Page 20 - Beholding Liberty!

20 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
identified as follows: 1. The oath of the Greek revolutionaries in Vostitsa, 2. The uprising of the Greeks in Patras, 3. Assembly at Kalamata, 4. The glory of the Patriarch Gregorios V, 5. The revolution of the Greeks against the Turks, 6. Victories of the Greeks on land and at sea, 7. The National Assembly in Epidavros, 8. Kanaris sets the Turkish fleet on fire at Chios, 9. Mavrokordatos defends Missolonghi, 10. Botsaris attacks the Turkish camp in Karpenisi, 11. Victory is hovering over the sunken ships, 12. The Pillaging of the Pelo- ponnese by Ibrahim pasha, 13. Personification of the city of Missolonghi, 14. The Treaty of London, 15. The Victory of the Greeks against the Turks at sea, 16. The naval battle of Navarino, 17. Personification of Greece, 18. The foundation by Capodistrias of the “Panhellenion”, 19. Ludwig I introduces Otto to the Greek envoys in Munich, 20. The arrival of Otto in Nafplion.
Although the guiding principle of whether or not to include an object in the Exhibition was the degree of its relevance to one of the above themes, in certain cases we “shone the light” onto the broader context: for example, given the representation on the Frieze of the National Assembly of Epidavros, we presented more broadly the institutions and processes of organizing the state that emerged through the National Assemblies and Constitutions; respectively, on the occasion of the signature of the Treaty of London on 6 July 1827, illustrated on the Frieze, a broader reference was made to the diplomatic interventions of the Great Powers in the Greek issue.
In any case, however, the 20 representations on the Frieze provided the model for the exhibition nar- rative, demonstrating these impressive frescoes as the “spoken” records of the Exhibition.
In indissoluble unity with the above monumental ensemble of wall paintings, lies a second one, the portraits of fourteen (14) fighting pioneers of the Hellenic Revolution, which adorn the smaller cham- ber of the Adjutants of the Parliament Building. The circular portraits (“medals”) constitute a statutory group of “Heroes” including G. Kountouriotis, P. Mavromichalis, Rigas, Al. Ypsilantis, Th. Kolokotronis, P.P. Germanos, A. Zaïmis, G. Karaïskakis, A. Tsamados, A. Miaoulis, Dim. Ypsilantis, N. Apostolis, P. Botassis, and F.A. Hastings. Apart from these 14 figures, who from the outset were included in this pantheon, with all the ideological information entailed in the selection in question, the “Hero” group was also supplemented by other protagonists of the period, de facto indicative and representational, such as I. Makrygiannis and G. Tombazis, heroines L. Bouboulina and M. Mavrogenous, as well as philhellenes, like Byron, Ch. N. Fabvier and Th. Gordon, who in turn operated metonymically for the entire group of both famous and anonymous people who threw themselves into the fight for Freedom.
Consequently, the narrative canvas of the exhibition “Beholding Liberty! At the Hellenic Parliament, two centuries later” was “proposed” by the Parliament building itself as a living organism in which the vital history of the Greek state is recorded. Our mission was to bring the depicted persons and events to the fore, guiding the exhibition narrative to its emotional peak and helping visitors to the Exhibition to become personal witnesses of the struggle for Freedom.
In order to facilitate understanding, but also to build as complete and cohesive a narration as possible, this central section is flanked by a number of other thematic units, which altogether were included in the museological study by the Curators in collaboration with the members of the Scientific Com- mittee of the Exhibition, the academician Paschalis Kitromilides, Professor Emeritus of the Political Science and Public Administration Department of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Mrs. Maria Euthymiou, Professor in the History-Archaeology Department of the National and Kap- odistrian University of Athens, and Antonis Klapsis, Assistant Professor in the Political Science and International Relations Department of the University of the Peloponnese; they have our heartfelt thanks for their scientific guidance.