Philippi: A Landmark of European Heritage. A photo exhibition at the Consulate General of Greece in New York

Keeping its promise for an even more exciting culture agenda, the Consulate General of Greece in New York inaugurates 2019 with a photo exhibition dedicated to our common European Heritage (January 8th, 2019). The exhibition is a tribute to the archaeological site of Philippi, the ancient walled city in Eastern Macedonia, on the route linking Europe and Asia. It is Greece’s 14th archaeological site inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List and today welcomes some 50,000 visitors each year, through the adjacent city of Kavala.

Opening the exhibition, archaeologists Stavroula Dadaki and curator archaeologist Michael Lychounas from Greece's Kavala Ephorate of Antiquities gave a brief presentation of the site’s rich history, stressing the factors which earned Philippi the title of being a landmark of European Heritage. Human activity is detected as early as the Neolithic Period and traces of vines indicate even wine-making, a European first. Philippi inscribed in Unesco’s list as the city founded in 356 BC by the Macedonian King Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, and a leading figure of the late Classical period. Located at a strategic point close to Via Egnatia (perhaps the most important military and commercial road in antiquity for more than 2,000 years, serving three empires –Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman-), it soon developed as a “small Rome”, following the Battle of Philippi, in 42 BCE and the establishment of the Imperium Romanum.

The Romans enriched the vibrant Hellenistic city of Philip II with gates, a theatre and the funerary heroon (temple), but the Greek influence was always present. Later the city became a center of the Christian faith following the visit of the Apostle Paul in 49-50 CE. The remains of its basilicas constitute an exceptional testimony to the early establishment of Christianity. 

Today, the visitor of Philippi can visit the Acropolis, the theatre, the Basilicas, the Forum, the Walls and the 4th-century monumental church which grew to become the emblematic pilgrimage church of Philippi. The city’s local Festival hosted each year at Philippi’s ancient theatre is also an exciting attraction. The exhibition’s organizing team offers individual tourist guides starting from the city of Kavala and aspires to see the exhibition traveling to other US destinations, following Washington DC and New York.

The exhibition runs through February 4 at the Consulate General of Greece in New York and it is brought to the United States by Greek private sponsors.

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