The Portal of Digital Collections of Mobile Monuments of the Ministry of Culture (National Archive of Monuments) includes objects – movable monuments that primarily originate from the collections of the Ephorates of Antiquities and the Museums of the Ministry of Culture and the broader Public Sector. The portal is being gradually updated and provides access to approximately 710,000 registered entries through the Integrated Information System (IIS) of the Ministry of Culture. (Cover photo: Attic red-figure Kerch lekanis with scene of a wedding preparation, Marsyas painter, 350 B.C, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki)
The objects included are both ancient and more recent monuments. The vast majority of the entries concern finds from excavations and archaeological research conducted and continuously carried out by the Archaeological Service from the 19th century to the present day. A second group of objects consists of portable icons, liturgical vessels, and manuscripts. A third, smaller group includes testimonies mainly of modern Greek culture and comes from various collections. Overall, the monuments registered in the National Monument Archive reflect the richness, diversity, and typological and chronological range of the cultural heritage of the Greek territory.
Online visitors can learn about the place where the objects were made, the materials used, as well as the uses or functions these objects served. They can read about the stories the objects have to tell and others that have already been created to inspire. Visitors can also create their own narratives by combining new knowledge with their personal experiences.
The Archaeological Cadastre, also available online, records and documents Greece’s immovable monuments, archaeological sites, historical sites, and their protection zones. Today, the Archaeological Cadastre Portal contains descriptive (archaeological, and administrative) and geospatial data for more than 21,500 monuments, approximately 3,400 archaeological sites and historical sites, 844 protection zones and 220 museums.
The Tatoi Collections of the former Royal Estate was recently registered online. It is the largest collection of its kind in Greece, dedicated to fine and applied arts and to Greek history, comprised of more than 70.000 objects that were recorded and documented by the Ministry of Culture. Focusing on European art and design of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Tatoi Collections span both time and geography—from the European continent to the Far East, and from ancient Greece to everyday objects of the 1960s. All of the above are complemented and interpreted through the preserved evidence—documents and photographs—in the Tatoi Archive, thus unlocking the study of previously unknown aspects of more than a century of Greek and European history.
The Portal of Digital Collections of Movable Monuments also offers interesting featured online exhibitions. Three of them are presented here as follows: Recycling, a Good Old Habit; Our Oldest Friend (The Dog); and Braids, Hats, and Wigs.
The concept of sustainability is not a product of our modern era, where environmental management is emerging as an urgent priority through recycling or the use of recycled materials. Reusing materials and architectural members is a timeless phenomenon that is observed both in antiquity and in modern times. The main reason was saving resources. Durable materials with a distinctively high cost, difficult to mine and transport, were reused most frequently. More specific cases, however, such as the reuse of columns, sculptures, and architectural members, beyond the purely practical purposes they served, also implied the preservation of an aesthetic continuity, while for religious buildings and sanctuaries this meant the “sanctification” of materials and, by extension, of places.
Double questioning: Lead oracle tablet from Dodona with the question of the faithful and the response of the oracle on each side respectively. On the first side there are other older questions / inscriptions that have been erased, Dodona, 4th century BC, Ephorate of Antiquities of Ioannina
Supporting the house of God: The stele bears an inscription of Nero’s proclamation of the freedom of the Greeks of Achaia and was a votive offering to the sanctuary of Apollo on Mount Ptoon by a prominent citizen of Acraephia. In modern times it was used as construction material in the church of St George in Akraifnio, Boeotia, 1st century BC, Ephorate of Antiquities of Boeotia (Left) – Amazons and Saints: Base of a statue, probably of a Roman emperor, with an embossed representation of Amazonomachy. It was later used as a pulpit base in the Basilica of Alkison in Nikopolis. For this purpose, part of the representation was scraped off and a mosaic representation was attached over it, from which the figures of two saints are preserved, 1st century BC, Ephorate of Antiquities of Preveza (Right)
One grave, more tenants: Inscribed marble sarcophagus. This inscription is apotropaic in nature and bears witness to its reuse in the mid-4th century AD, 2nd-3rd century BC, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki
Collecting water: Marble inscribed sarcophagus, whose two small circular holes bear witness to it having been reused as a water tank. It is unknown when this conversion took place. It was found in Sintrivani Square in Thessaloniki, 2nd century AD, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki
A votive altar that was reused – upside down – as a funereal tomb marking, on which an inscription was engraved with the name and the father’s name of the deceased, which it bids farewell. It was found at the archaeological site of Atrax, in the regional unit of Larissa, 1st century BC Antiquities Ephorate of Larissa
It’s certain that our relationship with dogs is the oldest companionship and cohabitation relationship between us and the representatives of the rest of the animal kingdom, constituting an important milestone both in the history of humanity and in zoology. The human history of dogs is reflected in our intangible and tangible heritage, highlighting a relationship of companionship and faithfulness, care and love, as well as power, and, sometimes, exploitation.
Fragment of a mural fresco at from the Mycenaean Palace of Orchomenos, Boeotia, depicting a dog behind a chariot in a hunting scene, 1350-1250 BC, Ephorate of Antiquities of Boeotia (upper left), Section of a floor mosaic depicting an amphora with a hunting scene on either side, from a roman mansion, 324 A.D – 700 A.D, Ephorate of Antiquities of Phthiotis and Evrytania (upper right), Dog figurines, Ephorate of Antiquities of Boeotia (lower left), Part of a bronze furniture-attachment in the form of a dog, 500 B.C – 301 B.C, Ephorate of Antiquities of Phocis (lower right)
Marble funereal stele with relief depiction of a funeral feast. On the bed , the deceased is depicted holding what is probably a bottle. In front of him there is a three-legged table with food and fruits, and beside him a dog looks at (most probably) its master, 170 A.D – 230 A.D, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (left), Votive stele depicting Artemis-Bendis in a hunting scene in which a dog attacks a deer, 100 A.D – 299 A.D, Ephorate of Antiquities of Kavala (right)
The garments, footwear, hairdos, and other elements that complement our external appearance reveal the fashion of the time, but they also reveal something deeper. They declare and express the gender, age, social status, and even the mental or emotional state of the person wearing them. Going further in depth, often they function symbolically for temporary or permanent situations and transmit a clear and concise message. Hair and anything adorning one’s head had to be part of this interpretation. Long hair that came down to the chest or shorter hair that came down to the neck, let down or tied in simple or elaborate buns, wavy or straight, with plenty of long or shorter curls, looser or tighter like small shells, adorn the heads of women and men. They often look like or are wigs, while on top all kinds of hats complete the ornamentation of one’s head and send the appropriate message regarding the identity, temporary or permanent, of the wearer.
A plank-shaped figurine with a distinctive bird-shaped head. It wears a tall hat (polos crown), while two long tendrils fall to the right and left in front of the chest, rendering the archaic hairstyle in horizontal lines, 550 B.C – 501 B.C, Ephorate of Antiquities of Boeotia (left), Part of a female figurine with rich long curly middle-parted hair that cascades behind its shoulders, 500 B.C – 401 B.C, Ephorate of Antiquities of Boeotia (middle), Terracotta female figurine, probably Aphrodite, resting her right foot on a rock, while holding a mirror in her right hand. Her hair is held in a high bun while it is combed into thick bundles, 300 B.C – 251 B.C, Ephorate of Antiquities of Boeotia (right)
Terracotta figurine head wearing a low polos crown above the forehead, while the hair is rendered as three horizontal wavy curls that reach the base of the neck, 700 B.C – 480 B.C, Ephorate of Antiquities of Lasithi, Crete (left), Terracotta female figurine, doll. Its hair, rich and wavy, is gathered high and tied in an impressive leaf-shaped piece of jewellery that looks like a large bow fastened with two large pins at the top of the head, 100 B.C – 1 B.C, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (left)
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TAGS: ARCHAEOLOGY | ARTS | CULTURE
