‘The Nordics’: From Vikings to 19th-century northern explorers at an exhibition in Kavala

What were the Vikings doing in Greece? How did Northern Europeans see Greece in the 18th century? What did the great Danish storyteller encounter? Hans Christian Andersen, when he visited Athens? What was a Danish woman doing in King Otho’s court? How did a Danish traveler record antiquities of Thassos that are now destroyed?

All the above questions have their answer in man’s need to travel, tour, get to know new worlds, people and cultures. In his effort to make them known, to communicate with them through the writing of travel diaries and letters but also travel books much later.

People and their travel experiences, but also people’s help to those in need in times of war, even if they are many kilometers away, are highlighted through two exhibitions under the common name “The Nordics”, which were inaugurated yesterday Wednesday in the evening, and aim – among other things – at highlighting the assistance of foreigners in the promotion and dissemination of Greek culture and also at providing assistance to the Greek people in difficult times.

The two exhibitions, presented in the new wing of the archaeological museum, were organized by the Swedish House in Kavala (a branch of the Swedish Institute of Athens), the Institutes and Embassies of the Northern Countries in Athens, the Library of the Northern Countries and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Kavala – Thassos .

The first exhibition, entitled: “Brave and intelligent people – travelers from the Northern Countries tell”, presents the travel experiences of people from the Northern Countries who traveled to Greece and captured, through written texts and paintings (drawings, sketches, watercolors ), our homeland.

Norwegians, Swedes, Danes and Finns who traveled to Greece in times of peace and war from the 18th to the 20th century, tell unique stories that reveal the lively interest and commitment of the Nordic countries to Greece.

Visitors to the exhibition have the opportunity to view publications related to travelers’ travels. These are rare testimonies and images from both times of war and peace spanning the last three centuries.

A Danish traveler in Thassos

Among the visitors to the exhibition presented in Kavala, a special place is occupied by the Dane Frederikvon Scholten, who, on November 10, 1824, as part of his tour of the Aegean with the sailing merchant vessel “Le Cuirassier”, visited Thassos for a few days in order to vessel to be supplied with water and timber. During his stay on the island, Frederikvon Scholten created the watercolor depicting the ancient port with fragments of ancient architectural members, while in the foreground dominates the tower from the fortifications he had made in Thassos in the 14th century AD. the Byzantine ruler of the island, the great Prime Minister John. This watercolor is particularly important as it captures and preserves the fortified tower with its rectangular shape, which was finally demolished in 1931 and today only the base near the archaeological museum of Thassos exists.
During his same visit, the Danish traveler also drew two Roman sarcophagi. One continues to be located at Glykadi, next to the ring road, while the other was destroyed in the early 1900s.

Thanks to the active director of the Swedish House in Kavala, Elisabeth Gullberg, through the editing and translation of a book of the National Museum of Denmark, the activities of Frederikvon Scholten became widely known. The exhibition presents all the watercolors he painted during his stay on the island. Also, at the initiative of the director of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Kavala, Stavroulas Dadakis, reliefs and architectural members of the Byzantine fortification tower that were built into it and after its demolition were collected, rescued and since then kept in the archaeological museum of Thassos are on display.

The second exhibition is entitled: “Swedish representatives of the Red Cross in Greece during the Second World War”. Food aid in Greece was the largest humanitarian operation during World War II. World public opinion, shocked by the terrible famine, forced the Allies in the winter of 1942 to allow the country to be fed.

Sweden’s neutral position in the war was decisive both at the level of negotiations and at the stage of organizing the food supply, but also in the creation of a neutral committee that would supervise the operation. After a series of complicated and time-consuming negotiations, an international Red Cross mission was set up, consisting of eight Swedes and seven Swiss, headed by a Swede. A total of 29 Swedes participated in this humanitarian mission. The exhibition presents photos from that time, as captured by the members of the Red Cross mission.

The two exhibitions, which were enriched with new material about Kavala, were presented for the first time in 2018 at the Library of the Northern Countries, as part of the organization of the Municipality of Athens: “Athens 2018: World Book Capital”.

From Vikings to artists, architects and writers

The event was attended by the Counselor of the Swedish Embassy in Athens, Par Skanberg, and the director of the Swedish Institute of Athens, Jenny Wallensten, who congratulated the Swedish House and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Kavala – Thassos for the successful collaboration which highlights, among others, its long-standing relations of Greece both with Sweden and with other northern countries.

The opening of the exhibition, which will last until November 23, concluded with the speech of Professor Dr. Björn Forsén on the topic: “Scandinavian travelers in Greece. From the Vikings to today.” The professor of History of the University of Helsinki, speaking in fluent Greek, aroused the interest of the numerous audience, underlining that the travelers of the northern countries in the texts and works of art they left behind each one’s perspective on Greece and the Greeks, which varies depending on the time when each person visited the country as well as their status.

“The experiences of travelers who visited Greece were recorded in many different ways: personal diaries and letters, but also travel books written to be published and read by a large audience and to make sales,” he said – among others – in speech by professor Björn Forsén who was also the director of the Finnish Institute of Athens.

“Each travelogue,” he noted, “tells its own story about how travelers from the North, at different times in history, lived in Greece. Their stories speak both of themselves and of the Greece they met during their travels.” As the professor made known to the general public, the first visitors from the North were mercenaries, such as the Vikings, but also soldiers who fought with the Venetian army against the Ottomans in the Morea or Philhellenes who took part in the struggle for the independence of Greece. A second category of travelers consisted of scientists from the 18th century, followed by artists, architects and writers.

It should be noted that the Nordic countries are an institutional union of states made up of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the autonomous regions of Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the Åland Islands.

The Nordic countries have much in common in their way of life, their history, their religion, the use of Scandinavian languages ​​and their social structure in general. They have a long history of political associations and other close relations, but today they are not a single entity. However, they have a joint council called the Nordic Council, which works towards common goals at the governmental and institutional level. This is a successful model of cooperation with a long history.

RES-EMP

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