On the occasion of this year’s anniversary celebrating 2,500 years from the Battle of Marathon, the Foreign Ministry, in association with the Ministry of Culture, organizes, with the valuable help of Greece’s Embassies and Consular Authorities abroad, an exhibition of historical material from the personal collection of Mr. George Dolianitis, writer and owner of one of the most important collections of rare publications in Greece, to be held from 15 November to late-December 2010.
Exhibits include pages from old books and engravings focusing both on the manner in which international ideological currents of the 18th and 19th century (poetry, literature and arts) were inspired by the Battle of Marathon, but also on the historical evolution of the Marathon Course. The aim of this exhibition is to promote the importance of the Battle for world history and its effect on the modern Western civilization and, at the same time, promote Greece’s contemporary image as an integral part of its past.
The Battle of Marathon is a historical event which has become a world symbol for the values of freedom, democracy and virtue. It triggered the creation of the Athenian Republic and the start of the Golden Age on Athens, subsequently helping to shape the European culture. The political importance of the Battle was particularly pointed out and took on further symbolism and meaning, during the French revolution, the Enlightenment and the Romantic period. The Marathon course is our heritage, the only Olympic sport based on historical foundations named after a specific area, which has been turned into a way of life, with thousands of Marathons organized around the world.
This international exhibition is being carried out in special sites offered at our disposal by the authorities of the countries of the Embassies which are taking part in this project. The material has been digitized and given at the disposal of our Missions through a secure website, in order to avoid dispatching and insurance costs.
This exhibition has already been inaugurated in Algiers, Vienna, Warsaw, Vilnius, Tel Aviv, Pretoria, Beijing, Bratislava, Baku, Luxembourg, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Yerevan, Bucharest, Zagreb, Marseilles and Odessa.
December 9, 2010