Remembering the Asia Minor catastrophe
Since its foundation in 1972 by Costas and Lydia Karras, the Hellenic Society for the Protection of the Environment and Cultural Heritage has contributed to raising the awareness of the public and the State about issues such as the preservation of important natural and historic landscapes such as Pylos, Delphi and, more recently, Marathon. Memory plays a great part in preserving tradition and history. In this spirit, the association is participating in the nationwide commemoration of the 80 years since the Asia Minor catastrophe with a series of lectures on the music and architectural heritage of Asia Minor – what the refugees brought with them and what they left behind on the shores and hinterland of Asia Minor. The lectures, held every Thursday at 8 p.m. at the association’s headquarters, 28 Tripodon Street in Plaka, began on October 3 and will continue until the last Thursday in November. This coming week, on October 24, the speaker will be Ioanna Dorovini, who will discuss the architecture of Smyrna’s golden age of 1880-1920. On October 31, Savvas Tsilenis will speak about Pericles Fotiadis and the architecture of 19th century Istanbul. November 7 is the turn of Costas Stamatopoulos to speak on the causes of the Asia Minor catastrophe. Concurrent with the lecture series is a exhibition of photographs by Lisa Evert taken in Asia Minor, as well as on the Black Sea coast (Pontus). Refreshments are available after each lecture.
