1821-2021, TWO HUNDRED YEARS OF MODERN HELLENISM
COSTAS COULENTIANOS, ABSTRACT COMPOSITION” ODE TO FREEDOM”
HISTORY IS A TEACHER OF THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. THE PAST IS ALWAYS ALIVE, DIRECTING US ALL INTO THE FUTURE OF NATIONS AND HUMANITY, SHAPING OUR ACTIONS, OUR THINKING AND INDEED THE WHOLE OF OUR LIVES.
GREECE WAS FOR CENTURIES A SLAVE OF OTTOMAN TURKS, BUT NEVER GAVE UP GAINING ITS FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE EVER. FAILED UPRISINGS, VIOLENTLY SUPPRESSED REVOLUTIONS MADE THE GREEKS MORE DETERMINED TO FIGHT FOR THEIR FREEDOM FROM THE OTTOMAN YOKE.
FREEDOM FIGHTERS IN SLAVE MARKET OF CONSTANTINOPLE BY EUTERPE IONIDES, CIRCA 1850-60
THE YEAR 1821 WAS THE YEAR THAT FIGHTERS, POLITICIANS, MERCHANTS AND TRADERS , UNITED FOR ONE AIM AND ONE PURPOSE. TO LIBERATE THE LAND OF 4000 YEARS HISTORY AND BRING BACK HELLENIC IDEALS AND CULTURE.
ARTISTS DEVOTED THEIR LIVES TO IMMORTALISE GREEK HISTORY AND ACHIEVEMENTS AND PROUDLY PRESENTED TO US WITH WRITINGS AND ART, WHY GREECE HAS NEVER STOPPED BEING GREAT NOT ONLY IN THE EYES OF THE HELLENES BUT ALSO THE WORLD, THE WHOLE HUMANITY.
THE PARTHENON BY CONSTANTINE MALEAS, PAINTED 1917-20
THE PARTHENON BY VASILIS ZENETZIS, PAINTED 1998
EUROPE WANTED THAT TOO AND WITH THE HELP OF THE BIG POWERS, GREECE WAS DECLARED INDEPENDENT IN 1828. IT WAS SMALL, IT WAS VERY LIMITED BUT SLOWLY AND GRADUALLY GREECE BECAME THE COUNTRY AND NATION WE KNOW TODAY.
WE CELEBRATE WITH A GRAND EXHIBITION THE EVENTS OF 1821, THE HISTORIC LANDMARKS THAT MAKE GREECE A PROUD NATION SINCE THEN AND UNTIL TODAY!!
PETER CONSTANT
