STAVROS DIMAS: In these difficult times for our homeland, our country, our nation, “Mount Athos” is a source of hope and optimism. Through the holy monastic community, timeless human values are transmuted – values that are an intrinsic part of Hellenic tradition and a symbol of the universality of Orthodoxy.
The artist, Mr. Efthimios Warlamis, has for over thirty years managed – in an exceptional manner – to point up the uniqueness of Mount Athos, and this exhibition is without question a very major cultural event. I think visitors have the sense that they are essentially on Mount Athos. And in closing I would like to say that Mount Athos gives us certain values – faith, industriousness, solidarity – that are vital to our getting through the crisis our country is facing. Thank you very much.
January 5, 2012