding the temples. It also displays significant findings from various prehistoric archaeological sites on Gozo island. To get to the temple site, we took a pathway with gorgeous views of the surrounding countryside. The archaeological complex itself is well maintained and beautifully situated; the ruins are lined with vibrant bougainvillea and colorful flowers. The site consists of two temples, contained within a single outer wall. The temples were possibly the site of a fertility rites; archeologists believe that the numerous figurines and statues found on site are connected with that cult. Although sharing a common façade, each temple unit has a separate entrance. The south temple has a five apse plan and is the older, larger and better preserved of the two. The left apse in the second pair of apses, has three niches complete with capstones. Some suggest it might refer to a triple divinity, a triade. The remains of a fire-reddened circular stone hearth, possibly for an eternal flame, is in the opposite apse, where there are also remains of what was probably a small enclosure where oracles were delivered. The north temple is considerably smaller, but with a more evolved four-apse plan having its rear apse replaced by a shallow niche. The entrance is very similar to that of the first temple; only the threshold is narrower and shorter.

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Many mathematical and engineering minds sought a solution to the mystery of how these huge stones were quarried, transported and then lifted upright in those primitive times. Local legend has it that the work was undertaken by a giantess called Sansuna, who lived on a diet of broad beans and water and carried the megaliths on her head. However it was stone balls, which one can see strewn around the site, which probably served as rollers to transport these huge blocks of stone to the site. Just like with the megalithic temples in Malta, no one knows who were the people who built the Temples and where and why they departed after 2500 B.C.

GgantijaThen we drove to Ramla Bay, located on the north-eastern shore of Gozo. The beach is unusually wide and sandy and of a particularly golden-reddish sand which makes it different from all other beaches in Gozo and Malta. Its Maltese name is Ir-Ramla l-Ħamra — the Red Sandy Beach. The area around the beach is quite interesting and according to our guide, provides some very rich historical treasures, as many Roman remains lie beneath the sand. But I could also see why this pristine nature site was a relaxing place to spend the day. Unless, you want to see the famous Calypso Cave overlooking the western side of the beach (about an hour hike up the hill).

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We didn’t go to the beach but stopped at the small observation desk, next to the cave, offering a panoramic view of small farms in the valley, the expansive Ramla Beach curving around the bay, and the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Apparently, Gozo is one of the half-dozen or so contenders for the title of Calypso’s Isle – the mythical island of Ogygia described in Homer’s “Odyssey” where nymph Calypso seduced the hero Odysseus and kept him captive for seven years. But she could not overcome his longing for his home in Ithaca, and Zeus eventually sent Hermes to commend her to release Odysseus. The cave was closed, but we were told that if this cave above Ramla Bay was indeed Calypso’s hideaway, then it was no wonder that Odysseus was keen to get home. Despite the nice view and pretty island, the crammed living quarters left a lot to be desired.

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Then, we crossed Gozo to the west to see a remarkable geologic feature of the island, the most famous and photogenic site – Azure Window – a natural 60m high stone arch that was formed millions of years ago when a limestone cave collapsed. It looks like a table over the sea with two almost perpendicular vertical rocks holding a huge horizontal mass over them – a result of extensive fault-ins, as well as the wind and wave action on the rocks. The arch of the window is continuously eroding and pieces of rock fall every now and then. It is expected that the arch will collapse sooner or later, so we were advised not to walk on it. Azure Window was also featured in the movies “The Clash of the Titans”, “The Count of Monte Cristo” and “The Game of Thrones”.

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We didn’t walk on Azure Window but took a small boat (€5, 15 mins) into the caves and around. It was fun to see groups of divers going just underneath of our boat and swimming along the cave walls into the famous Blue hole.

Our next stop was just a few kms south, at Xlendi. Development has turned this sometime fishing village into a resort town, popular with weekending Maltese and tourists. The word “Xlendi” is of Byzantine origins as the village was named after a galley “Shilandi” of the period, that was wrecked along the coast. The remains of the ship were retrieved near the entry of the bay, at the bottom of the sea, in the 1960s. Since then it became a popular diving site. Tombs dating Punic-Byzantine times were also found in Xlendi, some at St. Simon Point (under St Simon Street) and others in Xlendi Valley. Romans used to port in Xlendi as its bay protected them from the winds, however many ships wrecked on the mid-bay reef which explains a large number of Roman amphora on the sea bed in the mouth of the bay. The Xlendi Tower guarding the mouth of the bay was built by the Grandmaster Juan de Lascaris-Castellar on 29 June 1650 to prevent pirates or Turks from disembarking from this bay. Even though the cluster of modern buildings wrapping the bay won’t win any architectural awards, the bay still enjoys an attractive setting and offers a great stop by the sea, with good swimming, snorkeling and diving. We grabbed some ice-cream and fruit cups and enjoyed a few minutes on the beach.

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Our last stop was in Victoria the chief town of Gozo, that sits in the center of the island and is crowned by the tiny citadel Il-Kastell, which appears to grow out of its rocky outcrop. Named after the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, it was originally known as Rabat and is still called that by the islanders. Besides the quiet and atmospheric winding streets, there are actually plenty of things to see.

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One of them is, of course, Il-Kastelli, also known as Cittadella, which has been the centre of activity of the island since possibly Neolithic times, but is known to be first fortified during the Bronze Age c. 1500 B.C. It was later developed by the Phoenicians and continued into becoming a complex Acropolis by Roman times. The north side of the Citadella dates back to the Aragonese domination period and retains its medieval form, while the south flank, overlooking Victoria, was re-constructed under the Knights of St. John, namely between 1599 and 1603. The massive defensive stone walls of the fortifications rise above the town, various bastions, cavaliers, batteries were built to protect the village communities from foraging corsairs attempting to take slaves. After some terrible raids on Gozo by the Turks (1551), it became customary for all the island’s families to stay within Il-Kastell overnight, a practice that lasted well into the 17th century. The bastions also offered one of the best panoramic views of Gozo. The fortification restoration project that took off in 2008 is still underway, but inside Il-Kastell looked very much medieval, quiet and very authentic.

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Within its walls lie a fine 17th century baroque Cathedral of the Assumption designed by Lorenzo Gafà, Chapel of St. Joseph (built in 1625 on the site of an 11th-century chapel), Courts of Justice (built in the early 16th century), Old Prison, Gozo Museum of ArchaeologyNatural Science MuseumFolklore Museum dedicated to Gozitan folklore and housed in a cluster of early 16th century houses.

It is said that The Cathedral of the Assumption lies on the site where a Roman temple dedicated to Juno once stood. Following the Christianization of Malta and Gozo, the temple was converted into a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but it was destroyed during the Arab rule. Following the expulsion of the Arabs, a parish church within the Cittadella was built around 1299, and it was enlarged over the course of the 15th and 16th centuries. The foundation stone of the present cathedral was laid down in 1697 and the construction was completed in 1711. Now it serves as a seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gozo and it is most famous for the remarkable trompe l’oeil painting on its ceiling, which depicts the interior of a dome that was never built due to lack of funds.

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The Old Prison is adjacent to the Courts of Justice to which it was originally connected. The prison was active from the mid-16th century until 1962. First, it used to host the most riotous and hot-tempered knights, as a place to cool down. Even the most historical knight, Jean Parisot de Valette was imprisoned there in 1538 for 4 months after attacking a man. Today, the prison complex is divided into two different buildings: the entrance hall, which had been a common cell in the 19th century, and a free-standing block with six individual cells. The site is well preserved in its original state, and one can find a large amount of graffiti (of ships, hand-prints, crosses, names, dates, games, and anthropomorphic figures) etched into the limestone walls.

Outside the citadel, the more modern area of Victoria has several interesting tourist sites. The main square, It-Tokk, is a bustling marketplace of street vendors and shops. Saint George’s Basilica is a beautiful 17th-century Baroque church that rivals the cathedral. Known as the “Marble Basilica,” the church interior is covered with marble inlays and columns. The breathtakingly ornate interior is a riot of gilded arch ways, lavish ceiling paintings, and fine art works. There are numerous paintings by Mattia Preti including “Saint George and The Virgin of Mercy with Souls in Purgatory”Another important work is the painting of Saint George by Francesco Zahra. Be sure to admire the astonishing dome with its stained-glass windows and paintings by Giovanni Battista Conti of Rome.

St. GeorgeBesides pointing out the attractions, our guide Daiva went into depth about Maltese and Gozitan people, their traditions, culture, politics, lifestyles, attitudes towards gay people, women and immigrants. A Latvian herself, she has been living in Malta for many years and had plenty of insights to share with us. For ex, people in Malta and especially in Gozo are not very concern about their property being stolen, as it rarely happens, that is why everywhere we went, we could see the keys left out in the door locks from the outside. Pretty much every house has a name plaque, either associated with the name of the family living in the house or based on religious beliefs. I actually doubt you would find a house in Malta or Gozo that wouldn’t have its own name. But I guess, the friendliness of local people, their ways of going about their daily business with ease and dignity (no matter how many tourists are looking at them) is the best part about Maltese people.

VictoriaWe spent pretty much all day on Gozo, but still there were plenty of things to see: the magnificent Basilica of Ta’ Pinu – an important pilgrimage church and a national shrine devoted to the Virgin Mary; Xewkija Rotunda dedicated to Saint John the Baptist (this remarkable church at the center of Xewkija village is Gozo’s largest religious monument and is visible across much of the island); the dramatic scenery of Ta’Cenc Cliffs  –  the highest cliffs in Gozo at 130 m high, etc. There is definitely more than one reason to go back to Gozo!

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Comino. Tranquil and isolated, this 2.5 km by 1.5 km island has only 4 permanent residents (one priest and one policeman commute from Gozo to render their services to the local population and summertime visitors). Located between Malta and Gozo, Comino is known to have been inhabited by farmers during Roman times, but for long periods in its history it has been sparsely populated, privately owned, or abandoned entirely. Its rugged coastline is delineated by sheer limestone cliffs, and dotted with deep caves which were popular with pirates and marauders in the Middle Ages. In later years, the Knights of Malta used this island as hunting and recreational grounds. From 1285 until some time after 1290, Comino was the home of exiled prophetic cabbalist Abraham Abulafia. It was on Comino that Abulafia composed his Sefer ha-Ot (The Book of the Sign), and his last work, Imre Shefer (Words of Beauty). In the 16th and 17th centuries, Comino served as a place of imprisonment or exile for errant knights, where convicted of minor crimes knights were occasionally sentenced to the lonely and dangerous task of manning St. Mary’s Tower.

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There are few structures on the island. Saint Mary’s Tower is the most visible of all and was erected in 1618 under Grandmaster Wignacourt as a part of a chain of defensive towers, which greatly improved communications between Malta and Gozo. A tiny Roman Catholic chapel (built in 1618) dedicated to the Sacred Family Upon its Return from Egypt is located above Santa Marija Bay. Saint Mary’s Battery, built in 1716, at the same time as various other batteries around the coastline of mainland Malta and Gozo, is situated facing the South Comino Channel. And there is also a 3 star Comino Hotel with its two private beaches, located above San Niklaw Bay.

This almost empty island is a breathtakingly beautiful place and home to the Blue Lagoon, one of Malta’s loveliest but also most-visited natural attractions. A sheltered cove between the western end of the islands and the uninhabited islet of Cominotto, Blue Lagoon is delightful and alluring. A white-sand seabed and intense blue waters made it a perfect end-of-the-day swim for us. We arrived to Comino around 16.00 when most people were already leaving (last scheduled boat is at 18.00) and got most of the small strip of the sandy beach all to ourselves. On the way back, we simply hired a private motor-boat (€7 per person, watch out for your hats and sun-glasses as the boat drivers tend to enjoy the speed) and in less than 15 minutes we were back to Cirkewwa Port.

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Malta turned out to be a wonderful melange of history, adventure, ethereal medieval towns, formidable fortifications, wonderful natural sights and unimaginable romance. I couldn’t have been happier to get married to the most amazing man in this picture-card beautiful place. We will surely be back!

Pictures of Malta Part I and Part II

Pictures of Valletta

Pictures of Mdina

Pictures of Rabat

 Pictures of Gozo and Comino

 

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Athens, Greece. August 2014 https://svetanyc.com/2014/08/athens-greece-august-2014/ https://svetanyc.com/2014/08/athens-greece-august-2014/#respond Mon, 11 Aug 2014 23:52:04 +0000 http://svetanyc.com/?p=1851 Click here for Part I of “Athens, Greece. July 2014” August 2, 2014 D and I were back to Athens to celebrate Stacy and Antonis’ wedding at Island Art and Taste  – a beautiful wedding venue on a cliff in Varkiza area of Athens. The wedding wasn’t till evening, but after 2 weeks on the...

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Click here for Part I of “Athens, Greece. July 2014”

August 2, 2014

D and I were back to Athens to celebrate Stacy and Antonis’ wedding at Island Art and Taste  – a beautiful wedding venue on a cliff in Varkiza area of Athens. The wedding wasn’t till evening, but after 2 weeks on the road, we needed our “re-charge” time so we stayed at the apartment, ate the most delicious greek watermelons and read on the balcony. It was the best carefree time I could remember.

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In the evening, we drove to the venue and spent a wonderful evening with D’s school friends most of whom I just met. It was my first “big fat greek wedding” with 500+ guests and I don’t know whether it went wild (as everyone predicted) since we left around 1 am which was still an early evening by Greek standards!

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August 3, 2014

Today, since we still had D mom’s car, we decided to visit places that aren’t easily accessible by foot. So we started in the morning and drove to the Panathenaic Stadium (also called Kallimarmaro Stadium). Entry €3, free audioguide – highly recommend, one hour to visit.

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This huge marble structure set in a small valley by Ardittos Hill occupies the same site of the original Panathenaic stadium built by archon Lykurgus in 330-329 BC. But even many centuries before, this place hosted games in which nude athletes competed in track events and athletics. Lykurgus’ Stadium was first used during the celebration of the Great Panathenaia in 330-329 to host competitions. During Roman times, it was first reconstructed for gladiatorial contests during Hadrian‘s reign in AD 120 and they say at its inauguration, 1000 wild animals were sacrificed in the arena. In AD 144, thanks to the wealthy Roman benefactor Herodes Atticus, the stadium underwent some modifications: instead of parallelogram it was remodeled into a horseshoe shape and spectators’ seats were rebuilt in white marble. A vaulted passage under the east retaining wall terminated at the back of the Stadium and the temple of Tyche (Fortuna) was built on top of Ardettos Hill. The whole space was adorned with splendid statues and for many years, the tomb of Herodes dominated the hilltop left of the entrance.

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With the prevailing of Christianity and the prohibition of pagan celebration and the barbarous spectacles of Roman times, such as bloody gladiatorial duels and contests with wild beasts, the Stadium fell in disuse and was neglected, while its marble was gradually quarried for use in new buildings or burnt down to make lime. The idea to revive the Olympic Games (brought to fruition by French baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1894) and 4 million golden drachmas donated by Georgios Averof led for the Stadium’s resurection. Designed by Anastasios Metaxas, the present stadium is an exact replica of Herodes Atticus’ stadium, as described in the “Guide to Greece” by traveler Pausanias. Built in white Pentelic marble, it is 204 m long and 83 m wide and can seat up to 68,000 people. On 5 April 1896, the new stadium hosted the First Modern Olympic Games and until today, it is the venue where the Olympic flame handover ceremony takes place before every Olympic Games.

I absolutely recommend taking a free audio-guide as it gave us the fullest information about the site as well as guided us through the times of the gladiatorial battles to present Games. On the left side of the stadium, there is a small underground tunnel which used to be the Gladiators’ exit but now serves as an entrance to a small museum dedicated to the Olympic Games and containing exhibits and memorabilia from every past Game.

AAWe went to Greece to meet D family members and so far, I’ve met many of them, but there was one person, who played a huge role in D’s life – his fraternal grandmother who was no longer alive. However, it was important for D and I to visit her tomb, to bow our heads and pay respect. She is buried in the First Cemetery of Athens, next to the Stadium. First opened in 1837, it is a peaceful place, filled with pine and olive trees. Beautiful example of the 19th century funerary art range from the flamboyance of some of the marble mausoleums to the simplicity of the belle epoque Kimomeni (Sleeping Maiden). Created by Yannoulis Chalepas, this beautiful tomb is found to the right of the main cemetery avenue where many of Greece foremost families are buried. Among the notable 19th and 20th century figures with tombs here are Theodoros Kolokotronis, British philhellene historian George Finley (1799-1875), German archeologists Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), the Nobel Prize winning poet Giorgos Seferis (1900-1971) and many more. In addition to the large number of individual tombs of famous people, the cemetery contains a moving single memorial to the 40,000 Athenians who starved to death during the WWII.

AWe took a stroll around the cemetery, as it was very serene and beautiful, until we got to the grandmother’s grave. It was a touching moment for both of us, since D loved this woman with all his heart and soul. I took a moment to say a prayer.

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Before returning a car to D mom, we drove to the Lykavittos Hill (300 m above sea level) for the finest panoramas of the city. Its name means the “hill of wolves” implying that in the past wolves probably inhabited the slopes of this hill. Another myth credits the creation of the hill to goddess Athena who dropped a mountain she had been carrying from Pallene for the construction of the Acropolis after the box holding Erichthonius was opened. We took the car all the way up, but you can either walk up (45 minutes) or take a fonicular railway. There is a small whitewashed chapel of Agios Georgios crowns the top of the hill. It was built in the 19th century on the site of an older Byzantine church, dedicated to Profitis Ilias. Both saints are celebrated on their name days – Ilias on 20 July and Georgios on 23 April.

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But the best day to see the hill, according to locals, is on the eve of Easter Sunday when a spectacular candlelit procession winds down the peak’s wooden slopes. There are multiples cafes and restaurants on top as well as the open-air Lykavittos Theater which holds annual performances during the Athens Festival (mid-June to mid-September). The views of the city from the observation decks that rim the summit were indeed spectacular.

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And we finished the day at D mom’s place where we had a delicious homemade dinner and said our goodbyes.

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August 10, 2014

D. and I arrived from Santorini very late the night before so we decided not to rush in the morning. However, there were still a few unvisited places and unfinished tasks to complete. For one, I really wanted to visit Benaki Museum of Greek art, culture and history. It is open only till 15.00 on Sundays and by the time we got there, we had only 90 minutes to see it all (allow at least 3-4 hours, entry is €7 per person). Nevertheless, it turned out to be my favorite museum and if you have just a few days in Athens or dislike museums all together, head to Benaki’s family private house, that hosts the collection, and you will see/learn everything you need in order to understand Greece and Greeks – ceramics, figurines, jewelry, sculptures, paintings, metal work, costumes, mosaic, embroidery, religious artifacts, etc. Conveniently located near the Syntagma Square (ΣΤ.ΣΥΝΤΑΓΜΑΤΟΣ subway stop) and housed in a beautiful neoclassical building that, in the early 20th century served as a private residency of the Benaki family, the collection, gathered by Antonis Benakis and donated by many others, contains over 100,000 items. In 2000, the museum building was renovated and expanded, while the entire collection was subdivided into themes (Greek art, Islamic Art, Chinese Porcelain etc) and finally relocated according to the categories. Hence, when somebody refers to Benaki Museum, they might mean the main building exhibiting the Greek art, however, they might as well mean the Museum of Islamic Art in Kerameikos or Historical or Photographic Archives or any one of eleven facilities of the museum. D. and I came to see the Greek collection of the museum; building has 4 floors and the collection on each level is arrange based on different parameters: chronological, topical, geographical etc.

The ground floor collection is arranged into different periods and ranges from Neolithic to late-Byzantine art and Cretan icon paintings.

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Gallery 1 – In Greece the Neolithic Age succeeded the Paleolithic Age around 6500 BC and lasted until 3200 BC. It is characterized by permanent settlements, the systematic cultivation of the land, the domestication of animals and the crystallization of the religious beliefs. Improved techniques in stone-knapping facilitated the production of tools that to a point compensated for the absence of metal. Although the potter’s wheel had not yet been invented, clay vases of inspired shapes were made by hand and although living conditions were difficult, they in no way impeded the formation of an aesthetic with distinctive traits. Neolithic people wove cloth, dressed and adorned themselves, bartered goods, embarked on hazardous journeys on land and sea. The gallery, among other things, contains neolithic axes, adzes, figurines, monochrome and incised pottery.

Gallery 2 – During the Bronze Age, from 3200 to 1200 BC, the use of bronze was established and living conditions improved. In the early period there was a spectacular floruit in the Northeast Aegean islands, centered in Lemnos, and in the Cyclades. During the middle and late periods the civilizations of Minoan Crete and Mycenae were enhanced, covering the entire geographical area of Greece. In the collective subconsciousness of historical times the memory of there civilizations is etched in a sequence of fascinating myths that excite the imagination even today. Imposing and opulent palaces, impressive funerary monuments, cities fortified with Cyclopean walls, remarkable public works; these bear witness to the spectacular achievements, the economic basis of which is reflected in the treasures of gold artifacts brought to light in excavations. The Minoans and the Mycenaeans traveled throughout the Mediterranean as well as in the Black Sea, making contact with Egypt and the Middle eastern civilizations, founding emporia for their trading transactions. They invented writing to facilitate communication and gradually devise the pantheon of the Twelve Gods. The 12th and 11th centuries BC were a period of crisis and upheaval, the principal episodes in which were the Fall of Troy (1196 BC), the breaking up of central authority in the Mycenaean cities and the incursions of the “Sea peoples” from the Aegean and Asia Minor. There disturbances brought the Bronze Age to the end, with the introduction of iron-working technology, the manufacture of more durable weapons and the change in social stratification. During the Iron Age, 11th and 10th centuries BC, contacts via the sea lanes were reduced, to be intensified again in the 9th and 8th centuries BC, in direct proportion to the gradual improvement of living conditions. From the first half of the 8th century BC relations between Greeks and Phoenicians proliferated, resulting in the adoption of the Phoenician script, supplemented by Greek vowels. Around 700 BC Homer composed the Iliad and the Odyssey, in which the echoes of a world that travels in search of raw materials and new places to settle, insinuates itself between earlier memories. The art of this period moved away from the Greco-Mycenaean ideals, preferring stricter geometric canons for organizing its subjects. From 700 BC and during the course of the 7th century BC the geometric forms were gradually dissolved, with the introduction of a host of sappy vegetal motifs from the Orient, enriching the imaginative reserved of Greek art with mythical figures of a charming “exotic” worlds. Around the middle of this period Daedalic art conquered the monumental scale of expression in sculpture. This gallery contains Cycladic marble female figurines, Cypriot and Minoan pottery, Attic black-figure amphora and Geometric vases, rare gold diadem from Kos, unique “Euboea Treasure” with the two gold cups and Mycenaean gold jewelry.

Gallery 3 – By the 6th century BC the Hellenic worlds was decentralized in its organization, comprising a large number of independent city-states and an immense series of colonies developing in the coastal zone of the Mediterranean, yet remarkably cohesive in its cultural unity. From the Euxine Pontus, the Propontis and the Hellespont to the shored of Asia Minor, from North Africa, the coasts of Spain, France, Italy and Sicily to the Adriatic, this unity was forged by the strong bonds of the common language, the common traditions and the common religion. The major panhellenic sanctuaries of Apollo in Delphi, Zeus at Olympia and Nemea, Poseidon at Isthma, as well as the games held in there, played a role in boosting ethnic consciousness. The same can be said of the social struggles, which, from the aristocratic regimes and with intermediate variations, expressed for the first time in history the demand for Democracy. In myth the model of life is epitomized by Heracles and Theseus, in the constant struggle between good and evil. The 6th century BC discovered the necessity of laws, scientific research, philosophical contemplation and lyrical expression, while the detection of movement as a basic ingredient  of the process quickly freed monumental sculpture from the bonds of materiality and identifies the content of vitality with the concept of internal rhythm. This gallery contains cases and figurines from the pottery workshops in Attica, Corinth, Boeotia and Cyprus, bronze bowls from Macedonia, gold and silver jewelry from Northern Greece, a spectacular gold gorgoneion (gorgon’s head) to be sewn onto a textile.

Gallery 4 – With the stemming of the Persian tide in the historic battle of Marathon in 490 BC, the animating prudence of the fledgeling Athenian democracy was revealed. 10 years later, after Athens had been totally destroyed, the now united Greeks vanquished the far more numerous Persian forces in the legendary naval battle of Salamis, in 480 BC. During the ensuing period, Athens, despite its worsening relations with Sparta, reached its cultural zenith, under the guidance of Pericles. History with Herodotus and Thucydides, Tragedy with Aeschylus and Sophocles, Architecture with Iktinos and Kallikrates, Art with Polygnotos and Pheidias, shaped the concept of the Classical. Current ideas and great intellects of the day – Demokritos and Anaxogoras, Hippodamos and Hippokrates, Socrates and Protagoras, Euripides and Aristophanes – met and mingled in Athens. Although the catastrophic conflict between the Athenian and the Spartan Coalition in the years of the Peloponnesian War, waged between 431-404 BC, ended with the defeat of the Athenian Democracy, the Spartan forces were exhausted too. Art moved from the level of spirituality and internal balance of the time of the Parthenon to register the imminent changes, with a gradual weakening of the figures which emanate a disposition for fluidity and fugacity. This gallery contains examples of red-figure pottery, colossal double herm from Italy and marble statuette of Pan.

Gallery 5 contains the examples of sculpture of the 5th and 4th centuries BC: male head from Ancient Agora, votive Hekataion, head of Apollo Sauroktonos, a fragment of the funerary relief, etc. Dominating the center of the gallery is the late Archaic marble kalpe with relief of dolphins.

Gallery 6 – The 4th century BC was dramatic period for Athens, which tried in vain to regain part of its lost glory, as well as for other Greek cities, which were torn apart by the continuous conflicts between them. With the dissolution of the ed hoc coalitions, after the battle of Chaironeia in 338 BC, and the consolidation of the Macedonian hegemony, the Greeks, led by Alexander the Great, sought the solutions to their vital internal problems in the conquest of the East. Art continues the tradition of the 5th century BC but there is an underlying predilection for nostalgic reverie, a diffuse melancholy or a desperate disposition to break through the stifling cordon. Thus the dissolving inner world projected with increasing clarity the individual qualities and the singularity of the soul in each case. In the field of philosophical contemplation, Plato reasonably resorted to the sphere of ideas in order to seek the stable values there, while Aristotle, as a down-to-earth pragmatist, laid the bases of science by studying the species and the classes of phenomena. The fatigue and resignation of the age are expressed equally well by Epikouros, with the reduction of harmony to man’s distancing from public affairs and absorption in his personal felicity. Gallery contains small modeled vases, bronze mirrors, terra-cotta figurines from various regions, gold wreaths and jewelry, inscribed funerary monument of Herpyllis from Thrace bidding her loved ones farewell.

Gallery 7 – When Alexander the Great died in 323 BC the expansion of Hellenism from Egypt to India and the control of the East had already been achieved. The Greek language, used in economic transactions and cultural communications became the link connecting the different traditions of a vast state in which the cosmopolitan spirit predominated. The division of this state into several kingdoms and the continuous conflicts between the successors to Alexander the Great, the Diadochoi, gradually debilitated the Hellenic world, facilitating its subjugation to the Romans after the battle of Pydna in 168 BC. The art of the Hellenistic period in characterized on the one hand by the dramatic intensity of an extrovert endeavor to break through the bounds of space, and on the other by an introvert tendency to take idyllic refuge in the ordinary and the curious in everyday life. Intellectual inquiries were governed by the need for a now broader scientific assessment in the large libraries founded then. Gallery contains Attic pottery, a marble head of a young girl, gold jewelry from Eritrea and other areas, silver vases, sepulchral entablature from Boeotia, the monumental krater and hydria from Apulia, wall record stele, examples of Alexandrian art, works of the Roman period and the masterpieces of Hellenistic and Early Roman goldwork.

Gallery 8 – The Roman conquest of the geographical area in which Hellenism had spread in no way hampered the prospects of its historical progress. During the reigns of Augustus (27 BC – AD 14) and Hadrian (Ad 117-138) in particular, the Greek cities enjoyed a new economic and cultural heyday, while the major creation of the Hellenic past became the prototypes for the artistic expression of the new era. The artists, surpassing the classicizing stage of admiration, repetition and imitation, soon found the routes leading from the impressionist to an expressionist world view and, in the portrait specifically, the ways out of the dark depth of the soul. Exhibited around the perimeter of this gallery are examples of sculpture from various regions and periods; case contains the gold jewelry of the Roman period, from Egypt, Syria and other regions – golden statuette of Aphrodite, a neckless with a mounted gold coin of Emperor Hadrian, etc.

Gallery 9 – The founding of Constantinople by Constantine the Great (324-337) in the year AD 324, the transfer there of the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and the establishment of Christianity as the official religion of the state, marked the beginning of a new floruit. The empire that historians call Byzantine was based on the Graeco-Roman traditions of the East and its influence radiated to the ends of the Mediterranean, particularly during the reign of Justinian (527-565). The salvation of Constantinople from the siege of the Avars  in 626, during the reign of Heracleius (610-641), the defeat of the Persians in 627 and the tempestuous advances of the Arabs in the mid 7th century define the end of the Early Christian period. The gallery contains domestic vessels of glass, clay and bronze, the series of gold coins minted by the emperors of this period, bronze lamps with Christian symbols, a purple textile with gold motifs from Egypt, characteristic examples of linen and silk textiles from Egypt with Graeco-Roman mythological subjects, funerary portraits, double-sided encaustic icon with St. Paul the Apostle on one face and an unidentified saint on the other, pieces of Early Christian gold jewelry, etc

Gallery 10 – The arrangement of the interior of this small room evokes a sense of medieval Hellenism and of the atmosphere of the period between the reign of Heracleius and the Sack of Constantinople by mob of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. During the 8th and 9th centuries the Byzantine Empire was shaken by the religious and political-ideological conflicts of Iconoclasm. After the final Restoration of the Icons in 843, however, came reconstruction and reform, and in the following centuries, mainly during the era of the Macedonian dynasty (867-1056), its splendor radiated far and wide. Central authority was strengthened, economic recovery was achieved and in 1018 the Bulgar threat was quashed decisively. The rivalry in relations between Byzantium and the West came to a head in 1054 with the Schism of the Orthodox and the Catholic Church. Among the successes of foreign policy, however, was the conversion of the Rus to Christianity in 988, and in the sector of education the organization of the university, during the reign of Constantine IX Monomachos (1042-1055), which made Constantinople, along with Paris and Baghdad, one of the most important centers of advances studies in the then-known world. Gallery contains the paining with a scene of the Descent from the Cross from the church of St. Barbara at Latziana in Crete, icon of the Virgin from Thrace, fragment of a mosaic with the representation of the Crucifixion from an Italian church of the 8th century, a selection of illuminated manuscripts and gospel books, examples of Middle Byzantine bronzework, etc.

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Gallery 11 – The loss of large parts of the Byzantine Empire after 1204 and the dire economic straits, in conjunction with Ottoman harassment, created a suffocating clime, despite the recapture of the Capital in 1261 by Michael VIII Palaeologos (1259-1282). In the 14th and 15th centuries the Bulgars and the Serbs created a mighty states in the Balkans, the Ottoman forces marched unimpeded throughAsia Minor and the never-ending civil strife completed the weakening of the Empire. Nevertheless, the coincidence of historical circumstances that led to the final collapse with the siege and fall of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453, came in the wake of an exceptional cultural floruit during the period of the Palaeologan dynasty (1261-1453). It could be said that the laws governing historical events do not always hold for interpreting artistic and intellectual phenomena too. This gallery contains superb examples of the Byzantine painting of this period, which was of unrivaled sensitivity.

Gallery 12 – When Byzantium collapsed in 1453 not all Greek regions were subject automatically to the Ottomans. Cyprus, Crete, the Dodecanese, many of the Aegean islands, the islands in the Ionian sea and several cities of strategic importance in mainland Greece had, since 1204, been in the possession of Venice and other western powers that took part in the Fourth Crusade. Tough no less painful for the Greeks, the period of Latin Rule allowed them to keep their traditions. Concurrently, however, they absorbed many western traits. Crete enjoyed a particular artistic heyday during the 15th, 16th and part of the 17th centuries, where painting continued the Palaeologan tradition while at the same time receiving messages from Italian Renaissance art. In the first decade of the 17th century the poet Vincenzo Cornaro wrote the verse-play Erotokritos, the most important and inspired creation in Neohellenic literature. The capitulation of Candia (Herakleion) to the Ottomans in 1669 marked the demise of the so-called Cretan renaissance. The gallery contains mostly icons.

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The first floor exhibits are organized geographically and are from Asia Minor, mainland Greece and the Greek Islands. There is also a collection of ecclesiastical silverware and jewelry.

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Gallery 13 – Crete, Cyprus, the Dodecanese and the Cyclades during the period of foreign occupation. Despite the adverse conditions that prevailed under foreign rule, Frankish initially and Ottoman subsequently, the island world maintained its cultural tradition, distilling in the potions of its sensitivity potent influences from West and East. This process was helped by the relative independence that the community organization ensured as well as by the economic development that ensued from the favorable terms for Greek shipping of the Russian-Turkish treaties of Kutchuk Kainardji (1774) and Jassy (1792). Although ecclesiastical art flourished, thanks to the religious tolerance of the Ottomans, the shrinking of public life was not conducive to artistic output on a monumental scale. The islanders expressed their aesthetic needs mainly in the private space of the home, projecting their optimistic expectations in a somewhat ‘painterly’ manner, through the creation of an imaginary world of general efflorescence. The gallery contains a rare map of Greece painted in egg tempera on wood in the early 18th century, probably by a Venetian, but also, Cretan kilim, festival and bridal costumes and embroidery, wood-carvings and jewelry, the wooden “baldachin” for the sperveri (curtains of the bridal bed) from Rhodes, lace of Melos, examples of the 17th century Iznik ceramics, wooden fragments from Rhodan mansions and gold jewelry.

aaGallery 14 – Sporades, Thasos, Lemnos and Chios to Metilene, Samos, Asia Minor, the Pontos and Constantinople. As the traveler goes to the other Aegean islands, and from there to the areas of Asia Minor where the Greeks once flourished, s/he can’t fail to be impressed by the endless variety in the elaboration of specific local costume types, by the highly imaginative synthesis of the heterogeneous materials, by the profusion of color and the excellence of technique, but mainly by the assimilative power that fertilizes the creative inspiration. Impressive too is enslaved Hellenism’s need to communicate with the outside worlds, as is reflected in the host of works from West and East, that come from many regions and, in their turn, underline the exceptional burgeoning of trade during the 17th-19th centuries. The walls of the gallery are adorned with five rows of ceramics alluding to the usual decoration of the Greek house, mainly in the islands; the gallery also houses female and male costumes from Irikeri and Asia Minor, a full reconstruction of the interior of a house on Skyros, gold jewelry from the Aegean islands, Crete, the Dodecanese and the Cyclades, embroideries, etc.

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Gallery 15 – Asia Minor, Thrace and Macedonia. It contains ceramics from Canakkale, chests, embroidery, female costumes of Thraces, Kavakli, Makra Gefyra and Macedonia.

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Gallery 16 – The Greek communities of Smyrna, Constantinople and the Pontos. During the period of foreign rule, the Greek community in Constantinople, united around the Ecumenical Patriarchate, continued to flourish, playing a leading role in the economic and cultural life of the Ottoman Empire. During the same period, active Greek communities developed throughout Asia Minor and the Pontos, in South Russia and Central Europe, North Italy, Venice and primarily Trieste, as well as in important cities of western Europe, such as Paris and London. Contacts between the towns in Greece and the communities abroad were close and fruitful, leading to the improvement of living  standards and the cultivation of letters. The gallery contains several 19th century watercolors with the view of the Bosporus and Constantinople, ecclesiastical and secular gold embroideries of exquisite workmanship, gold jewelry, wedding crowns of 1855 with a karamanlidiki inscription, silver book cover, etc.

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Galleries 17-19 – Economic prosperity and cultural brilliance in Macedonia and Epirus during the 18th century. Northern Greece didn’t experience the positive influences received by the islands as a consequence of Frankish rule. Nor was it affected by the favorable terms for navigation of the Russo-Turkish treaties. However, this didn’t prevent it from developing a dense network of communication with the Balkans and Central Europe, from where it drew a large part of its artistic inspiration and to where it disseminated a large part of its rich craft industrial production. Western Macedonia and Epirus, with their mountain massifs unsuitable for crop cultivation, favored the tide of emigration and the development of trade, with the consequent emergence of affluent families abroad and the influx of money to the Ottoman-held regions. Here too the architecture of the museum building imposed the placement of Epirus at the center of the exhibition area and the two mansions from western Macedonia at the edges. The galleries contain spectacular 18th century bedsheets from Epirus, decorated wood-carved chest, 18th century Epirot embroidery of monumental size and composition, two embroidered bridal cushions from Ioannina, stone fireplace with addorsed lions in champleve relief, etc. The interiors, into which the Epirus gallery extends, with reception rooms from two Macedonian mansions, represent the general trends of Neohellenic aesthetics as well as their debt to the spirit of Central European and Ottoman decorative tradition, and to the legacy of Byzantium.

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Gallery 20 – Goldwork and silverwork from Northern Greece. The contents of this gallery offer further testimony of the quality of art in northern Greece as well as of its relations with the neighboring Balkan lands during the period of Ottoman rule. Of the jewelry ensembles exhibited, those with the silver strips should probably be attributed to workshops in Macedonia, while those with enameled decoration are apparently associated with Thrace.

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Gallery 21 – From Thessaly to Epirus and from Aitoloakarnania to the Ionian Islands. This gallery contains female and male costumes from Ioannina and Metsovo, Corfu and Lefkadia, Missolonghi and Thesally, large silver and gilded belt buckles with spectacular hammered decoration, amulets,  interesting examples of Neohellenic pottery, gold jewelry, paintings, embroidery, a 19th century gold-embellished lentika from Zakynthos, etc.

Gallery 22 – Ancient monuments, landscapes and later towns in the Peloponnese. The majestic beauty of nature and the host of monuments from Antiquity soon attracted the interest of foreign travellers to the Peloponnese. However, conspicuous by their absence from the extant visual records are all references to everyday life, the material evidence of which was destined to disappear during the years of the War of Independence, with the bloody destructions and enemy reprisals. This explains the paucity of material from the Peloponnese, not only in the Benaki Museum but elsewhere too. This gallery contains watercolors, oil-paintings, Arcadian relief of 1869, wood-carved chests, two of the very few surviving female costumes from Peloponnese, etc.

Gallery 23 – Romantic impulses in travels to discover Greece through the rediscovery of antiquity. The case of Athens. Thanks to the travellers and their records, it was possible to reconstruct the physiognomy of the Greek country side of that times, for this began to change after the end of the War of Independence, at a pace consistent with the increasing urbanization and modernization of the state, to suffer even more serious adulterations in the years after WWII. The foreigners who came to Greece, motivated by a romantic disposition of escapism and drawn by the magnetism of the anarchical coexistence of the ideal of Antiquity with the despotism of the Ottoman occupation, as well as the exoticism of the East in its alluring juxtaposition to the suffocation conventionalism – for the more liberal spirits – of European reality after the French Revolution, contributed to the creation of the powerful philhellenic movement which gave its support, mainly moral, to the Struggle for Independence. The gallery contains watercolors, pencil drawings, engravings, one of the most precious historical documents in the Museum collection – a watercolor by the Venetian officer Giacomo Milheau Verneda of the bombardment of the Parthenon in 1687, items associated with Lord Byron’s presence in Greece, leather-bound sketch book of Sir William Gell, the girl’s costume of Aghia Anna in Euboea and the rare bridal costume of Attica, etc.

Gallery 24 – The islands of the Argosaronic Gulf. From the mid-18th century many island and coastal towns developed into important maritime centers with mercantile fleets that ploughed the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, while at the same time extending their routes to the west. Of the islands in the Argosaronic Gulf, seafaring flourished on Hydra and Spetses, and the prosperity of those times is evident even today in the surviving architecture. The appeal of other, poorer, islands, such as Salamis, was linked more directly with the persistence of historical memory, while on Aegina the spectacular ruins of the Aphaia temple continues to attract the worshippers of ancient beauty. The gallery contains parts of the painted wood-carved interior decoration from the mansion built on Hydra in 1800 by the bey Georgios Voulgaris, oil-paintings, watercolors, the female costumes from Hydra, Spetses and Salamis, etc.

Gallery 25 – The church as unifying element and ecclesiastical art as single expression during the years of foreign rule. The Orthodox church is the only institutional and administrative structure that survived after the end of the Byzantine Empire, to be transformed into a unifying element for Hellenism during the long period of foreign rule. Ecclesiastical art, as the most formal artistic expression of the Greeks, preserved, through the interwoven influences of oriental and occidental provenance, the functions of Byzantine tradition and the character of Byzantine aesthetics.  Exhibited in this gallery are spectacular wood-carved and gilded liturgical items from a church in Zakynthos, a holy-water baptism basin, icons, prelatic sakkos (chasuble) of silk woven with gold and silver threads, precious personal heirlooms of the Metropolitan of Caesaria, etc.

Gallery 26 – Masterpieces of gold embroidery, goldwork and silverwork.

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Gallery 27 – The continuity of tradition in ecclesiastical painting of the 17th and 18th centuries. The stylistic idiom of painting that prevailed until the period of the War of Independence adopted trends already elaborated in the Ionian islands, where the Cretan tradition had been transplanted, while concurrently accepting influences from Italian Baroque and Flemish art. The workshops of the Greek mainland remained devoted to stricter traditional formats. By the turn of the 18th to the 19th century a folk disposition held sway everywhere, expressed in simple compositions and strong colors. This gallery contains the icons of Cretan-Heptanesian art, wood-craved and painted closure panels and iconostasis, processional crosses, liturgical fans and lamps, etc.

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Gallery 28 – Ecclesiastical goldwork and silverwork of the 17th-19th centuries.

The second floor displays items relating to Greek spiritual, economic and social life; it contains the temporary exhibitions, the cafeteria and the terrace of the Museum.

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Gallery 29 – Dance, music and song, dim reflections of the intellectual output of the Greek Enlightenment. It contains the representations of dance on a rare early 19th century embroidery from Epirus, watercolors, wind, string and percussion instruments, large glazed jar with sgraffito decoration of women dancing, illustrated manuscripts of ecclesiastical music from Asia Minor, a selection of important publications reflecting the interests and the educations aims of the era, text books on arithmetic, grammar, logic, history and rhetoric, etc.

Gallery 30 – The blessings of the sea and the hazards of the voyage. It contains the lithograph by Luigi Mayer of the harbor of Samos, and the tinted lithograph by Hilaire of the harbor of Tinos,  a very rare and much-used 19th century jug with sgraffita representation of a sailing ship, Neohellenic pottery, aquatints by Cartwright of the harbor of Zakynthos and Corfu in 1821 and scenes of daily nautical life there, etc.

Gallery 31 – From the struggle at sea to the toil for daily bread. This gallery contains silver icons, oil-paintings, 3 Russian icons, concise overview items of the rural economy related to cultivation of grain (yoke and plough, sickles, winnowing forks and shovels, stone handmill for grinding), etc.

Gallery 32- Oil and wine, pastoral economy and cottage industry, home and holiday. The gallery contains watercolors, iron pruners and an axe for tending the trees, wooden vessel for measuring and carrying the oil from the press, pitchers, clay flasks, a series of engravings relating directly or indirectly to bucolic life, rifles and pistols, silver tamatas (votive plaques), mould for casting an icon, domestic vessels of clay, metal and wood, pinakoti (wooden board with depression for bread dough), etc.

The third floor concentrates on the Greek War of Independence and modern political and cultural life.

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Gallery 33 – The early years of the Struggle for Independence in Central Greece, the Peloponnese and the islands. In 1821, after 400 years of subjugation and repeated ill-fated insurrections, the Greeks tried once again to cast off the Ottoman yoke. The Revolution broke in the Peloponnese and Central Greece, and was followed by the creation of hearths of rebellion in Epirus, Mt. Olympos, Macedonia, Chilkidiki, the Aegean islands, Crete and Cyprus. The Greeks pitched their indomitable conviction against not only the numerically larger and better equipped army of their adversaries, but also, primarily, against the hostile attitude of the Great Powers that advocated the implementation of the decisions of the Vienna Conference (1815), the maintenance of the status quo in Europe and the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. As this unequal confrontation progressed, the moral support of Philhellenism, which drew along in its current free consciences from St. Petersburg to London and even to the US, was significant. The heroic deeds of the Greek War of Independence enriched the history of mankind with remarkable examples of self-sacrifice, self-awareness and self-respect, and inspired such great exponents of Romanticism as Pushkin, Goethe, Byron, Hugo and Delacriox. The gallery contains dedication to two towering poets who embraces the ideals of the National Insurgence: the Greek national poet and expresser of the visions of the Struggle, Dionysios Solomos from Zakynthos and the foremost representative of the Romantic Movement – Lord Byron; memorabilia of Rigas Pheraios, one of the most important figures in the Greek Enlightenment who strove to support the revolution of the enslaved nation in the intellectual awakening and collaboration of all Balkan people; mementoes of the infamous Ali Pasha of Ioannina, the flag of Theodiris Kolokotronis with the inscription “Freedom or Death”, oil-paintings, the flags of Hydra, etc.

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Gallery 24 – From the period of the reverses to the declaration of Greek Independence and the dramatic end of Ioannis Capodistria. On 1 January 1822 the 1st national Assambly at Epidauros declared the “political existence and independence of the Greek Nation”, while the Greeks were continuing their efforts to consolidate the Struggle, with remarkable victories on land and sea, until 1823. From 1824, however, due to the inability – or rather the unwillingness – of the political governments to back up the operations of the military leaders, the two civil wars and the remastering of the enemy forces, the tide turned against them; the insurrection in Crete was quashed with great bloodshed on 6-8 June 1824, Kasos was destroyed totally and then Psara on 20-22 June 1824. The enemy armies, reinforced by Egyptian forces of Ibrahim Pasha, mercilessly burnt the Peloponnese and on 10 June 1925 they won back Tripolis. In Central Greece, after the second siege of Missolonghi from 15 April 1925, the total debilitation of its defenders and their heroic exodus on 10-11 April 1826, Reshit Pasha Kutahi threw a noose round the Acropolis of Athens on 23 August 1826. Georgios Karaiskakis began regrouping the Greek forces at Phaliron with the aim of unblocking the besieged, but was killed on the eve of the major assault he was preparing on 22 April 1827, resulting in the ignominious defeat of the revolutionary army on 24 April 1827. Hundreds of thousands of Greeks had been lost on the fields of battle, from massacres, famine and hardship. The towns and the villages lay in ruins, the land was uncultivable and the population had fled to the mountains. However, the prolonging of the Revolution “beyond all hope”, the impeding of European trade in the Middle East and the welling tide of the Philhellenism, forced the European governments to intervene for the restoration of peace, with the London Treaty of 6 July 1827. As a consequence of this the Turkish-Egyptian navy was defeated by the united British, French and Russian fleets on 8 October 1827 in Navarino Bay. After the election of Capodistria as Governor, by the 3rd national Assembly at Troizinia and his arrival in Greece in 1828, the revolutionary forces were remastered. They recaptured Central Greece and drove Ibrahim Pasha from the Peloponnese. Thanks to Capodistria’s intense diplomatic activity, the Independence of the Greek State was recognized with the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829 and the London Protocol on 22 January 1930. The great statesman’s reparative work was cut short by petty local interests and his assassination in Nafplion on 27 September 1831.The gallery contains lithograph depicting the Exodus from Missolonghi, oil-paintings dated 1830 and after, The Naval Battle of Navarino by Thomas Luny, the portrait of Lazaros Koundouriotis by Andreas Kriezis, oil-painting depicting Theodoris Koloktronis, the egg tempera from the lost series of the War of Independence, based on the narrations of General Ioannis Makriyannis to the folk painter Panayotis Zografos and his sons, etc.

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Gallery 35 – Othon’s reign, the romantic view of and the realistic approach to Greek problems. In February 1832, with the blatant intervention of the Greek Powers, Othon, youngest son of the philhellene King Ludwig I of Bavaria, was chosen as King of Greece. During his reign, from 1833-1862, Athens was declared capital of the realm, foreign centralizing models of state organization were imposed, the administration was high-handed, the freedom-fighters of 1821 were pushed aside and problems accumulated at home and abroad. The growing reaction of the liberal Greek spirit culminated in the bloodless revolution of 3 September 1843 and the granting of a constitution, though this didn’t bring calm to the state. Othon’ attempts to extend the borders of the realm by supporting rebel movements in Crete, Thesally and Epirus, came up against the pro-Turkish policy of Britain and France. The hostile stance reached its dramatic peak with the blockade and occupation of Piraeus and Athens (1854-1857) during the Crimean War, to end with the abolition of the monarchy and Othon’s expulsion in 1862. The gallery contains furniture from the Voulgaris mansion on Hydra, portraits of Othon, oil-paintings, precious European jewelry of the 15th-19th century, porcelain, King Othon’s bible, etc.

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Gallery 36 – The reign of George I, Eleftherios Venizelos, territorial expansion and the Greek catastrophe in Asia Minor. The enthronement of George I was accompanied by Great Britain’s transfer of the Ionian Islands to Greece (1864). His reign (1863-1913) was long and checkered, bedeviled by successive changes of government and acute problems at home and abroad, despite the modernizing efforts of Charilaos Trikoupis, the most important politician in this period. The continuous uprisings in Crete and the holocaust in the Arkadi Monastery (1866), the cession of Cyprus to Great Britain (1878), the Greek-Turkish war, the defeat in 1897 and the imposition of international economic control, the Bulgarian schism (1876) and the creation of the Macedonian issue, fanned the flames of abnormality and unrest until the Military league (1909) of dissident officers subverted the status quo, promoting Eleftherios Venizalos as premier political figure in 20th century Greece. Venizelos set his seal on all the significant events in the closing years of George’s reign and the much-troubled reign of his son, Constantine I, with his domination in politics from 1910, and the positive outcome of the Balkan Wars (1912-1913). The outbreak of WWI was followed by a long period of crisis during which the dissent between parliament and palace was exacerbated, Venizelos prevailed and Constantine withdrew, Greece sided with the allied forces and after the end of the war its territory was enlarged spectacularly. Venizelos triumphantly called the elections of 1920, which he lost, with the consequent return to the throne of Constantine, the erroneous move of the subsequent governments and the Greek catastrophe in Asia Minor in 1922. Nevertheless, that same year Venizelos was invited by the leaders of the Revolt, to represent Greece at Lausanne, to salvage whatever he possibly could and to sign the treaty which was to put an end to the Great idea of irredentism. Within a turbulent political clime, he formed a new government (1928-1932), was defeated again at the polls and went into self-imposed exile in Paris, where he died in 1936. The last exhibition unit in the Museum is marked on the right by two references to the events that brought about the dissolution of Othon’s reign, it contains oil-paintings, lithographs, furniture, original hand-written constitution, weapons of exquisite mainly oriental art, precious Victorian jewelry, formal costumes from the court of George I, memorabilia of Pavlos Melas, freedom fighter for Macedonia, mementoes of the Balkan Wars, items belonging to Venizelos, collection of poems, etc.

Sadly, we didn’t have time to see the entire collection in details but we will come back. And before returning to the apartment, D and I went to check out the famous Greek fur-shops. I have been impressed with the choice and quality but unfortunately, we didn’t buy anything.

aaAnd in the evening, D’s family took us out for dinner at one of the local restaurants. It was a great finale to our 3 week tour around Greece.

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Pictures of Athens, August 2014

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Athens, Greece. July 2014 https://svetanyc.com/2014/07/athens-greece-july-2014/ https://svetanyc.com/2014/07/athens-greece-july-2014/#comments Fri, 25 Jul 2014 20:09:47 +0000 http://svetanyc.com/?p=1395 July 21, 2014 D. and I caught a very late flight from London to Athens that didn’t land till 4.00 the next morning. D. parents met us at the airport and drove us to their apartment in Chalandri, a quiet tree-lined residential neighborhood in the northern Athens, where we were going to stay for the following...

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July 21, 2014

D. and I caught a very late flight from London to Athens that didn’t land till 4.00 the next morning. D. parents met us at the airport and drove us to their apartment in Chalandri, a quiet tree-lined residential neighborhood in the northern Athens, where we were going to stay for the following 3-4 days.

Thus, Greece was the second pit stop of our journey.

July 22, 2014

I like to give detailed historical previews of the cities/countries I am visiting, but in order to describe the history or the importance of Athens to the world, I would need to spend years to research and just as many to record. That is why, I am going to give just a “snapshot” of it.

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Just as everything else in Greece (and you will read it in my future posts as well), the history of Athens is closely interwoven with mythology, making it impossible to extricate facts from fiction. Continuously inhabited for over 7,000 years, Athens is a cradle of Western civilization, home of Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum, and don’t forget – a birthplace of democracy. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, going back to the 11th–7th millennium BC when the earliest Neolithic settlers established themselves on the hilltop site of, what is now known as, Acropolis. By 1400 BC the settlement had become an important centre of the Mycenaean civilization and the Acropolis was the site of a major Mycenaean fortress, whose remains can be recognized from sections of the characteristic Cyclopean walls. Athens survived a Dorian invasion of 1200 BC, but like many other Bronze Age settlements, went into economic decline for around 400 years afterwards.

Iron Age burials, in the Kerameikos and other locations, richly demonstrate that from 900 BC onwards Athens, ruled by aristocrats and generals, was one of the leading centers of trade and prosperity in the region. Widespread social unrest led to the reforms of Solon in 594 BC which improved the conditions of the poor, by introducing the annulment of debt and the implementation of trial by jury. These would pave the way for the eventual introduction of democracy by Cleisthenes in 508 BC. Despite Persians’ double take-over of the city, Athens won the battles of Salamis (480 BC) and Platea (with help of Sparta) and its power no longer knew the bounds. Pericles (ruler from 461 BC to 429 BC) transformed the city by building Parthenon and most of the monuments on the Acropolis and the decades that followed became known as the Golden Age of Athenian democracy. Athens of that time we associate with names of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides (the playwrights), historians Herodotus and Thucydides, and the physician Hippocrates.

Peloponnesian Wars (431 BC-404 BC) let the jealous state of Sparta gain the upper hand, and sadly, Athens was never to return to its former glory. Nevertheless, as if drawing its final breath, Athens of the 4th century BC bore three world’s greatest philosophers: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. In 338 BC, Athens was conquered by Philip II of Macedon and after his assassination, his son, Alexander the Great favored Athens over other city-states. In 186 BC the Romans defeated the Macedonians, destroyed the city walls and took precious sculptures to Rome, however during 300 years of “Pax Romana” Athens continued to be a major seat of learning; many young Romans attended Athens’ schools and Greek was lingua franca of many wealthy Romans. The Roman emperor Hadrian, in the 2nd century AD, constructed a library, a gymnasium, an aqueduct which is still in use, several temples and sanctuaries, a bridge and financed the completion of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

After the subdivision of the Roman Empire into east and west, Athens, for some time, remained an intellectual center, however, after Emperor Justinian closed its schools of philosophy in AD 529, the city went into decline and between 1200 and 1450 was continually invaded by countries preoccupied with grabbing the bits of crumbling Byzantine Empire. The capture of Athens by the Turks in 1456 was followed by 400 years of Ottoman rule. The Acropolis became the home of the Turkish government, the Parthenon was converted into a mosque and the Erechtheion became a harem.

After 8 years of Greek War of Independence (with help from Russia, France and Britain), Greece gained back its independence and city of Nafplio was named the country’s capital till 1834 when it was moved to Athens – then, a sleepy village of 6,000. After suffering a great deal during the German occupation in 1940s, the country plunged into a bitter civil war that took even more lives than WWII. And despite recession, increasing poverty, staggering unemployment rate, unstable government, Athens and Greece in general still remain one of the world’s most visited places, partially due to its invaluable contribution to the world’s art, theater, philosophy, literature, architecture (….fill in the blank), but also because of the unparalleled hospitality of Greek people, unforgettable beauty of the country, dishes that will make you drool, sunsets that you will never forget and many more. Let’s explore, I am on this journey with you.

Since D and I arrived very early in the morning, we didn’t leave the apartment till around 11.00. We took a very comfortable and clean Subway to the Monastiraki stop (North of Acropolis map) and from there we proceeded by foot (yes, you can!) to see all the highlights of Athens.

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I have to mention that every subway stop (or pretty much any construction in the city) is an archeological site with its own right. Athens not only carefully preserves these sites, but also gives a detailed background on each and every one, where it is possible. Basically, the best way to experience the history of Athens is to move from one subway station to another.

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There couldn’t be a better spot to start my acquaintance with the city but at a small picturesque Monastiraki square, which houses a 10th century church, the old Tzistarakis Mosque converted into the Kyriazopoulos Folk Ceramic Museum, and is only steps away from Athens’ famous flea market, Hadrian’s Library and the Ancient Agora.

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Pantanassa church is known to be built in 10th century (church attendant told us – 8th century) as a katholikon of a now-vanished monastery. The church was known as the Great Monastery,  and then later as monastiraki (“little monastery”), which eventually became the name of the whole area. St. Philothea helped to convert it from a monastery for men to a monastery for women. Since “pantanassa” means “Queen of All” in Greek (one of the traditional epithets of the Virgin Mary in Greek Orthodoxy), the Turks spared it during the invasion considering it to be bad luck to destroy anything that is associated with a name of the Virgin Mary. Luckily for us, Pantanassa church was open (free of charge, no photos) and an attendant, upon my inquiry, gave us a brief history of the church in Greek. This fascinating little place was packed with relics and icons and deserved a thorough future investigation.

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Just a few steps away to the south – Hadrian’s Library (map). We bought a unified Acropolis pass for €12 which gave us entrance to 7 different sites within a 4 day period:

  1. Archeological site of the Acropolis
  2. Archeological site and the museum of the Ancient Agora
  3. Theater of the Dionysos
  4. Roman Agora
  5. Kerameikos
  6. Temple of Olympian Zeus
  7. Hadrian’s Library

The largest structure erected by Hadrian (122 m by 82 m), the Library was built in AD 132-134 in a typical Roman Forum architectural style. It wasn’t a library as we known today, but more a cultural complex, with lecture halls, a transcription room, a library hall – known as the Bibliostasio – and possibly even a theater. The complex was built around a large rectangular inner garden with a pond.

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The main room of the library, the one that Pausanias called “oikimata”, was at the eastern part of the peribolos. It had 5 large halls and 4 smaller of secondary use. The main hall, the bibliostasio, was rectangular in plan, it had a tall, continuous podium of at least two storeys that supported a series of passageways. The walls on each storey had niches with wooden cupboards in which the books were kept. The total number of niches was 40, accommodating approximately 16,800 “books”. The wider, arched niches on the main axis probably housed statues of Athena and the deified emperor. The two halls at the left and right of the bibliostasio were probably subsidiary rooms (reading and transcription rooms), the corners served as lecture halls, while the smaller rooms at the back were staircases for the upper floor.

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The two corner halls of the eastern side of the monument were small somewhat sloping auditoria, used for lectures and text readings. They had marble seats and prohedriae (seats of honor) of a slightly curved form which were accessed by two staircases, along the long walls.

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The Library building was seriously damaged during the sack of Athens in 267 AD by the Germanic Heruli tribe and was later repaired by Herculius, the Prefect of Illyricum (AD 407-412). In the early fifth century a tetraconch church was constructed in the interior courtyard on top of ruins. There are two versions of who commissioned the church, either Herculius or the empress Eudocia, former Athenais, daughter of the sophist Leontius and wife of the Byzantine emperor Theodosius B (AD 425-430). The main church consisted of a central hall, which ended on the east side at a semicircular apse. On the west side there was a narthex, which provided access to the main church though three gates. There is also a large atrium, which had galleries on three sides except that next to the narthex. The church was destroyed in the late 6th century, at the same place two churches were built successively – a three-aisled basilica in the 7th century and a domed Byzantine church, known as the church of the Megali Panaghia, in the end of 11th-early 12th century. It was burnt and demolished in 1885, so that the first archeological excavations could take place.

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In the 12th century, the Chalkokondyli family built a small domed church of the not fully developed cross-in-square type dedicated to Saint Asomatos, adjoining part of the facade and propylon of the library. It was named Saint Asomatos because it was devoted to Archangel Michael by its synonymous founder, while because of its position at the Hadrian library’s propylon was named “Sta Skalia” (on the stairs). At the beginning of the 18th century the narthex fell into misuse and after 1843 the church was demolished. On the floor of the main temple, as well as in the narthex, were excavated eleven cist and vaulted graves, in which were buried mainly members of the Chalkokondyli family. Today, the only preserved visible remains of this church are the wall and wall paintings on the Library’s facade with depictions of the Prayer at Gethsemane, Judas’ Betrayal of Christ and the busts of Saints.

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There is a small exhibition area in the Library where the colossal (over 3 m high) statue of Nike in the type of the Victoria Romana is on display together with other finds from excavation in the area. It was found in 1988 built in the foundations of the Ottoman cistern that is located near the south wing of the Library. The statue – remarkably made of one single block of white Pentelic marble – is fairly well preserved. Nike is depicted at the exact moment of her touchdown, placing her right foot on the globe, her robe (peplos) waving, her upraised arms probably holding a shield. Statues of Nikai were often made with the aim of celebrating outstanding military victories, and it is possible that the Nike from the Library was set up to commemorate Augustus‘ victory against the Parthians (17-16 BC). The statue might have been part of a larger composition by the entrance of the Roman Agora, where once stood several statues of members of Augustus’ family. The statue of Nike was probably transferred into the area of the Library where it was later destroyed in one of catastrophic invasions of the Slavs towards the end of the 6th century AD, and was much later used in the construction of the Ottoman cistern, where it was eventually found.

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The most prominent remainder of the original library is a section of the outer wall, with huge Corinthian columns (made from marble from Karystos in southern Euboia) in front of the wall, on either side of the main entrance.

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Even though, very few of the Hadrian Library’s original structures remain, the informative and intelligent commentaries and plaques on the site were able to fill in the picture. We leisurely spent 30 minutes there, before proceeding to Roman Agora, just 5-10 minutes walk south.

Agora means “market place” in Greek and there are few of them in Athens, most famous are the Roman Agora and just a short walk from it – the Ancient Agora. Two different places built in different epochs. Roman Agora (Roman Agora Map, free entry with Acropolis Pass) was built during the rule of the Roman Emperor Augustus, between 19-11 BC. This small but important archeological site is evidence of the fascination that Roman Emperors had for the city of Athens. Roman Agora housed the commercial activities of Ancient Athens, when the ancient Agora’s central part was taken over by large buildings and there wasn’t enough space for the commerce. Entrance to the Roman Agora is from the west, through the well-preserved Gate of Athena Archegetis which is flanked by four Doric columns. The gate was dedicated by the Athenian deme in 11-10 BC, during the archonship of Nikias and sponsored by Julius Caesar.

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In the middle, there was a building (111 m by 104 m) with a large, rectangular open courtyard surrounded by stoas, shops and storerooms. It had two propyla – Gate of Athens from the west and the other propylon, on the east side, has Ionic columns made of grey Hymettian marble, with bases of Pentelic marble.

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The courtyard was paved during the reign of the emperor Hadrian (AD 117-138). It was at this time that the inscription containing the decree of Hadrian regulating the tax obligations of the oil-merchants was placed at the main door of the west Propylon. There are several other buildings in the Roman Agora, one of them is the so-called Agoranomeion, allegedly built in the 1st century AD. The wide staircase, the facade, with three archways, and parts of the north and south walls of the edifice are preserved. The inscription on the epistyle on the facade states that the building was dedicated to Athena Archegetis and the divi Augusti.

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The other extraordinary building is a well-preserved The Horologion of Kyrrhestos or Tower of the Winds (Aerides) that functioned as a sundial, weather vane, water clock and compass. 12 m high and 8 m in diameter, it was built in the 1st century BC by the astronomer Andronikos from Kyrrhos in Macedonia. It is an octagonal tower of Pentelic marble standing on the three-steps base. It has a conical roof, a cylindrical annex on the south side and two propyla. A bronze weather-vane in a shape of Triton (no longer preserved) on the roof indicated the directions of the winds, personifications of which are carved in relief at the top of each of the sides. Their names are inscribed beneath the cornice: Boreas, Kaikias, Apeliotes, Euros, Notos, Lips, Zephyros and Skiron. The rays of sun-dials are carved on each side, beneath the scenes of the winds and inside the building was a water-clock, which was operated by water running down from the Acropolis. In the early Christian period, the monument was used as a church, and in the 18th century, it was a Dervish monastery. Sadly, Tower of the Winds was all covered up for restoration.

The rest of the ruins are hard to make sense of but there are 1st century Vespasianae (public toilets) to the right of the entrance which might catch your attention.

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The date at which the Roman Agora was destroyed in not known with certainty. In any event, after the raid by the Herulians (AD 267), when the city contracted within the late Roman wall, the commercial and administrative center was transferred from the Ancient to the Roman Agora and Hadrian’s Library, where it remained till the middle of the 19th century. In the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods it was occupied by houses, workshops, churches and the Fethiye Cami or Mosque of the Conqueror (1456).

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Ancient Agora is located just 100 meters south-west of Roman Agora, it is a pretty straightforward 10 minute walk. Note, Roman Agora was a mere warm-up in both, size and history. Please follow this Ancient Agora Map and the picture below (courtesy Eyewitness Travel Guides), otherwise, you get lost! Keep in mind that Agora, like every city’s market place continuously grew and developed, some buildings fell in ruins while other rose on top of them. When I refer to a building that is not on the map, I will mention the closest object to it on the map.

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Ancient Agora (free entry with Acropolis Pass), lying in a heart of ancient Athens, was the crowded administrative, commercial, political and social center, a true cradle of democracy, where grand ideas were born (Socrates expounded his philosophy here and in AD 49 St. Paul came here to spread Christianity). First developed in the 6th century BC, the Agora was destroyed by the Persians in 480 DC, however, it was rebuilt almost immediately and flourished till AD 267 (yes, Herulian tribe got it too). In the 10th century AD, following a long period of desertion, a Byzantine neighborhood grew up in the Agora area. During Ottoman time, it was a residential area which was demolished after Independence for archeological reasons. This site, with a multitude of temples and public buildings, housed the city’s most important events from the Mycenaean era until late antiquity.

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We entered from the south-east corner (p.28 on the map) and walked clock-wise. Please allow yourself at least 2-3 hours to explore this place in details. Just as we walked in, there was a Church of the Holy Apostles (near p. 27), an early 10th century church, built to commemorate St. Paul’s teaching in Agora. The original floor-plan of the church was that of a cross, with apses on the four sides and a narthex on the west side. The disposition of the tiles on the outer walls show “Kufic” decorative patterns of eastern origin. Building went through 4 different re-incarnations and among the many medieval monuments, known to have existed in the Agora, it is the only one preserved. The few surviving wall-paintings in the central aisle are of the 17th century, however, it contains the paintings from other nearby churches as well.

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The same area contained at some point the East stoa, the Library of Pantainos, the Nymphaeum and a temple.

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Continuing along the southern border of the Ancient Agora is Middle Stoa and South Square (p.12 and 17). Middle Stoa is the largest building in the Agora, 147 m long and 17.5 m wide, oriented east-west, with a Doric colonnade on each of its four sides. It is assumed that at the two corners of the monument the intercolumniations were covered with high, thin panelling (like that of the interior Ionic colonnade), which separated the Stoa into two passageways of equal width. In the east section, steps and three column-drums are preserved in their original position. In Roman times the flat terrace at its north was used as the shortest way of crossing the Agora from east to west. It was destroyed by fire in AD 267.

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A large fountain house (p.15) was constructed in the south-west corner of the Agora near a major crossroad of the ancient city. The building is in a poor state of preservation. It consists of a large L-shape draw basin with a floor area of just over 100 sq m surrounded by a colonnaded porch with unfluted columns. Water was brought in a great stone underground drain, which has been traced to the east for some 220 m. The new fountain house could be an indication that Athens may have suffered a period of severe drought in the middle of the 4th century BC. At the end of of the 4th century, a room was added at the north-west of the building, where the hydriai could be filled with water directly through the pumps. In the 2nd century BC the fountain house was further modified. The building was destroyed by the Roman troops under Sulla in 86 BC.

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Heading north across from the fountain, there is one of the more significant public buildings of the Agora – Tholos (p.10), a round structure with six interior columns and a propylon at the east that was added in the 1st century BC. It was the headquarters of the 50 prytaneis who served as the executive committee of the Boule (Council) for an interval of 35-36 days, after which they were replaced by prytaneis from another tribe, so that by the end of the year representatives of all ten tribes had a turn in the administration. Those in office dined in the Tholos, with 1/3 of them spending all night in the building, so that there were always responsible officials on hand (!!!) In the Tholos were housed the official weights and measures of the Athenian state. It was built atop a pre-existing building complex of the mid-6th century BC, which had a similar functional purpose, and went out of use around AD 400.

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Slightly north of Tholos is the New Bouleuterion and Propylon (near p.8), a rectangular prostyle building build in the late 5th century BC. It served as a new meeting place of the 500-member Boule (Council), made up of 50 citizens from each of the ten tribes, chosen by allotment each year (divisions into which, for administrative and political reasons, Cleisthenes in 507 BC organized the citizens of Athens). As a legislative body the council prepared the bills that afterwards were voted on in the Assembly of all citizens (Ekklesia of the Demos). For a time the New Bouleuterion functioned along with the Old Bouleuterion, which apparently due to lack of space came to be used only as a repository of state archives. The partial preservation of the New Bouleuterion at ground level makes it difficult to establish the arrangement of the benches on the interior. It was definitely smaller than the Old building but more sophisticated, with an amphitheater-like system of 12 levels of semicircular benches. In the second half of the 4th century BC the entranceway acquired a monumental propylon of the Ionic order, that stood immediately south of the Old Bouleuterion.

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Old Bouleuterion and Metroon border the New Council building. Old Bouleuterion (p.6), built in early 5th century BC, was a large, nearly square building situated in part over the earlier building complex (early 6th century BC) that may have served as a meeting place of an early Council. 500-member (replaced an earlier 40-member body) Cleisthenic Boule met every day in the Bouleuterion to prepare the legislative bills. The building was the site of the worship of the Mother of the Gods and housed not only her cult statue (attributed to Agoracritus or less probably to Pheidias), but also the public archives of the city. Its foundations are preserved under the Metroon, a building built in 150 BC. It is a prostyle building with 4 rooms, inside which were kept public documents: decrees, law codes, financial records, catalogues of ephebes and of votives, along with legal documents. Also, the second room from the south housed the temple of the Mother of the Gods, from which the name of the building, Metroon, derives. Her altar probably stood immediately east of the Metroon, on “West Street”. From its destructions in AD 267 until Byzantine times, parts of the building probably served as a tavern, a synagogue and an oil-press.

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A statue of the Roman emperor Hadrian was located near the Metroon, facing the government buildings to the west.

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Along the Old Bouleuterion, across the street, ran a gallery of the Monuments of the Eponymous Heroes (p.7). A pedestal, built in 330 BC, was 16 m long, enclosed by stone posts connected to one another by three wooden beams. It housed the bronze statues of the mythical heroes of each of the ten Athenian tribes (such as ErechtheusAegeusPandion, Acamas, Hippothoon, Aias (Ajax) etc). A fluctuation on the number of tribes over the years necessitated the removal or addition of statues. On the sides were hung wooden boards with announcements meant for the citizens of Athens, legal decrees coming up for vote, lists of citizens conscripted into the army, civic honorary distinctions, forthcoming lawsuits.

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Between the building of Old Bouleuterion and the Monuments of the Eponymous Heroes, along the road runs the Great Drain (between p.6 and p.7). Built in early 5th century BC, drain has width and breadth of 1 m and its purpose was to convey to the Eridanos River waste from the buildings of the Agora and rainwater from the surrounding hills. At the beginning of the 4th century BC two branches were added immediately south of the Tholos to bring rainwater and waste from a broader section of the Agora into the main channel.

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The Altar of Zeus Agoraios (meaning “Zeus of the Agora”, p.9) is a 4th-century BC altar located just west of the Monuments of the Eponymous Heroes, constructed from white marble, 9 m deep and 5.5 m wide. It was one of the first objects to be discovered inside the Agora during the excavations of 1931. Evidence of marks done by masons from the Augustan period show that it was moved from an initial source later identified as the Pnyx located outside the ancient Agora. An ancient scholar noted, “it may not be coincidence that Zeus, whose special task was to govern the political assemblies of the Athenians, should depart the Pnyx at just the time when Augustus is said to have curtailed sharply the powers of those same assemblies.”

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We obviously couldn’t skip the most imposing building rising above the western part of the Agora, one of the first Pericles’ projects – Temple of Hephaistos (p.1). Built between 460-415 BC, a Doric peripteral temple, with pronaos (fore-temple) cella (inner shrine), and pisthonaos (rear temple), is the best preserved of its type in the Greek world. It occupied the crest of the Kolonos Agoraios Hill and was designed by an unknown architect (some say by Ictinus) probably in honor of Hephaestus, patron of metal-workers, and Athena Ergane, patroness of potters and crafts in general. It is built mostly of Pentelic marble, with its decorative sculpture in Parian. The east side, which faces the Agora, received special attention: it has ten metopes showing the Labors of Herakles, and the four easternmost metopes showing the Labors of Theseus. From these last, the temple and its surroundings took the name “Theseion” in recent years. The friezes show a scene from the Battle of Theseus and the Pallantides and the Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs. Fragments of sculpture from the pediments are on display in the Museum of the Stoa of Attalos. The east pediment seems to have shown the Deification of Herakles, his entry onto Mount Olympus. The two bronze cult statues of the cella are believed to be the work of Alkamenes (appx. 421-415 BC).

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The temple was converted into the church of St. George probably in the 7th century. In the early 19th century the church was used as a burial place for Protestants and for many European Philhellenes who died in the Greek War of Independence in 1821. The building remained in use through 1834, when it was the site of the official welcome of King Otto, the first king of the modern Greek state. Since then, until the 1930’s it was used as a museum. After spending 2 hours on the hot July sun, it was a pleasure to quietly sit in the garden surrounding the Temple and enjoy the best views of Ancient Agora and the Acropolis.

Upon coming down from the hill, we proceeded to the Odeion of Agrippa (ca 15 BC) (p.22), a grand and luxurious building designed for musical performances; it is known in the ancient sources as the “Odeion”, the “Kerameikos Theater” or the “Agrippeion” after its donor, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, son-in-law of the Emperor Augustus. The central part of the building, which rose, as if a separate structure, above a surrounding stoa, included an oblong rectangular stage, a semi-circular “orchestra” and an auditorium built like an amphitheater, with space for around 1,000 persons. The building originally had a pitched roof, without interior support, which collapsed around AD 150. Then the building was reconstructed with the addition of a transverse wall that reduced the seating capacity almost by half. The north face took the form of a stoa, the epistyle of which supported six colossal statues of Tritons and Giants. The building was destroyed by fire in AD 267.

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Gymnasium or “The Palace of Giants” (AD 410-530) was an impressive structure and included a section of the central area of the Agora, covering older buildings such as the Odeion, parts of the Middle Stoa and the South Stoa. It contained a bathing establishment, surrounded by several rooms, two colonnaded courtyards, and a garden at the south, covering, in all, 13,500 sq m. Its entrance facing the Panathenaic Way was monumental, with a triple opening and four pillars on which were placed the colossal statues of the Triton and Giants from Odeion. Originally the building was considered a gymnasium, but it was probably a palace, seat of a high administrative official.

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Just east of the Stoa of Attalos, there is a Monopteros (p.24), built in mid 2nd century AD; it is a small circular building, 7.17 m in diameter, surrounded by a colonnade of eight unfluted monolithic columns of green marble, which rise from a three-stepped foundation. The roof, its form that of a tholos, bore a richly decorated geison of Pentelic marble. The structure is usually considered to have housed the statue of some deity or hero, but it is likelier that it was a spring-house. It was destroyed in AD 267.

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Next to the monopteros was the bema – an elevated platform used as an orator’s podium.

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And finally, the substantial Stoa of Attalos (p.23) which occupies the entire eastern side of the Agora.  Built in 159-138 BC, the Stoa was a gift of Attalos II, Kind of Pergamon. The building was 120 m long and 20 m wide and had two floors with a second series of columns on the interior and 21 shops at the back of both floors. The Stoa of Attalos was a place for Athenians to meet, walk and to do business. The Heruli in AD 267 destroyed it and its ruins were incorporated into the Late Roman Fortification Wall. The restoration, based on studies by the architect John Travlos, was carried out in 1953-1956, sponsored by John D. Rockefeller Jr.

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The Stoa of Attalos houses the Museum of Ancient Agora, displaying clay, bronze and glass objects, sculptures, coins and inscriptions from the 7th to the 5th century BC, as well as pottery of the Byzantine period and the Turkish conquest.

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I admit, whether because of the weather or tiredness, we didn’t find/visit Arsenal (p.2), Temple of Apollo Patroos (p.5), Stoa Basileios (p.3), Poikile Stoa (p.18), Altar of the Twelve Gods (p.20), Basilica (p.19) and Temple of Ares (p.21). But most of all I regret of not locating the Stoa of Zeus Eleutherios (p.4), one of the places where Socrates expounded his philosophy. Oh well, there is always another time!

We left from the same entrance where we came in and proceeded towards the Areopagus hill. It sounds a bit complicated but the route is easily distinguishable, you just aim for the Parthenon on the south. A few minutes walk, on your left (don’t miss!) the “Eleusinion in the City” used to dominate the north slope of the Acropolis. It is a shrine sacred to the mystery religion of the goddesses Demeter and Kore (Persephone), together with their mortal counterpart Triptolemos. These Eleusinian deities were already worshipped here in the 6th century BC, in an open-air shrine surrounded by a wall. In the 5th century, a small rectangular Ionic temple was built in a shrine, oriented north-south. Of this Ionic tetrastyle amphiprostle temple, with an inner shrine and shallow pronaos are preserved only the groundwork of three sides. In the 4th century BC the need to reinforce the embarkment of the temple led to the construction of a stronger retaining wall. The area north of the temple, which is at a lower level, acquired a number of rooms in the early Roman period, which have been interpreted as shops or as storerooms for grain for the temple. In the corners at the east are round bases for dedications of the Hellenistic and early Roman periods. On the south and farther uphill from the Eleusinian stand a section of the Hadrianic aqueduct (2nd century AD) and remains of the round building ca. 8 m in diameter, built in the 2nd century BC and thought to be a shrine of Pluto.

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The shrine was bordered by the Panathenaic Way on the west and the two branches of the “Steed of the Tripods” on the north and south. The Panathenaic Way extended from the Dipylon in the Kerameikos to the entrance to the Acropolis, cutting diagonally through the central square of the Agora. It was mainly of soil, but in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD the section in the north-east corner of the Agora and that along the west side of the Eleusinion was paved with stone.

Once you see lots of people crowding in around a small hill area, you know, you are on the Areopagus HillThis rocky outcrop (115 m), derives its name probably from Ares, the god of war, and the Ares-Erinyes or Semnes, underground goddess of punishment and revenge. A judicial body, the Areopagus Council, met on this hill to preside over cases of murder, sacrilege, and arson (though it is hard to imagine). It was also a place of religious worship, with many sanctuaries of Semnes or Eumenides, probably located in a cavity at the north-east side of the hill. In the Mycenaean and Geometric periods (1600-700 BC) the northern slope of the hill served as a cemetery, with both vaulted tombs and simple cist graves. From the 6th century BC onwards the hillside as a whole became a residential quarter belonging to the fashionable district of Melite. Cutting still evident in the bedrock attests to the district’s many roads, wells, drains, reservoirs, floors and irregular buildings. By the Late Roman period (4-6th century AD) four luxury houses, which probably served as philosophical schools, had replaced the houses of the Classical era.

The Areopagus also associated with the spread of Christianity into Greece. Some time near the middle of the 1st century AD the Apostle Paul is said to have converted a number of Athenians by teaching the tenets of the new religion from the summit of this hill. In AD 51 St. Paul delivered his famous “Sermon to an Unknown God” from the hill and gained a conversion of Dionysius the Areopagite, who later became the patron saint of the city of Athens, and according to tradition, was the city’s first bishop. The church of St. Dionysius the Areopagite was a three-aisled basilica with a narthex at west, central apse, diakoniakon and prothesis. Built in the middle of the 16th century, it was probably destroyed by an earthquake in 1601. The church and grounds were completely enclosed to the north and west by the monumental Archbishop’s Palace. This two-storey Palace was built between the middle of the 16th and end of the 17th century and consisted of a complex of rooms which included warehouse, a kitchen, a dining hall, and two winepresses. Remains of the church as well as the Archbishop’s Palace (16th-17th century) are still preserved on the northern slope of the hill. The nearby “cave of the Furies” inspired the playwright Aeschylus to set Orestes trial here in his play Eumenides (The Furies). Persians and Turks used the hills during their attack on the Acropolis citadel but there is little left to see on the hill right now except for lots of tourists and slippery stones. Nevertheless, it offers one of the most beautiful views of the Ancient Agora and the Acropolis, better than the Acropolis itself (don’t burn me at stake for saying that, but it is true).

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Alright, so here we are, approaching the jewel of Greece, the most recognizable site and building in the world – the Acropolis and the Parthenon. Remember, the Parthenon is not Acropolis, even though many people use it interchangeably, which makes it even more confusing. Acropolis is the name of a hill, while Parthenon is one of its famous buildings (Acropolis Map, i will refer to it extensively while describing the site) “decorating” the peak of the hill. Well, I was really looking forward to “meeting” the Parthenon….but it turned out to be not as breathtaking or owe-inspiring as I thought it would be. Different travel books describe it as the most beautiful building in the world, whose white Pentelic marble “gleam white in the midday sun” and rises over the city “brilliantly illuminated at night”. Well, that was not the case. I was hot, I was tired, I felt that I’ve seen more than enough for one day and the site didn’t look exciting for me at all.  But we were already there …. so, to bring some spice and excitement, I needed to do a bit of a historical digging and here is what I uncovered…

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(picture credit: Eyewitness Travel Guide, Athens – I find this picture to be more visual and easy to understand).

For many centuries the Acropolis was the most important religious center of the city. First traces of occupation go back to the Neolithic period (4,000-3,000 BC). In Mycenaean times it was the seat of the king, whose megaron stood roughly on the site on where the Erechtheion was built many centuries later. After the 11th century BC it became the home of the cult of Athena, patron goddess of the city that took her name, and of other gods, and was adorned down to the end of antiquity with majestic temples, brilliant buildings and a vast number of votive monuments. People used to live on the Acropolis up till the late 6th century BC, but in 510 BC the Oracle of Delphi declared that this place should be the “only god’s land”. After the place was destroyed by Persians in 480 BC, Pericles set about his ambitious artistic plan to build the Parthenon, the Propylaia and, a little later, the temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion. With no shortage of money or talent, all structures were erected between 447 and 406 BC, remaining to the present day the witnesses to the Greek Classical civilization.

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Time, people and the course of history weren’t very kind to the Acropolis – multiple occupations, pilfering by foreign archeologists (I get you, Lord Elgin), inept prior renovations etc. took their toll on the monuments. Needless to mention a real “blow” of 1687 when the Venetians opened fire at the Acropolis where the Turks stored their gun powder, causing a massive explosion.

There are over a couple of dozen monuments on the Acropolis and even though I wouldn’t be able to describe them all, I dutifully expose as many of them as possible. There are two entrances to the Acropolis, one is on the west side, just as you leave the Areopagus Hill and another is from the south-east corner, next to the Acropolis Museum. We entered through the west gate and exited through the eastern one. Even before we approached the main entrance, on the right side we could see a splendid structure of Odeon of Herodes Atticus (p.17), one of the two theaters on the slopes of the Acropolis.

This Roman theater seats about 5,000 spectators and is very much in use today as a stage for drama, music and dance performances held during the Athens festival. It was built by the Roman consul Herodes Atticus between AD 161-174, in memory of his wife Regilla, by hollowing out of the rock on the southern slope of the Acropolis. The theater was originally enclosed by a roof made of famous Lebanese cedar, which provided shelter and better acoustics. Behind the stage, its distinctive colonnade once contained statues of 9 Muses. It was destroyed by the Herauli tribe in AD 267 and first time excavated in 1857-1858 (completely restored in 1950-1961). In modern time, the theater witnessed the performances of the world-stars like Maria Callas, Frank Sinatra, Luciano Pavarotti, Sting, Andrea Bocelli, Diana Ross, Liza Minelli and many more. Due to the time constrains, we weren’t able to attend any plays at the Odeon, but it is something to be added to the “bucket list”.

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Once inside (free entry with Acropolis pass), a short way along the path, there is a west gate –  Beulé Gate (near p.21) on the left, named after the French archeologist Ernest Beulé, who uncovered it in 1852. It was built in AD 267, after the raid of the Heruli and as a part of the Acropolis fortification, on the base of the monumental marble stairway, dated to AD 52, which leads to the Propylaia. It is flanked by two rectangular towers and incorporates stone from earlier building, such as the choregic monument of Nikias (319 BC) that was situated near the Stoa of Eumenes on the south slope of the Acropolis. Part of the original monument’s dedication is still visible over the architrave. There is also an inscription identifying a Roman, Flavius Septimius Marcellinus, as donor of the gateway. The gate was in used for several centuries, while rooms were added to the inner side for protection from the weather for the guards and those who entered the castle. Probably in the 6th century, the height of the door opening was reduced with the placement of a lintel. In addition, in the 11th century an upper floor was built on the gate to provide better protection of the castle entrance and the lintel was decorated with an eagle and a snake in relief. At the time of the Frankish occupation of the De la Roche dukes (1204-1311), the usage of the gate ceased, whereas during the Ottoman occupation, in 1686,  the Turks destroyed the Temple of Athena Nike, then used the marble to build a bastion for artillery over the gate.

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The 8.9 m tall pedestal on the left, halfway up the zigzagging ramp leading to Propylaia, once supported a bronze life-size quadriga (Monument of Agrippa, p.21), dedicated by the Athenians to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, son-in-law and general of the Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus. Agrippa was a benefactor of the city, as indicated by the incised honorary inscription on the western face of the pedestal. Today only the pedestal is preserved. The quadriga, which would have been mounted by Agrippa, is gone. The dedication was made between 27 BC when Agrippa became consul for the third time and 12 BC, the year of his death. Important to say, that the monument was not originally intended for the Roman general. The archeological features of the pedestal, the technical details of its upper surface, as well as traces of an earlier defaced inscription indicate that the monument was erected in the first half of 2nd century BC and originally bore the chariot of one of the Pergamene kings, probably Eumenes II or Attalus II. The deme dedicated the monument in order to commemorate a victory of the Pergamene Kings in a chariot race in Panathenaic Games. The Pergamene Kings benefited the city by funding the erection of two important public buildings, the Stoa of Eumenes to the south of the Acropolis and the Stoa of Attalos in the Ancient Agora.

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Across from the monument of Agrippa, there is a small but beautiful Temple of Athena Nike (p.1) (goddess of Victory), built in 426-421 BC to commemorate the Athenians’ victories over the Persians. Designed by Callikrates, the almost square temple stands on a 9.5 m bastion (which has been used as both observation post and an ancient shrine); built of Pantelic marble, it has four graceful Ionic columns 4 m high at each portico end. Legend records the temple site as the place from which King Aegeus threw himself into the sea, believing that his son Theseus had been killed in Crete by the Minotaur. The temple frieze had scenes from mythology, the Battle of Plataea (475 BC) and Athenians fighting Boeotians and Persians. Parts of the frieze are in the Acropolis Museum, as are some relief sculptures, including the beautiful depiction of Athena Nike fastening her sandal. The temple also housed a wooden statue of Athena. The temple of Athena Nike was taken apart and put back in 3 times: the Turks dismantled it in 1686 in order to use the platform for the cannon, it was carefully reconstructed in 1836-1842, but then it was taken apart again 60 years later when the platform started to crumble. In 1998 the temple was dismantled one last time due to the faults in its floor, it was “rebuilt” in 2010 according to the information resulting from more recent research.

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The Propylaia (p.2), the monumental entrance of the sanctuary of the Acropolis, was built at the west edge of the hill in the frame of the building plan of Pericles. The building’s architect was Mnesikles, who applied ingenious and innovative architectural solutions, making Propylaia as architecturally brilliant as the Parthenon itself. Its construction (437-432 BC) was interrupted by the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, and as a result the original structure remained unfinished. The Propylaia comprises a rectangular central building divided by a wall into two porticoes. Two wings flank the main building, the north wing was home to the pinakothiki, an art gallery and the southern wing was the antechamber to the Temple of Athena Nike. The porticoes were punctuated by five entrance doors, rows of Ionic and Doric columns and a vestibule with a blue-coffered ceiling decorated with gold stars. The middle gate, which was the largest, opened into the Panathenaic Way. The Propylaia is aligned with the Parthenon – the earliest example of a building designed in relation to another. It remained intact until the 6th century AD when the south wing was transformed into a single-aisle Christian basilica. In the Medieval times, Frankish and Florentine rulers converted the Propylaia into a palace and a tall tower was built at the south wing. During Ottoman occupation, in 1640, the building was either struck by a lightning or a cannonball which blew up the gunpowder stored there and caused extensive damage to the monument. The Medieval and later remains were removed during the excavations of the Acropolis in the the 19th century, in order to reveal the Propylaia of the Classical period. Reconstruction took place in 1909, 1917, after WWII and the latest one was completed in 2009.

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South-east of the central building of the Propylaia is situated a small shrine dedicated to Athena Hygieia (Health) and Hygieia, the daughter of Asklepeios, who was the god of medicine. The cult of Athena Hygieia on the Acropolis is dated since 6th century BC according to epigraphical testimony, whereas the cult of Hygieia is dated around 420 BC. In the shrine, part of the rectangular altar and the cylindrical marble base of a bronze statue of Athena Hygieia made by the Athenian sculptor Pyrrhos were preserved. According to tradition (Plutarch, Life of Pericles) the statue was dedicated for the salvage of the workman who had suffered an accident during the construction of the Propylaia. However, it is more likely that the demos dedicated the statue in relation to the plague that stroke the city at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War.

After passing through the Propylaia, the sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia (p.4), the so-called Brauronion, lies to the right of the processional way. It was associated with the early sanctuary of Artemis in Brauron, a coastal town in eastern Attica. Artemis was worshipped as the goddess of nature and hunting, and she was the protector of girls, expecting mothers and women with newborn babies. It is believed that the cult of Artemis was established on the Acropolis in the 6th century BC by the tyrant Peisistratos who originated from Brauron. No architectural remains of the early sanctuary have been found, but at least the cult of Artemis is attested by terracotta figurines and sculptures. According to recent studies, a small temple which housed the cult statue of the goddess, was presumably located in the west part of the sanctuary, along with an altar. Pausanias, the 2nd century traveler, saw in the sanctuary a statue of Artemis, made by Praxiteles, the renowned sculptor of the 4th century BC. The colossal female head found in the area, belongs to this cult statue and it is exhibited in the Acropolis Museum.

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Attached to the east side of the sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia lies the foundation of the Chalkotheke (p.5), a large rectangular building (43 m by 20 m) with a Doric portico along the facade which was erected soon after 400 BC. According to ancient inscription it housed mainly bronze vessels and utensils used in religious processions, as well as weaponry.

Continuing ahead along the Panathenaic Way, you will see to your left the foundation of pedestals for the statues that once lined the path, including one that held Pheidias’ 9m-high statue of Athena Promochos (Champion) (p.6). The Athenians dedicated the statue to Athena, to express their gratitude for her contribution to the victories in the Persian War. Later sources refer that its construction was financed from the Persian spoils, however, according to the inscription with the expense accounts, the construction of the statue is dated to 475-450 BC. The exact form of the statue isn’t know, but later copies of coins of the Roman Period present the helmeted goddess standing, in a calm pose, wearing a belted peplos (robe). According to another version, the outstretched right hand held a Nike, an owl or a spear. Pausanias mentioned that her shield (resting upright against her leg) was decorated with scenes from the Centauromachy (battle between Centaurs and Lapiths), executed by the famous bronze sculptor Mys, following drawings by the painter Parrhasios. According to ancient tradition, the point of her spear and the crest of her helmet were visible to sailors at sea off cape Sounion.  Athena Promochos stood overlooking her city for about 1,000 years until Pheidias’ masterpiece was carried off to Constantinople by Emperor Theodosius in AD 426 and was placed at the hippodrome. By 1204 it has lost its spear, so the hand appeared to be gesturing. This led the inhabitants to believe that the statue had beckoned the Crusaders to the city, so they smashed it to pieces. What a pity!

We have already passed nine different structures of the Acropolis, but of course, every road inevitably leads to the Parthenon – the largest, most famous and glorious monument of Ancient Greece. The Parthenon (p.12) was a temple dedicated to Athena Parthenos (Virgin). It was built on the highest part of the Acropolis, on the site of at least four earlier temples dedicated to Athena. Built in the Doric order, it was made of white Pentelic marble with a width of almost 31m, length of 69.5 m and a hight of 15 m. To achieve perfect form, its lines were ingeniously curved to create an optical illusion – the foundations are slightly concave and the columns are slightly convex to make both look straight. It has an outer colonnade (pteron) of 8 columns on the short and 17 columns on the long sides, as well as an inner colonnade (prostasis) of 6 columns on the short sides. The interior of the temple was divided into the pronaos, the sekos (cella), the opisthodomos and the opisthonaos. See plan below no.1,2,3,4 respectively.

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The Parthenon was the most important building of the Pericles’ plan for the re-establishment of the Acropolis sanctuary. The temple was built between 447-438 BC and its sculptural decoration was completed in 432 BC. Iktinos and Callikrates were the architects of the temple. Its sculptures were designed and party sculpted, in collaboration with his colleagues, by the famous Athenian sculptor and a friend of Pericles, Pheidias, who also had the general supervision of the construction of the temple.

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The rich sculptural decoration of the Parthenon, which through the centuries suffered severe damages and looting, consisted of 92 metopes, the compositions on the pediments and the frieze, all of which were, hard to imagine, brightly colored and gilded. Great part of the original sculptural decoration is exhibited in the Acropolis Museum. The metopes depict the battle between the Olympian gods against the rebellious Giants (Gigantomachy) on the east side, the sack of Troy by the Greeks on the north side, the repulsion of the Amazons who threatened the city (Amazonomachy) on the west side, and the scenes of battles between Greeks and Centaurs (Centautomachy) on the south side. The east pediment represents the birth of Athena from the head of the father Zeus, in the presence of other Olympian gods. The duration of the birthday of the goddess is defined by the chariot of Helios (the sun) and the chariot of Selene (the moon) at the corners of the pediment. The west pediment shows the dispute between Athena and Poseidon for the protection of Attica, in the presence of the Kings who were the forefathers of the Athenians and local heroes or personifications of the Attic landscape. The frieze, of a total length of 160 m, depicts the procession of the festivals of the Great Panathenaea which concludes on the east side, with the offering of the peplos (robe), for the cult statue of Athena Polias in the presence of the Olympian gods. The frieze was damaged in the explosion of 1687 and later defaced by the Christians, but the greatest existing part (over 75 m long) of the controversial Parthenon Marbles, taken by Lord Elgin, is now in the British Museum in London. The ceiling of the Parthenon, like that of the Propylaia, was painted blue and gilded with stars.

At the eastern end was the holy cella (inner room of a temple), into which only a few privileged initiates could enter. Sculptor Pheidias created the chryselephantine (gold and ivory) 12 m-hight statue of the goddess Athena Polias (Athena of the City) with an imposing formal appearance, which stood in this cella. Her wooden frame was gold-plated; her face, hands and feet were made of ivory, and her eyes were fashioned from jewels. Clad in a long gold dress with the head of Medusa carved in ivory on her breast, the goddess held a statuette of Nike (goddess of victory) in her right hand, and in the left a spear with a serpent at its base. On top of her helmet was a sphinx with griffins in relief at either side. In AD 426 the statue was taken to Constantinople, where it disappeared, but its appearance is known from ancient writers and later copies.

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Over the centuries, The Parthenon was used as a church, a mosque and an arsenal, and has suffered severe damage. I doubt I have ever seen the pictures of the Parthenon without any scaffolding, it is always under construction, renovation, addition, but I hope to come back one day and take a proper photo of it, unveiled!

East of the Parthenon lay the foundation of a small building attributed by the first excavations of the Acropolis to the Temple of Rome and the Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus (p.13). The architectural parts indicate that the Temple was of the Ionic order and it featured in single circular colonnade made of nine columns, without a walled room inside. It diameter measured ca 8.60 m and its height reached 7.30 m up to the conical roof. The construction of the temple is associated with the architect who repaired the Erechtheion in the Roman Period, because the architectural details of its parts replicate those of the Erechtheion. It is possible that the temple interior housed statues of Rome and Augustus, although no fragments of sculptures have been identified to date. The temple of Roma and Augustus is the sole Roman temple on the Acropolis and the only Athenian temple dedicated to the cult of the Emperor. The Athenian deme constructed it in order to propitiate Octavian August and reverse the negative climate that characterized the relations of the two parties, as, during the Roman civil wars, the city of Athens had supported his opponent, Marcus Antonius. The temple was securely dated after 27 BC, when Octavian was proclaimed Augustus – most probably between 19-17 BC.

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By the eastern edge of the Acropolis you find a building of the old Acropolis Museum (p.16), Sanctuary of Pandion (p.15), Sanctuary of Zeus Polieus (p.14) and a huge flagstaff with an immense Greek flag on it. Undoubtedly, it was the visitors’ favorite place on the Acropolis, since it provided the most stunning views of the city.

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Although the Parthenon was the most impressive monument on the Acropolis, it was more of a display than an actual sanctuary. That role fell to the Erechtheion (p.9), which was built on the most sacred part of the Acropolis, where Poseidon struck the ground with his trident (and left a mark on a rock), and where Athena produced the olive tree, in their battle for possession of the city. To be precise, Erechtheion was built as an eastern attachment to another sanctuary, built in Archaic Period, dedicated to Pandrosos, the Pandroseion (p.8). Named after Erechtheus, a mythical king of Athens, the temple housed the cults of Athena, Poseidon and Erechtheus. The Erechtheion is immediately recognized by the six larger-than-life maiden columns, the Caryatids (modeled on women from Karyai, modern-day Karyes, in Lakonia), that support its southern portico. The one you see outside are the plaster copies, while the 5 originals (which were removed by infamous Lord Elgin) are now on the display at the Acropolis Museum.

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The Erechtheion was part of Pericles’ plan, but the project was postponed after the outbreak of the Peloponnesian Wars. Work didn’t start till 421 BC, eight years after Pericles’ death and was completed around 406 BC. Architecturally it is the most unusual monument of the Acropolis, a great example of Ionic architecture ingeniously built on several levels to counteract the uneven bedrock (west and north sides are about 3 m lower than the south and east sides). The large rectangular cella was divided into up to 4 rooms (different sources quote different numbers), but one was definitely dedicated to Athena and contained the holy olive wood statue of Athena Polias holding a shield adorned with a gorgon’s head, and another – to Poseidon, representing the reconciliation of the two deities after their contest. The northern porch consists of six Ionic columns, on the floor are the fissures supposedly left by the thunderbolt sent by Zeus to kill Erechtheus. It had elaborately carved doorways and windows, and its columns were ornately decorated (far more so than is visible today); they were painted, gilded and highlighted with gilt bronze and multi-colored inset glass beads. To the south of here was the Cecropion – King Cecrops‘ burial place. The Erechtheion complex has been used for a range of purposes, including the harem for the wives of the Turkish commander in 1463. It was almost completely destroyed by a Turkish shell in 1827 during the War of Independence.

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I failed to mention (and frankly, notice) the remains of Altar of Athena (p.11), “Old Temple” of Athena (p.10), Arrhephorion (p.7) and Pinakotheke (p.3), but they must be somewhere there to be found, so please look for them!

We exited the Acropolis from its other entrance by the Theater of Dionysus, and even though it was getting dark and we were coming back the next day to check out the southern slope of the Acropolis, I still couldn’t resist and sang one of Andrea Bocelli’s operas for D. while standing in the middle of the ancient theater (luckily many people have left by then).

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Well, we’ve done pretty damn great for one day, but I wouldn’t advise anybody to rush through the sites, monuments and experiences. They require time to be re-discovered and understood. They do actually deserve it.

When we finally got back home in Chalandri, D. parents were already waiting for us to have dinner at the restaurant called Tzitzikas Kai Mermigkas. Definitely try this comfy, family-run restaurant if you are in the area.

June 23, 2014

We had another busy day ahead of us, so we woke up early and went back to the Acropolis, this time – to check out in more details its southern slope as well as the Acropolis Museum. We got off Akropoli subway stop which was just a few minutes away from the site’s eastern entrance.

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The south slope of the Acropolis is just as archeologically rich, as the Acropolis itself, it contains over 26 different sites, in different state of preservation, but all of them were well marked and explained. I will follow South slop of the Acropolis Map while describing some of the sites we visited (obviously, we weren’t able to fit all of them in one morning).

Next to the Odeion of Herodes Atticus, which we saw from the top the day prior, the bronze foundries (p. 22) are located. In 5th-4th century BC it was a busy manufacturing site. Excavations from 1877 to 2006 have revealed a total of four pits cut into the soft rock (kimelia) of the Acropolis that are connected with the process of casting bronze statues. The two largest pits (A and B), depth 2.8 m, are accessed by stairways and have facilities in their interior. Foundry D to the east, protected under the shed, was excavated in 2006 and has a square base of clay-plastered porous plinths at its center. During the excavation of the pit, thousands of mould fragments were collected. The extensive manufacturing activity in the area is connected either with the monuments of the Asklepieion (one of the structures on the south slope) or with those on the Acropolis; according to one view, here was the place where the statue of Athena Promachos was cast.

BronzeJust south of the bronze foundries is the Stoa of Eumenes (p.14), which was placed between the Odeion of Herodes Atticus and the Theater of Dionysos, along the Peripatos (the ancient road around the Acropolis) and served as a shelter and promenade for theater audiences. The king of Pergamon, Eumenes II, donated this Stoa to the Athenian city, during his sovereignty (197-159 BC). This elongated building, 163 m long and 17.65 m wide, had two storeys. The stoa was made of a kind of island marble, which was used for the majority of the buildings at Pergamon, and is not to be found in any other building in Athens. The ground floor facade was formed from a colonnade of 64 Doric columns, while the interior colonnade consisted of 32 Ionic columns. Nowadays, a visible part of the monument is the north retaining wall, reinforced with buttresses connected by semi-circular arches. This wall was constructed in order to hold the north earth embankment in place and to support the Peripatos. It is also possible to see the Krene (spring) included in the north wall, the stylobates of the inner colonnade on the ground floor and the foundation of the exterior colonnade. Besides, a part of the substructure of the east wall of the stoa has also survived, in addition to the west wall, which suffered some changes during the Roman period, when the Odeion of Herodes Atticus was erected.

To north-east of the Stoa of Eumenes (and right above the Theater of Dionysus) is the Asclepieion (p.15), the sanctuary of the god Asclepios and his daughter Hygieia, the personification of “Health”. The sanctuary was founded in 420-419 BC (when the plague was sweeping the city) by an Athenian citizen from the deme of Acharnai, named Telemachos. The Asclepieion consisted of a small temple, an altar, and two halls, with Doric Stoa which served as a dormitory hall for the visitors to the Asclepieion who stayed there overnight and were miraculously cured by the god who appeared in their dreams, and the Ionic Stoa which served as a guest house for the visitors to the shrine and the priests. The traveler Pausanias, who visited the temple in the 2nd century AD, noted the statues of the god and his children, which were kept inside the temple. The Doric Stoa, a two-storey building with a facade of 17 Doric columns, was built in 300-299 BC, as epigraphical testimonies attest.

The Stoa integrated in o its eastern part the Sacred Spring, a small cave with a spring in the Acropolis rock. Since water has always been a significant element in the cult of Asclepieion, it probably accounts for the selection of this site for the sanctuary, and in to its western part the Sacred Bothros, which functioned as a sacrificial pit. The Sacred Bothros, a well with polygonal masonry, placed in the first floor of the Stoa, is dated earlier than the Stoa itself, to the last quarter of the 5th century BC. It served as a Well Altar, on which the Heroa, the sacrifices to the chthonian deities and the Heroes took place. During the 5th-6th century AD, almost entire area of the sanctuary was occupied by a three-aisled Early-Christian basilica. Today, you can see the ruins of most of the buildings as well as another spring, known as the Archaic fountain, two Byzantine cisterns and the foundation of a temple dedicated to Themis.

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West of the road leading to the Acropolis, just south of the Stoa of Eumenes, there is a magnificent choragic monument. The institution of the Choregy, in operation from the late 6th century BC, involved wealthy Athenians who sponsored the preparation of performances in dithyrambic or dramatic contests. The events took place in the theater during the festival of Dionysus, called the Greater or Dionysia (late March- early April). The prize for the winner in dithyrambic contests of boys or men was a bronze tripod, dedicated by the patron (Choregos) to the god Dionysus, preferably in a conspicuous place near the sanctuary and the theater of Dionysus.

The monument of Nikias (p.13) was a small temple-like, with six Doric columns in front and pediments on both of its narrow sides. At the end of the antiquity (3rd century AD) the monument was dismantled and a large number of its architectural parts was transferred and used to construct the Beulé Gate of the Acropolis. Visitors can still find there the choregic inscriptions, engraved on the three central sections of the architrave of the facade, referred to Nikias, son of Nikodemos, who won teaching the chorus of the boys in the archonship of Neaichmos (320-319 BC).

The sanctuary of Dionysus Eleuthereus (p.6) with the theater to the north of it, is the first group of monuments encountered by visitors and the earliest on the south slope. The Archaic Temple of Dionysus (p.6a) was constructed in the second half of the 6th century BC, when the cult of the god was introduced into Athens from Eleutherai in Boeotia by the tyrant Peisistratos. The Great Dionysia, the most splendid festival in honor of the god, was celebrated in the spring inside the precinct of Dionysus. During the Dionysian rituals, the believers, disguised as Silenoi and Satyrs, the god’s attendants, danced the “cyclical dithyrambic dance”, which was the nucleus of the ancient Greek drama. To the south of the Archaic temple, a second temple, called the Later Temple of Dionysus (p.6b), was erected in the second half of the 4th century BC. This housed the chryselephantine statue of the god carved by Alkamenes. All that now survives are the foundations of the temple and the base of the cult statue, made of conglomerate.

The ancient Theater of Dionysus (p.7) was the world’s first theater and a birthplace of Greek tragedy. Of the three sections of the theater (orchestra, cavea and stage building), the stage building is most closely connected with the evolution of theatrical creating. During the approximately thousand years that the theater functioned, it has therefore altered to the greatest extent. In the age of the great dramatic poets, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes (5th century BC), the stage was a simple, rectangular, timber construction south of the spectators’ space. At that time the cavea had wooden benches and special stone seats for priests and other officials. In this phase the action of the play took place mainly in the orchestra, where men clad in goatskins sang and danced which followed by feasting and revelry.

When the theater was rebuilt entirely of aktites, a stone local to Piraeus,(Lycutgean phase, 342-326 BC), and the auditorium was extended to the foot of the sacred rock by the addition of the Epitheatron (64 tiers of rows with 17,000 seat capacity), the stage building was likewise constructed of stone. A second floor was added, the paraskenia were shortened and the facade of the ground floor received a Doric colonnade. These alterations were dictated by the development of dramatic performance (New Comedy, etc.), in which the role of the actor was emphasized more than the chorus and the theatrical action was transferred to the level of a raised stage.

The socio-political changes of the Roman period led to substantial changes in the stage building, which became higher, had an extensive proscenium (pulpitum) and a facade with elaborate architectural decoration and statues of Satyrs, who are connected with the mythological cycle of the god Dionysus. A final period of prosperity for the theater, after its destruction by the Herulians (AD 267), is marked by the so-called Bema of Phaedrus (4th century AC), which replaced the Roman pulpitum and was decorated with marble slabs taken from older buildings and showing the scenes in relief of the life of Dionysus.

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The eastern parodos was the main entrance into the the theater, through which priests and officials arrived for the theatrical performances during the Dionysian festival of the city. The northern side of this entrance was chosen as the site for the erection of statues honoring the most important dramatic poets, who symbolized the perennial values of classical education and functioned as examples for participants in the theatrical contests. The completion of the “Lycurgan era” theater, also included the erection of the posthumous honorary monument to the three Tragedians (Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides) in the main entrance, in around 330 BC.  The Tragedians, who served the glory of classical Athens, were represented in typical poses and in the clothes of distinguished Athenian citizens.

East of this monument the honorary base and statue of the most important representative of the New Comedy, Menander, was erected in 291-290 BC. He wrote over 100 plays, but won the contest only few times. His innovative work focused on ordinary people and he is considered to be the father of psychological drama. At the age of only 51, he drowned while swimming in Piraeus. The monument in his honor was erected immediately after his death while Athens was under the rule of the Macedonian Kind, Demetrios Poliorketes. The poet is represented seated on an honorary throne, his beardless face mirroring the new fashion introduced by Alexander the Great.

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With the prevailing of Christianity, the northern part of the stage building was incorporated in the building complex of an Early Christian basilica, erected on the site of the east parodos during the 6th century AD. The area to the east of the theater of Dionysus was occupied after the middle of the 5th century BC by the Odeion of Pericles, a building used for music contests. On the basis of the literary sources and some small-scale excavations, this may be reconstructed as an almost square roofed hypostyle building.

Above the theater there is a cave (hard to find) sacred to the goddess Artemis. This was converted into a chapel in the Byzantine era, dedicated to Panagia i Spiliotissa (p.11) (Our Lady of the Cave), and was the place where mothers brought their sick children. Two large Corinthian columns nearby are the remains of choregic monuments erected to celebrate the benefactor’s team winning a drama festival.

South of the precinct wall and the roadside shrine, the ruins of a single-nave church, dedicated to St. Paraskevi, have been found. Its floor was composed of ancient marble spoils and remains of wall paintings were still preserved on its side walls. The basilica, which appears for the first time on a plan by the Venetian engineer Verneda, in 1687, had three building phases from the late Byzantine times to 1860. It had probably suffered extensive damages during the siege of the Acropolis in 1827. In its place a small chapel was built, around 1860, as a remembrance of the earlier building. Today, the remnants of the second phase of the 17th century are preserved.

South slope of the Acropolis requires a day of its own exploration. You need to equip yourself with a good map and sites’ descriptions, otherwise, sometimes it is hard to see where one monument ends and another starts. After spending good 2-3 hours on the slope, we descended to the Museum of the Acropolis, located just 300 m from the eastern entrance to the Acropolis.

The Acropolis Museum (€5 entry) –  or the New Acropolis museum opened in 2009 to replace the old one which was located on top of the Acropolis, east of the Parthenon. As the archeological work continues today, more sites and artifacts were (and still are) uncovered but weren’t displayed due to the old museum’s lack of space. The new museum was designed to accommodate the expanding collection as well as to become a bargaining chip in negotiation with Great Britain for the return of the Parthenon Marbles, stolen by Lord Elgin in early 19th century.

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Apparently, there were 3 requirements for the initial museum design; it was necessary:

  1. to maintain visual contact with the monuments of the Acropolis while browsing the galleries of the museum – which was accommodated by having transparent glass walls which create almost no barrier between the site and the new home of its artifacts.
  2. to exhibit the Parthenon sculptures in their entirety – the 4th floor is dedicated to the Parthenon, where a rectangular, solid concrete core was built to the same dimensions and orientation as the Parthenon. It was specifically designed to receive and display the entire temple frieze.
  3. to adapt the building to the archeological excavation that extends across its foundations – the building is built on 100 concrete pillars providing an impressive shelter for the site’s archeological excavation presently happening underneath the museum (which already uncovered buildings from Byzantine and Classic era).

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The museum has 4 floors (in addition to the underground excavation level), but exhibits its collection chronologically on 3 of them (3rd floor is an office space, multimedia center and a cafe) – Acropolis Museum Map.  Note, pictures aren’t allowed on the ground and 1st floors (I mistakenly took a few, so, please enjoy). Located on the ground floor, the “Gallery of the Slopes of the Acropolis” houses finds from the sanctuaries that were established on the slopes of the Acropolis, as well as objects that Athenians used in every day life from all historic periods. It also contains multiple miniature layouts of the Acropolis at different times of its existence. The long and rectangular hall whose floor is sloping, resembling the ascension to the sacred hill.

MuseumThe nine-meter high, naturally lit “Archaic Gallery“, in the east and south sections of the first floor, hosts the magnificent sculptures that graced the first temples on the Acropolis. It also displays the votive offerings dedicated by the worshippers, such as the Hippeis (horse riders), statues of the Goddess Athena, sculptures of male figurines, marble reliefs, and a smaller bronze and clay offerings. This floor contains the works created after the construction of the Parthenon, namely, the Propylaia, the temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion. The north wing displays striking Classical sculptures and their Roman copies. Five Caryatids (the sixth is in the British Museum), the maiden columns that held up the Erechtheion and a giant floral akrotirion (a decorative element placed on the brick at the end of a gable of a classical building), that once crowned the southern ridge of the Parthenon pediment are on this floor too.

The second floor has a media center where you can watch a short movie about the history of the Parthenon and the Acropolis, and see the detailed layout of the Parthenon and both of its pediments (birth of Goddess Athena and a battle between Athena and Poseidon).

MuseumThe Museum’s exhibition culminates on the 3rd floor, in the glass-encased “Parthenon Gallery”. For the first time in more than 200 years, the relief sculptures of the Parthenon frieze depicting the Panathenaic procession are exhibited in continuous sequence along the perimeter of the external surface of the rectangular concrete core of the gallery (160 m). The metopes, the marble slabs with relief representation from Greek mythology, are exhibited in between the stainless steel columns of the Gallery, which are the same in number as the columns of the Parthenon.

MuseumThe Acropolis Museum is a wonderful, well-thought museum which won’t overwhelm you, but will definitely fill in the blanks of the Acropolis’ monuments. Please allow yourself 1.5-2 hours at least. After grabbing a lunch at one of the places on Makrigianni street, we proceeded to our next destination – the Hadrian’ s Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Along the way, different shops beautifully mingled with ancient ruins and churches. On our left, we passed the Lysikrates Choregic Monument. As I mentioned earlier, once a year, during the Great Dionysia festival, men participated in tragedy competition and the winner received a tripod as the highest honor. In the 5th century BC, those contests took place on regular rectangular bases, while in the 4th century BC, they stood on more elaborate buildings, usually resembling temples. The Lysikrates choregic monument is thought to be one and was established in 334-333 BC. The marble frieze depicted the adventure of Dionysus with pirates, whom he turned into dolphins. In 1669, the monument and its surrounding area were incorporated into the Capuchin monastery and was used as a cell, library and study room. Lord Byron, Chateaubriand and others stayed there. With the exception of the Lysikrates Monument all the buildings of the monastery were destroyed in 1824 by Omar Pasha. 

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A few steps further, there is the Church of Agia Aikaterini.  The central part of the church dates back to the Byzantine period, while the narthex was added at the middle of the 20th century. According to the inscription at the altar, this church was constructed at the place where Irene, wife of the emperor Theodosius II, founded the Church of St. Theodore in the 5th century. The Byzantine part was constructed in the second quarter of the eleventh century and it is the oldest example of the cross plan with the central dome in Athens. At least since then until 1767 the church was dedicated to St. Theodore. It was rededicated to Saint Catherine in 1767 when the church was given to the Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai (Egypt). In this church there are holy relics of St. Polydoros of Cyprus, St. Athanasios of Persia, and St. Triphone. These relics were brought here by the priest Cyrilos Psylas who was banished from Ephesos in 1922. The building was closed (like many churches in Greece), but we stopped to admired its beautiful facade.

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Two more minutes walk and before entering the site the Temple of Olympian Zeus, we passed the triumphal arch – the Hadrian’s Arch – made of Pentelic marble. It lies on an ancient street that led from the old city of Athens to the new section built by Hadrian. It was contracted by the Athenians in AD 131-132, in honor of their benefactor – Hadrian. Despite the removal of the city’s classical artwork to Rome, he embellished Athens with multiple monuments influenced by classical architecture. The Hadrian’s Arch, which is 18 m high and 13 m wide and is in the Corinthian order, has two identical facades and is divided vertically into two distinct sections. The lower follows the form of a Roman honorary arch, while the upper imitates the traditional Greek propylon. Two inscriptions are carved on the architrave, one of each side: the first, on the side towards the Acropolis reads “This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus”; the second, on the other side, facing the new city, reads “This is the city of Hadrian and not of Theseus”. The remains of wall painting may suggest that in the Middle Ages the arch was part of a Christian church. In 1778 it was converted into a gate of the Turkish defense wall around Athens, and was known as the “Vasilopoula’s Gate” (“Princess Gate”).

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You can’t miss the remains of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, not only because it is a well-maintained open space in the center of Athens (just 320 m from the Acropolis), but mostly because it is the largest temple of ancient Greece, exceeding even the Parthenon. Its construction began in 515 BC, during the reign of the tyrant Peisistratos (by his sons, Hippias and Hipparchos), who allegedly initiated the building work to gain public favor, but abandoned it for lack of funds. It was completed 638 years later, in AD 132 by Hadrian, who dedicated the temple to Zeus Olympios during the Panhellenic festival, on his second visit to Athens. The temple had 104 columns (17 m high and 1.7 m in dimeter) – two rows of 20 columns on the sides (dipteron) and three rows of 8 columns at the end (triperon). The temple measured 110 m long and 43.7 m wide and its cella contained a gold and ivory inlaid statue of the god, a copy of the original by Pheidias at Ancient Olympia. Next to it, in typically immodest fashion, Hadrian placed an equally large statue of himself and both statues were worshipped here as coequals.

Deterioration set in the 5th century AD and continued during the following centuries due to natural causes and human activities. There was an open-air mosque during the Turkish occupation at the south-east corner of the precinct, and a look-out post was built on top of the architrave. Till 1852, 16 temple columns survived, but later that year, one of them was toppled by a gale and has been lying there ever since. Both statues have since been lost.

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On the corner of Filellinon street and Amalias avenue, stands the largest Byzantine building, and one of the largest churches in Athens – Russian church of the Holy Trinity. Built on the site of the earlier christian basilica (which in its turn was built over a Roman bath), it was completed in 1031 by the Lykodimou family, hence its original name – Satira Lykodimou. Even now, the building dominates the area with its massive and impressive construction, featuring a 10 m wide dome. Through centuries, the church suffered damages from the natural disasters and wars, or combination of both. After being damaged in 1687 during the invasion of Francesco Morosini, it suffered even more destruction in the earthquake of 1701. In 1780, the Turkish governor, Hadji Ali Haseki, partly demolished the building in order to use its parts for the construction of the defensive wall around the city. It wasn’t spared during the War for the Independence in 1827 either, when it was shelled from the Acropolis. In 1847, a half-ruined church was purchased by the Russian government as a parish for the Russian community in Athens. In 1850, the building was restored, post-Byzantine paintings were replaced, side turbines and a heavy bell tower were added on orders of Tzar Alexander II and now, it is still in use by the growing Russian community. The building, like many churches in Athens, was closed but we did enjoy its elaborate facade.

Russian churchAfter another 5 minutes walk along Filellinon street, we finally reached Plateia Syntamatos (or Syntagma Square), which is home to the Greek Parliament in the Voulí building, and the tomb of the Unknown Solder, decorated with an evocative relief depicting a dying Greek hoplite and flanked by texts from Pericles’ famous funeral oration. The square is surrounded by high-end hotels (definitely check out Grande Bretagne), cafes and shops and has a marble fountain in the middle. It is a place to manifest and to be seen, but also to watch the change of traditionally dressed guards (evzones) which happens every hour on the hour. We happened to arrived at 15.00 and witness it ourselves.

Note that the presidential guards’ uniform of short kilts and funny-looking pom-pom shoes is based on the attire worn by the Klephts (the mountain fighters of the War of Independence).

Since we planned to check out the Kerameikos archeological site, from the Syntagma square, we walked east-west via one of the most expensive streets in Europe – Ermou street. Mostly pedestrian, the street, which is 1.5 km long, is lined with expensive shops and busy cafes, however, in mid July, it didn’t look terribly crowded. For the first time in 42 hours, I wasn’t looking at something that was built in 5 century BC or earlier.

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East section of Ermou street terminates at a small square which houses one of the oldest Byzantine churches of Athens – Church of Panaghia Kapnikarea.  Stranded in the middle of a square between Ermou and Kapnikarea Streets, it is surrounded by the modern office blocks and shops. Built over an ancient pagan temple, dedicated to either Athena or Demeter, its foundation is attributed to Empress Irene, who ruled the Byzantine Empire from AD 797 to 802 and it was traditionally called the Church of the Princess. The true origins of the word “kapnikarea” are unknown, although according to some sources, the church was named after its founder, a “hearthtax gatherer”. Saved from the demolition in 1834, thanks to the timely intervention of King Ludwig of Bavaria, and restored by Athens University, it is a true gem of the Byzantine Athens. After the restoration of 1950s, the dome of the church is supported by four Roman columns. Frescoes by Fotis Kontoglou were painted during the restoration, including one of the Virgin and Child.

ChurchA block south from Ermou street, there is the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens or Mitropoli. When Athens became the capital of Greece in 1834, a cathedral was needed here to be the seat of the Bishop of Athens. Construction began on Christmas Day in 1842 with the laying of the cornerstone by King Otto and Queen Amalia. Workers used marble from no less than 72 demolished churches to build the Mitropoli’s immense walls and three architects and 20 years later, it was completed. The king and queen were present at the dedication on May 21, 1862 in honor of the Annunciation of the Mother of God. At 40 m long, 20 m wide and 24 m high, it is the largest church in Athens. Inside, there are the tombs of two saints killed by the Turks during the Ottoman period: Saint Philothei, who was martyred in 1559, and her bones are still visible in a silver reliquary, and Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople, who was hung by order of Sultan Mahmud II and his body thrown into the Bosphorus in 1821, in retaliation for the Greek uprising on March 25, leading to the Greek War of Independence. His body was rescued by Greek sailors and eventually enshrined in Athens 50 years later. The Metropoli was undergoing a massive restoration when we visited it, so most of the relics were covered up.

chIn the square in front of the Cathedral stand two statues. The first is that of Saint Constantine XI the Ethnomartyr, the last Byzantine Emperor. The second is a statue of Archbishop Damaskinos who was Archbishop of Athens during World War II and was Regent for King George II and Prime Minister of Greece in 1946.

AAATo the immediate south of the Cathedral is the city’s finest Church of St. Eleftherios  (originally dedicated to the Panagia Gorgeopikoos, meaning “Virgin swift to answer prayers”), also called the “Little Mitropoli”. This domed cruciform church is built entirely of Pentelic marble, now weathered to a rich corn-colored hue. Dating from 12th century, it measures only 7.5 m long by 12 m wide, though the miniature size of the church is in scale with Athens of the 12th century, when it was just a village. Its exterior mixes the Classical and Byzantine styles, and is adorned with friezes of symbolic beasts in bas-reliefs taken from the earlier buildings. We enjoyed a half-hour break sitting in the shadow of these two Metrolopis.

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Our final stop of the day was the Kerameikos Cemetery, which was another 850-900 m walk (10-15 minutes). The city’s cemetery from the 12th century BC to Roman times, initially Kerameikos was a settlement for potters who were attracted by the clay on the banks of river Eridanos (hence the modern word “ceramic”). Due to constant flooding, eventually the area was converted into a cemetery and “re-discovered” in 1861 during the construction of Pireos St. The site is very different from the other archeological ruins in Athens. It is the land beyond, land of the “Other World”, land where thousands of Athenians for over 1,500 years found their last resting place.

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In 478 BC the Themistoclean Wall that surrounded the ancient city divided the place into the Inner and the Outer Kerameikos. The part within the wall became a residential area, and the outer part – a burial ground. To give you the visuals of what I am talking about, please see the map below (courtesy of Baedeker).

athens-kerameikos-cemetary-mapWe entered the site next to the Museum of Kerameikos and proceeded around the cemetery clock-wise. The Kerameikos is crossed from north to south for a length of some 200 m by the most typical and best preserved section of the fortification of ancient Athens. The overall perimeter of the wall, which encircled the city, was about 6,500 m, and it had at least 13 gates (two most important ones I already mentioned earlier – Sacred Gate and Dypilon Gate). The foundations of the fortification wall as we can see them today were laid down in 479-478 BC at the urging of Themistocles, and remained as they were, with recurrent repairs, for about a thousand years. From Thucydides’ description we know the dramatic historical events that obliged the Athenians to hurriedly erect the new city wall after the retreat of the Persians under the pressure of the Sparta threat. This Themistoclean wall had a stone base, the rest of it consisting of unbaked brick. The overall hight was 7-8 m, topped with battlements. It was 2.5 m wide and had a moat in front of it.

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The site was nearly empty of visitors, but populated by a number of slow moving turtles.

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We began our tour at the Eleusinian or Sacred Way which was one of the most ancient roads of Athens. From the Sacred Gate it led to Eleusis, a distance of one hundred stades (about 20 kms). The use of the road for the procession of the Eleusinian Mysteries conferred on it a special religious importance. People who visit the grounds today walk on the same level as that of the Classical Period (5th-4th century BC). Leaving back the Sacred Gate, we immediately came across a square altar. Further above, the high “South Hill” is a mound concealing a host of mainly Archaic and Classical burials. Two grave steles at its foot mark the positions of the Tombs of Corcyraean Consuls. On the opposite bank of the river is another large burial mound – Anthemokritos. Next on the left can be seen the foundation of a small Classical sanctuary and beyond – the Tritipatreion. On the right, almost opposite, is a Hellenistic stone bridge over the Eridanos. Behind the Tritipatreion is another burial mound concealing a large brick funerary monument as well as hundreds of plain tombs. Finally, as one approaches the modern Piraeus Street, is flanked by family funerary monuments of the Classical period, like those of the Sinopeians, of Ampharete and Aristomache. One has also to imagine a similar picture of continuous funerary monuments on both sides of the road outside the present archeological area running for many kilometers towards Eleusis.

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We first ventured on to the Street of Tombs (the ancient name isn’t known), which is a branch of the Sacred Way. It was reserved for the tombs of Athens’ most prominent citizens. In the part of the Street of Tombs within the archeological zone are the best preserved and most imposing and luxurious funerary marble monuments of the 5th and 4th century BC (note, those are just the plaster copies, originals are either at the Museum of Kerameikos or at the National Archeological Museum). These steles, reliefs and complete marble monuments belonged in general to family burial enclosures. It was the way well-known wealthy Athenian families and foreigners, who had settled in the city, perpetuated the memory of their illustrious members.

On the left of the road, going towards Piraeus, we came first to the relief of Dexileos, who was 20 years old when he fell in 294 BC in battle against Spartans. Next were the burial plots of the Herakleians, with the lofty stele of Agathon, Dionnysus of Kolyttos with a marble bull, Lysimachides with the marble Molossian hound and others. Pictures are placed left to right.

CemOn the right of the road the most important burial memorial is that of Koroibos of Melite: it shows his wife, Hegeso, admiring her jewels with a servant. Here at a lower level, filled in after their excavation, are the earlier grave memorials, like one probably connected with famous Alcibiades family of the Peloponnesian War, and also hundreds of tombs from the Geometric period to Roman times. Important to mention, that ordinary citizens were buried in the areas bordering the Street of Tombs but not on the street.

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In the place, where the Street of Tombs merges with the Sacred Way is the Triropatreion sanctuary, a simple unroofed sacred precinct, the place where the Athenians worshipped their common ancestors. The cult was installed here in the early 5th century BC and the sanctuary ceased to exist around 300 BC, lasting therefore two centuries. In a first phase, ca. 500 BC, the sanctuary’s position was marked by an irregular limestone block which was later used in the south wall of the second phase of the sanctuary. A tumulus was formed, with an aperture on top in order to receive offerings. According to ancient texts, the Tritopatores were worshipped regularly by the Athenian citizens in common cult: the ancestors were offered food and drink and were begged, in private wedding ritual, for the birth of children and in particular for the birth of sons.

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The Ancient road, 1,600 m long, leading from the Dipylon Gate to Plato’s Academy was called simply the “Kerameikos” or the “Dromos“. It was the most official road in the city because on either side of it, in the Demosian Sema (public tombs) were buried prominent Athenians and also those who fell in the city’s battles. At the beginning of the Dromos, where was a square 40 m wide, where the Athenians congregated to honor their dead with ceremonies, games and funerary speeches. Pericles’ Funerary Oration for the first dead in the Peloponnesian War in 430 BC was one of them. In the Demosion Sema were the tombs of distinguished Athenians, like Pericles, the Tyrant – Slayers Harmodius and Aristogeiton, Cleisthenes, Thasubulos, Lycurgus and others. The excavation of the Dromos uncovered its Classical level only along the western side. The monuments bordering it are, in order, an Archaic tumulus, a Classical bath, the funerary monument of the Lacedaemonians and the peculiar “burial monument at the third boundary stone”. The east side of the Dromos has not yet been excavated.

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Let me pay a bit more attention to the Tomb of Lacedaemonians (or Spartans), discovered during the excavation in 1914-1915. It is a site of 13 Spartan warriors who were killed during the heavy fighting at the Piraeus in 403 BC, when Thrasybulus overthrew the Thirty Tyrants. Among the marble blocks of the monument, on which were inscribed the names of the fallen, is one recording the deaths of the two polemarchs, Chaeron and Thibrachus, mentioned by Xenophon who, with the Olympic victor Lactates, were buried in the Kerameikos too. Here are some interesting facts I found online:

“If we look at the Spartan that is farthest to the left, we can see the lance head that killed him, still located in his rib cage. Another of these four, which I was not able to identify, has a pair of bronze arrowheads lodged in his right leg.” LaRue van Hook. On the Lacedaemonians Buried in the Kerameikos. And  in Nigel Kennel’s book, Spartans: A New History, “this tomb is briefly touched upon, stating that there was evidence that the 13 warriors have been bound, head to toe, in their phoinikis (crimson cloak), that had been pinned at their shoulders. They were also buried with no grave goods of any kind, which along with the phoinikis suggests that the Lykurgan laws of burial (Lyk 27.1-2) were adhered to.”

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Dipylon (the “Thriasian Gate”), the most important gateway of the Athenian City Wall, was the main entrance of the city. Covering an area of 1,800 sq m, it was the larges gateway in the ancient world. Four tall towers at the corners created a large rectangular courtyard, the purpose being to hem the besiegers in. The towers were probably roofed and had steps to their tops; there were windows for archers on the ramparts of the walls connecting them. On the side of the city the gateway was closed by two doors, to which it apparently owed the name Dipylon (double gate). The gateway was constructed at the same time as the Themistoclean walls in 478 BC, and it lasted in more or less the same form until the Roman period. In Hellenistic times the tower were enlarged and two doors were added on the side facing away from the city, and in the Roman period a statue was erected on a large marble pedestal. The large courtyard of the Dipylon, in addition to acting as a protection and a thoroughfare, was also a place frequented daily by merchants and peddlers. It had a further function, however, as an official meeting place for the Athenians in two different situations: when there were funerary ceremonies in the Demosian Sema (public cemetery), and at the time of the Panathenaian procession to the Agora and Acropolis. As in nearly every ancient city, there was a large fountain at the Dipylon, where travelers arriving from all over Greece on their way to the City could refresh themselves.

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Between the Dipylon and the Sacred Gate, stood the Pompeion, a place where preparations were carried out for the most important festival of ancient Athens, the Panathenaia, which was held every four years in the middle of August. This large rectangular edifice, measuring some 70 by 30 m, was built in around 400 BC. It has a large colonnaded court, a monumental propylon on the side towards the city, and rooms for public feasts. The building was used for storing the equipment and materials, for collecting offerings, etc of the great festival, while in its large court the Panathenaian processional ship was made ready. It was from here that the procession set out for the Agora and Acropolis. During the rest of the year the Pompeion appears to have have other uses, like that of the Gymnasium. Ancient sources mention that there was a bronze statue of Socrates by Lysippos here and painted portraits of Isocrates and comic poets. Of the mosaics and paintings only the mosaic floor depicting animals has survived, exhibited in the Museum. The Pompeion was also frequented by the Cynic philosopher Diogenes. The Classical building was destroyed in 86 BC at the time of the Roman incursion into Athens. Later two buildings were erected on its ruins, first the so-called “Storehouse” (2nd century AD) and afterwards, in around AD 400, two arcades with a street ending in a gate. It is probable that both these structures continued to be used for the preparations of the Panathenaia until the end of antiquity. In the deepest levels of the Classical Pompeion approximately 160 Submycenaean burials were found (1100-1000 BC).

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Inside the city walls, next to the Pompeion, the archeologists identified three houses, given the names X, Y and Z. Z, the most completely excavated, is a large house with an area of 600 sq m. It was built in about 430 BC and with continuous reconstructions existed until the 1st century BC (or AD). It belongs to the characteristic class of two-storied ancient Greek houses, with a courtyard with a well in the center of the house and rooms around it, men and women apartments, a kitchen and storerooms. During the course of the long history of building Z, its function changed. During the 4th century BC it may have been an inn with maids, weavers and prostitutes, who served the travelers. From the 1st century BC (AD) the whole quarter of the houses X,Y and Z was turned into a district of pottery workshops and bronze smiths. Pits for casting bronze objects have survived, as well as the considerable potters’ installations containing tanks for levigating the clay and kilns for firing the pots.

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We ended our tour of the Kerameikos at the Museum, four rooms of which and a courtyard contain almost exclusively finds from burials.  Please follow  Museum of Kerameikos Map for the reference. Two groups of burial monument are displayed in the first room: the first group contains a collection of Archaic tombstones, many of which were found built-in the Themistoclean Wall, where they had been used as building material during the hasty erection. The fragment of a boxed relief, the seated man wearing a himation, the lions, the “elegant” sphinxes and the noble Kouros at the end of the room are some of the most important Attic works of Archaic sculpture.

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The other group near the door consists of steles of the Classical period. Among them stand out the grave relief of the young horseman Dexileos, a grand mother, Ampharete, and two women, Demetria and Pamphile. The figures are depicted at characteristic moment in their lives and radiate grandeur and dignity.

MusOther figures from funerary monuments are also exhibited in the courtyard. The center is dominated by a bull that came from the tomb of Dionyios from Kollytos.

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In the first room of the vase collection, in Case 1, are grave-offerings from the first phase of the cemetery, especially of the Prehistoric period (2500-1000 BC). The following Case 2,3 and 4 contain vases of the Protogeometric period (1050-900 BC), a period during which neatness of form and simple linear decorations appeared, the first examples of the new spirit in ancient Greek art. The large vases of this and the following periods were used either as cinerary urns to hold the ashes of the deceased or as grave “markers” (funerary monuments). In the second room Cases 5 and 6 display some of the many grave-offerings from the Geometric period (900-700 BC), the period most strongly represented in the Kerameikos. Alongside the linear decoration, human and animal figures now become more and more frequent in vase-painting, and form the start of the Attic potter’s pictorial repertoire. In the first part of the third room in Cases 7, 8 and 9 are finds from the Archaic period (700-480 BC). The pottery was now enriched with new shapes and vase-painting made great strides in its repertoire, which becomes narrative, depicting scenes of mourners, myths, gods and heroes. With the introduction of the black-and-red-figure styles, the era began of the renowned Attic vases that were in demand by foreign markets. Cases 11, 12 and 13 contain grave-offerings of the Classical period (5th and 4th century BC). Some of the red-figure vases and white lekythoi, vessels painted exclusively with funerary representations, were the ornate creations of the Athenian potters who had their workshops in the surrounding district. The hydria by the Meidias Painter, dating to the end of the 5th century, is one of them. Case 14 brings the history of the cemetery to a close with finds from the Hellenistic to the Early Christian periods (3rd century BC – 6th century AD). Graves and grave-offerings now become less elaborate. Black-gazed pottery with simple foliate decoration gives way to unglazed pottery with the gradual disappearance of every decorative style. Jewelry becomes especially popular and frequently accompanies the body. Case 10 and 15 are different from the rest: in case 10 finds are shown from an excavation at the corner of the lera Odos and Piraeus Streets, which is an extension of the cemetery outside the organized archeological site. A communal burial of men, women and children was discovered there, buried in disorder, victims of the plague that broke out in Athens in the summer of 430-429 BC and was mentioned by Thucydides. The plague decimated the population and was the reason for the violation of the ancient burial laws. Case 15 contains finds from public and private life, which came from the Inner Kerameikos, the residential part of the city. The lead sheets with the names of Athenian aristocrats formed part of the archives of the Athenian Cavalry. Also of interest is a collection of potsherds inscribed with the names of famous Athenians who had been subject to the ordeal of ostracism.

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We had an inexpensive but delicious dinner at one of the restaurants on Adrianou street overlooking the Ancient Agora and then caught a train back to Chalandri. Wow, what a day!

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July 24, 2014

Today, we devoted the entire day to the National Archeological Museum, one of the best and certainly one of the largest exhibitions of Greek artifacts from prehistory to late antiquity in the world. Over 11,000 items (and growing) are housed in a beautiful 19th-century neoclassical building and take up to 8,000 sq. m. The exhibits displayed largely thematically and are very easy to navigate. Cost is €7 per person, no-flash pictures are ok, allow yourself at least 5-6 hours to enjoy this collection. Even though, I wouldn’t dare to describe every piece in the museum, I would like to point out to a few interesting sections, collections and items to watch out for. Check out the  National Museum Map for reference.

We browsed through the museum clockwise. Rooms 7-35 are Sculpture Collection and contain sculptures from all over Greece from the 8th century BC to the end of the 4th century AD, displayed chronologically. Among those in the collection, the most important are the series of Kouroi and these of Classical grave reliefs. Also, pay attention to the Dypilon Amphora – a huge Geometric vase which was used to mark an 8th century BC woman’s burial and shows the dead body surrounded by mourning women. It was named after the place of its discovery (Kerameikos’ Dipylon Gate, that we visited the evening prior).

Mus 1Rooms 36-39 are the Bronze Collection – world’s largest collection of bronze statues and objects. It is famous mainly for its unique, large-scale original statues such as the Poseidon or Zeus from Artemision, the Marathon youth, the Antikythera youth, and the jockey from Artemision.

MusRooms 40-41 are the Egyptian collection, renowned throughout the world for the importance of its objects, from statues to pottery, and from mummies to jewelry.

aaaI won’t deny, room 42 – the Stathatos Collection – was one of my favorite. Its 970 objects, works of the Minor Arts, looked very much like something I would like to own myself. Also, pay attention to the museum’s more than 600 pieces of jewelry, they are inspiring.

AAAPretty much most of the second floor (rooms 49-63) is dedicated to the Collection of Vases and the Minor Arts. The great quantity and quality of the Geometric pottery, the early black-figure vases from Vari, the white-ground lekythoi and the red-figure vases of the 4th century BC make this collection one of the richest in the world.

AAAThe museum also houses an excellent collection of terracotta figurines, glass vessels, Cypriot antiques, Vlastos-Serpieris collection and has a beautiful garden sculptures. However the most famous rooms in the museum are 3-6, which accommodate the Pre-Historic Collection. The most important exhibits are the treasures from the royal tombs at Mycenae, the famous Cycladic marble figurines, and the superbly preserved wall-paintings from Thira in Santorini. The golden death mask of Agamemnon, found at Mycenae by Schleimann, is also there! However, it is not the mask of the legendary king, since it dates 2 centuries earlier than the time of Agamemnon.

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Tomorrow, we were starting out road-trip around Greece, so after the visit to the museum, we went to D. mom to pick up a car, and on the way back to the apartment, we passed by the Olympic Stadium and stopped at the campus of the ACS Athens where D spent 6 years of his middle and high school.

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By no means we were able to visit all the places in Athens, but we were yet to return in a few weeks to attend a Big Fat Greek wedding, as well as to visit the Kallimarmaro Stadium, Benaki museum, Lykavittos hill, and the first cemetery of Athens; to do some fur shopping and check out a famous flea market. Click here for Athens, part II.

Pictures of Athens, July 2014.

The post Athens, Greece. July 2014 first appeared on SvetaNYC.

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