The Medals of the Heroes
The adjoining Hall of the Adjutants features portraits of circular shape («medallions»), 50,5 cm in diameter each, which are inscribed with the name of the depicted, while the band they create is interlinked by decorative anthemia.
They were painted, probably around 1842-43, by the Greek painters, the brothers Margariti, Philip (1810-1892) and George (1814-1885), who had studied in Rome and Paris, respectively.
Portrayed are 14 pioneers of the Greek Revolution, primarily military men, the precursor of the Struggle Rigas, as well as a Philhellene (Hastings). Aligned from the north to the west side, the following are depicted:
- Georgios Kountouriotis
- Petrobey Mavromichalis
- Theodoros Kolokotronis
- Rigas Feraios
- Alexandros Ypsilantis
- Paleon Patron Germanos
- Andreas Zaimis
- Georgios Karaiskakis
- Anastasios Tsamados
- Andreas Miaoulis
- Dimitrios Ypsilantis
- Nikolaos Apostolis
- Panagiotis Botassis
- Frank Abney Hastings
On the whole, the mural decoration in the Halls of the Trophies and the Adjutants constitutes the first monumental visual recording of the Greek Revolution, as state commission. With its events relatively fresh in the memory and with several of the depicted still alive during the time in which the representations were painted, the wall paintings which adorned the (then) royal palace compose essentially an institutional memorialization and early perception of the Struggle and the fighters, the choices of the themes and persons concealing to a great extent ideological purposes.