Hellenic Studies
Hellenic Studies Holds First Conference
The Program in Hellenic Studies at YCIAS held its first conference, titled “Modern Greece and Its Monuments,” on April 5-6, 2002, at the Whitney Humanities Center of Yale University. It concentrated on the construction of a national history of the state of modern Greece from its independence in 1821 to the present. More than sixty people came to hear the fifteen internationally acclaimed scholars that spoke at the conference.
“The Program in Hellenic Studies was privileged to be able to gather some of the leading scholars in the areas of Greek history, archaeology, and art history for this conference,” said Maria Georgopoulou, Co-Director of the Program in Hellenic Studies and Conference Director. “An important component of the self-image of modern Greece was the projection of its affinity with classical Greece and the emphasis of a European rather than Oriental/Ottoman Turkish identity. To highlight the salient points of this view, special focus was given to cultural artifacts, monuments, new architectural projects, and the restoration of archaeological sites. Specifically, we looked at the cultural relationship of Modern Greece to Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire, as well as historical moments crucial for the formation of the cultural identity of contemporary Greece, such as Thessaloniki as cultural capital of Europe in 1997, and the return of the Olympic games to Greece in 2004.”
The Program in Hellenic Studies offers courses related to Post-Classical Greece, instruction of the modern Greek language, organizes interdisciplinary lecture series, symposia and conferences, and supports faculty and graduate student research. The Program is made possible by a generous endowment from the Niarchos Foundation.
The Conference was sponsored by the Program in Hellenic Studies at the Yale Center for International and Area Studies, the Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation, the Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Fund at Yale, the Whitney Humanities Center and History of Art Department at Yale.
Modern Greece and its Monuments
Hellenic Studies Conference
April 5-6 Yale University
Whitney Humanities Center Auditorium,
53 Wall Street, New Haven
Friday, April 5
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: Maria Georgopoulou, 1:15 p.m.
Session I: 1:30 - 3:30 p.m.ARCHAEOLOGY, MYTH, AND THE MUSEUM
Moderator: J.J. Pollitt (Yale University)
Eleana Yalouri (Princeton University)
The Acropolis at Athens. Readings of a National Monument’s ‘sacredness’
Can Bilsel (Getty Center & Princeton University)
Zeus in Exile: Space, Form and Spectacle in Berlin’s Pergamon Museum
Artemis Leontis (University of Michigan Ann Arbor)
What’s the place of a Modern Poet in an Archaeological Museum?
Coffee break, 3:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Session II: 4:30 - 6:00 p.m.THE CHALLENGE OF EUROPE
Moderator: Christopher S. Wood (Yale University)
Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer (University of Delaware)
Classicism and Resistance in Late nineteenth-century European Art
Irene D. Fatsea (University of Thessaly)
The reception of J.J. Winckelmann by Greek Scholarship during the formative stage of the Greek State (1832-1862)
Public Reception, 6 - 7 p.m., Whitney Humanities CenterSaturday, April 6
Session III: 9.30 a.m. - 12 p.m.OTHER WORLDS?
Moderator: Dimitri Gutas (Yale University)
Robert Nelson (University of Chicago)
Hagia Sophia A Modern Greek Monment?
Molly Greene (Princeton University)
Ottoman Archives and Greek History
Eleni Bastea (University of New Mexico, Albuquerque)
Between Home and Nation: Memories of Place in Modern Greece
Vangelis Calotychos (New York University)
‘Twice a Greek’ in Cyprus: On Monumentalizing Greece Elsewhere
Session IV: 1:30 - 3.30 p.m.
CREATING THE HOMELAND
Moderator: Thomas Tartaron (Yale University)
Susan Sutton (Indiana University - Purdue University at Indianapolis)
Blinded by the Site: National Monuments and Local Places in Greece
Alexandros Lagopoulos (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
Monumental urban space and national identity:Thessaloniki in the early twentieth century
Michael Herzfeld (Harvard University)
Monumental Concerns: Popular Historiography and the Fate of Domestic Spaces in Greece
Coffee break 3.30-4 pm
Session V: 4 - 6 p.m.
BACK TO THE FUTURE?
Moderator: George Syrimis (Yale University)
Vilma Hastaoglou-Martinidis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
Looking towards the past, looking towards the future. Urban design projects for “Thessaloniki 1997” Cultural Capital of Europe
Panayotis Tournikiotis (National Technical University of Athens)
The construction of the Athens’ architectural heritage and the aesthetics of historical stratification
Stavros Lambrinidis (Ambassador, Director of the International Olympic Truce Centre)
The Olympic Truce: An Ancient Concept for the New Millennium
For more information contact Rosemarie Hansen, (203) 432-3423; rosemarie.hansen@yale.edu
The Conference is sponsored by the Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation, the Kempf Fund, the Whitney Humanities Center and it is free and open to the public.
