"The Mystery of the Mask” is an international exhibition containing 90 brilliant works by 48 artists from 12 countries. The works represent the mask as a mirror of the soul, religious symbol, theatrical prop, a disguise or a means of concealing feelings. Athens is the fourth stop for the exhibition, which has already toured the Netherlands, Britain and New Zealand. Master jeweler Nikos Lalaounis and his wife Lila welcomed close friends, diplomats and notables from the field of art and culture to the Lalaounis Jewelry Museum beneath the Acropolis. Museum Director Ioanna Lalaouni guided the visitors round the exhibition. Dutch Ambassador Paul Brauer, who has been here for four years and who, like his country — our ally and partner — has many friends in Athens, opened the exhibition. Given the tendency of people throughout the ages to hide their true feelings and purposes and their fears, a mask is confession in itself, a means of expression, which reveals as much as it conceals. “So let’s remove our masks and look at the exhibits to see what message they convey,” he concluded. Among those present were British Ambassador Sir David Madden and his wife, Jules Dassin, Marina Lambrini-Plaka, Xenofontos Zolotas and Depi Chandris. The exhibition runs till December 20 in the superbly lit space of the museum at Karyatidon and 12 Kallisperi, tel 210.923.7358.