Page 24 - Beholding Liberty!

24 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
movement is allowed more freely, since the heroes of the Struggle are biographed through texts and objects in random order and without any evaluative prioritization.
The museographic planning took into consideration the architecture of the Venizelos Hall, so as not to disturb its monumental character, but rather to respect and foreground it. Likewise, regarding the aesthetics of the place, neutral colors were selected, with the greatest possible utilization of trans- parency, in order to bring the objects into the spotlight, minimizing the “noise” of supporting materials.
Finally, regarding the nature of the exhibition, Beholding Liberty! At the Hellenic Parliament two centu- ries later, it was strategically decided that it should be hybrid, utilizing – apart from the traditional, relevant exhibition infrastructure – modern methods of projecting information. In particular, in the Hall of the Trophies, a digital interactive table has been installed with a multiple touch screen, on which one can enjoy close-up views, enlarging the Frieze of the Revolution, and can also play with the interactive applications, inspired by the displayed material. Also, in the Adjutants’ Hall the exhibition narrative is corroborated by the showing of a special thematic video, focused on the Hymn to Liberty.
The preparation of a museographic study was of critical significance not only for the timely and detailed planning of the Exhibition, but also because a decision was made to build new frames to hold the objects – thanks to the kind donation of the Onassis Foundation – within the context of the broader upgrading of Venizelos Hall as the exhibition area of the Parliament House, with interventions, among others, in the lighting and air conditioning, in order to ensure all the anticipated requirements for an exhibition environment with high demands.
We are taking this occasion to express our warm thanks to the Organizing Committee of the Exhi- bition, consisting of Ms. Dolly Petroula, Head of the Secretary General Office, Hellenic Parliament, Dr. George Angelopoulos, Head of the General Directorate of Electronic Administration, Library and Publications, Ms. Elli Droulia, Head of the Directorate of the Parliament Library, and Dr. Angelos Kon- togiannis-Mandros, scientific advisor to the Secretary General, Hellenic Parliament. Their contribution to all stages of preparation for this Exhibition was decisive, always listening carefully to the curators’ remarks. Last but not least, we kindly thank the Member of Parliament (MP) Anna Mani-Papadimitri- ou, President of the Committee on the Parliament’s Library, for her ardent support to the project of the Exhibition.
ONE EXHIBITION, THREE VERSIONS
Aspiring to the broader and most effective possible involvement of different audiences, the exhibition Beholding Liberty! At the Hellenic Parliament, two centuries later is shown to the public in three mutually complementary, but also differentiated forms, as follows.
The first concerns the in situ Exhibition in its physical space, which, as it has already been described, has been separated into three spaces and respective notional entities.
Given, on one hand, the coincidence of the health crisis, but also taking account of the contemporary practices in the field of Digital Museology-Museography, the information content of the Exhibition and the exhibition experience will be transferred in their entirety to the visual environment of the internet. In particular, the Exhibition site contains the portable exhibits as a whole and the accom- panying identification material (introductory and explanatory texts, documents, works of art etc.), as well as high-definition photographs of the twenty representations on the Frieze. Indeed, considering that the length of the Frieze is 59 meters, and that it is more than six meters high, its digital recon-