Exhibitions and sources of financing
The first exhibition planned for this year will document how archaeological exploration began in the Cyclades, by showing artifacts and photographs along with a number of manuscripts by archaeologists as well as material from exploration on Delos and Rineia. «We will show how exploration began and how it became established, as well as reports by archaeologists. What they did, what they found, what hindered them, their adventures and problems caused by local villagers, something like a diary,» Petrakos said. The second exhibition is of drawings by Anastassios Orlandos, some of the loveliest preserved in the society’s archives. Petrakos describes these as «beautiful paintings which should be seen by architects,» adding that the exhibition of watercolors of ancient art objects will surely be of interest to artists. Later in the year another exhibition will display the miracle of preserving the frescoes at Akrotiri, 40 years after Spyros Marinatos began excavating here, work that is being continued by Christos Doumas. The Internet portal with photographs from the society’s unique archive, incorporated into the Information Society program in the EU’s Third Community Support Framework, is in progress. «We have received quite a large sum but not as much as we should have,» Petrakos said. «The society is not pleased.» Another of the society’s obligations is to publish reports. The second volume on Elefsis is under way, as are those on the excavation of Pancratos. Another 16 excavations and explorations are also in progress but policy is to restrict them because «if we keep digging we would never publish anything. A book remains forever, the antiquities could be lost,» Petrakos said.
