He was almost 36 years old. Two hundred years have passed since the day that Byron breathed his last in the home of the late Christos Kapsalis, in which he stayed from January 5, 1824 until the day of his death… The Byronian Building, as the historic building is known, where they rest here and years symbolically the thoughts and ideas of Lord Byron, officially opens its doors to the public with a permanent museum exhibition entitled “Byron and Greece”, the result of a collaboration between the Byronic Society and the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece-National History Museum. Works of art, personal items, letters, documents and various relics from the Collections of the National Historical Museum, from the General Archives of the State, the National Library of Greece and from a multitude of Greek and foreign state and private bodies accompany and compose the personality of Lord Byron as a poet and as a philhellenic, who expressed his deep sorrow as a cry of protest against Elgin’s destruction of the Parthenon in his poems, “The Curse of Athena” and “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.” The opening of the exhibition will take place in the presence of the Minister of Culture Linas Mendonis.
The anniversary permanent exhibition, as described in “ET” the active president since 1996 of the Byronic Society of the Holy City of Messolonghi, Rodanthi Florou, fulfills “a vision of years and brings us closer to the life and personality of a risk-taking person, but with a constant gaze towards freedom and equality, nature and romance which she exudes”. The museological study of the exhibition, co-authored by the curators of the National Historical Museum, Natasa Kastritis and Regina Katsimardo, is carried out with the kind support of Piraeus Bank and is organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture.
The life and work of Philhellenic are developed through four sections. A chronology with the main stages of Byron’s life and work welcomes the visitor and leads him to the first section where the poet’s young years, his life in England and his first trip to Greece are illuminated, while at the same time the visual narrative runs through faces that he met and places he visited. The second section presents his later connection with the European Philhellenic movement, his relations with the Greek Committee of London, his arrival and stay in revolutionary Greece until his death. In this section – as explained by Mrs. Florou – extensive references are made to the development of the European Philhellenic movement and key events of the Greek Revolution, which influenced European public opinion in favor of the Greeks’ Struggle, such as the Exodus of Messolonghi.
The third and fourth sections are respectively devoted to the influence of Lord Byron’s poetry on the wider movement of Romanticism and the imprint – the influence of his personality on Art.
Printed edition
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