The Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation is actively participating in the “Bicentennial Initiative 1821-2021”, for the celebration of the 200 years since the outbreak of the Greek Revolution, in collaboration with many important cultural institutions of Greece.
The upcoming celebration of the 200 years since the outbreak of the Greek Revolution of 1821 and the War of Independence will be a key historical event: it is both an occasion to recognize the struggles and sacrifices of our people, while it also requires us to think on the present-day position of our country and its future.
With actions in Greece and abroad, which were officially announced at the presentation of the “Initiative 1821-2021” at the Athens Concert Hall on 31 January 2020, the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation participates in a rich program of events for the historic anniversary.
EDITIONS
“The Greek Revolution through the Ottoman Archives”
Editor: Dr. Sukru Ilicak
The study of the Greek geographical area from the Ottoman conquest to modern times is one of the most important activities of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation. With emphasis on highlighting primary sources and aiming to restore historical time, we are publishing 700 Ottoman documents from the Ayniyat Registers, which are kept in the Ottoman Archives in Istanbul. Copies of selected orders and reports sent to the Ottoman provinces from June 1821 to January 1826, these documents, translated from Ottoman into English, including detailed indexing and commenting, shed light on aspects of the Greek Revolution unknown to this day. This is a colossal project of international standards, aiming to restore established positions and ideologies.
Download the book here.
Mapping the Settlement of Hydra: Historical Evidence
The island city of Hydra played a vital role in the uprising of the Greeks rayas against the Ottoman empire. The Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation prepares the publication of a study on residential development of the city of Hydra from the late 18th to the late 20th century through archival historical evidence. The volume is released and available in Greek.
Author: Dr. Iris Panagiotopoulou, Architect-Urban planner
See more here.
Konstantinos Kanaris, 1793-1877
Konstantinos Kanaris was a fearless expert in fireships and one of the most important heroes of the Greek War of Independence. The Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation is preparing the publication of a scientific monograph on the life and work of Konstantinos Kanaris through archival historical evidence. The publication is due to be presented in November 2021.
Authors: Dr. Konstantina Adamopoulou, Dr. Annita Prassa
Borders, Sovereignty and Stamps, Greece 1830-2000
Greece has been swiftly developing in terms of territorial sovereignty since the outbreak of the Revolution in 1821 and the formal establishment of the state in 1830. This study examines territorial changes in Greece as reflected through the stamps. Territorial changes are tracked through the printing of stamps, following violent or peaceful expansion, success or failure of territorial changes, temporary or permanent, change, alteration or annulment of the sovereignty of the Greek state by foreign occupation and domination, territorialization of political non-state power, occupation of foreign territory, Greek military presence abroad or friendly foreign military presence in Greece. In all these cases, the stamps and the postmarks follow and express power changes that determine the land and the people. The volume will be released in April 2021.
Author: Konstantinos Tsitselikis, Prof. of International Law, University of Macedonia
ARCHIVES
Digitization and publication of the Greek section of Lord Cochrane’s Family Archive
The Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, in collaboration with Lord Thomas Cochrane descendants (Thomas Alexander Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1775-1860) and the National Records of Scotland, has undertaken the project of digitization and publication of the Greek section of his archive, which remained sealed since his death.
Find more here
EVENTS
Conference at the University of Amsterdam: “The Greek Revolution: A Global Event of Independence”
The Foundation, in collaboration with the Marilena Laskaridis Chair for Modern Greek Studies, is organizing a conference on “The Greek Revolution: A Global Event of Independence”. The event will take place in May 2022 at the University of Amsterdam and may be repeated at the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation.
Speakers:
Prof. Rosa Anduhar (Kings College), Prof. Chrysanthi Avlami (Panteion University), Prof. Nassia Yakovakis (NFS), Prof. Olga Katsiardis (NFS), Dr. Sukru Ilicak (Harvard) and Hakan Erdem (Sabanci University) or Yusuf Karabicak (Harvard).
Organizers: Prof. Maria Boletsi (“Marilena Laskaridis” Chair of Modern Greek Studies, University of Amsterdam), Dr. Konstantinos Thanasakis (Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation)
Activities in collaboration with the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) in Portsmouth
- “Nelson in his own words”. Exhibition of the Foundation’s Nelson Collection
The exhibition will be held at the Royal Navy Museum and will include – among other things – much of the Nelson Collection of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, which is the largest collection of documents related to the British Admiral outside the United Kingdom. The collection includes personal items, as well as handwritten letters.
The opening of the exhibition is scheduled for 12 October 2022 and is expected to last 6 months. A number of letters from the Nelson Collection of the Foundation will be published and exhibited for the first time.
- Conference in Portsmouth: “From the Nile to Navarino”
The exhibition opening events in Portsmouth will include a conference, at 13 October 2022, hosted by the NMRN on the geopolitical situation in the Mediterranean after the Battle of the Nile and its impact on the enslaved Greeks. The three-session event will be attended by distinguished Greek and British historians. Among others will participate Prof. Gelina Harlaftis, Dr. Katerina Galani, Prof. Gerasimos Pagratis, Prof. Sakis Gkekas, Dr. Angeli Zarokosta, Dr. Andreas Koukos, Dr Sukru Iliçak, Prof. Andrew Lambert, Dr. Dominic Tweddle. Academic organizers are Dr. Katerina Galani and Professor Andrew Lambert.
The ALF-NMRN plans in view of the year 2027 that marks the 200th anniversary of the last naval battle between large sailing fleets at Navarino will be announced at the closing event of the exhibition, in the fall of 2022.
- Conference in Piraeus: “British naval supremacy and the Greek Revolution”
The event is scheduled for November 2022 and will take place at the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation. It will build on the proceedings of the conference in Portsmouth, a few months earlier. Academic organizer of the event is Dr Katerina Galani.
1821 #live news: an educational and informative campaign on Twitter
During 2021, “live” news from the 1821 Greek Revolution events is being posted almost daily in Greek and English on Twitter, as if unfolding at the moment.
Find more here.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES
Tribute to 1821
Every year some 30,000 students visit the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation in order to attend educational programs with specialized lecturers from the fields of Science, Literature and the Arts.
As part of the celebration of the historic anniversary, four original educational programs were designed for high school students, on Literature and the Arts. The purpose of these programs is for students -through literary texts, paintings, music and historical sources- to get to know the events, the persons of the Revolution, as well as to approach the idea of the Revolution and its results, not only in modern times but also in the present and in the future.
The Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation is running educational programs respecting the current conditions in response to the COVID-19 prevention and protection measures. Schools are given the opportunity to follow the programs remotely.
SUPPORT
The CENSUS platform
The Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation supports the integration and dissemination of the online platform “The CENSUS (= Checklist of Useful in the Study of Modern Greek Literature)”. This platform will facilitate access of the English-speaking public to modern Greek letters, providing references to all English translations of modern Greek literature and all critical English-language studies on modern Greek literature from the 12th century to the present. The CENSUS Collection includes references both to works that have been published in full book format and to texts in volumes, such as short literary pieces and articles usually ‘hidden’ within larger collective works. The range of references extends from 1813 to the present.
The project is directed by Boston College Emeritus Professor Dia Filippidou-Bakker.
Support of the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece
The Foundation supports the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece to cover part of the cost of implementing eight (8) of the regional exhibitions organized by the National Historical Museum for the 200 years since the beginning of the Greek Revolution. These exhibitions will be hosted by the following regional museums:
- Ethnological Museum of Thrace, Alexandroupolis
- Teloglion Institute of Arts AUTH, Thessaloniki
- Folklore Museum of Larissa
- Byronic Society of the Holy City of Messolonghi
- Maritime and Historical Museum of Galaxidi
- National Gallery-Alexandros Soutsos Museum, Nafplio Branch
- Maritime Museum of Crete, Chania
Support of the Historical Series “1821 Historical Library” of the National Research Foundation/Institute for Historical Research.
The Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation supports the National Research Foundation / Institute for Historical Research (EIE / IIE) to complete the 10-volume edition of the “1821 Historical Library” series. Some titles are:
- Vassilis Panagiotopoulos, Konstantinos Kantiotis Corfu. Elasson Filikos, militant of the Greek Revolution.
- Sofia Laiou and Marinos Sarigiannis, Ottoman Narratives for the Greek Revolution. From Yusuf Bey to Ahmet Javed Pasha.
- Vassilis K. Gounaris, Greek armatole-klephts and Albanian rebels (1829-1831).
- Eugenia Drakopoulou, The Revolution of 1821 in Greek and European Painting.
- Sofia Matthaiou and Athina Hatzidimitriou, The Fate of Ancient Monuments During the Revolution (1821-1832).
- Georgia Gotsi, Rigas Ferraios.
Events in Belgrade, Odessa and Bucharest in collaboration with the Hellenic Foundation for Culture
The Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, in collaboration with the Hellenic Foundation for Culture, supports and participates with expert scientists in limited activities at the local organizations of the Hellenic Cultural Foundation in Belgrade, Odessa and Bucharest, which include speeches related to the Revolution and its era. Indicatively, a speech will be delivered in Belgrade by Dr. Sukru Iliçak, a two-speaker panel will be organized in Odessa regarding “Filiki Etairia”. A similar event will take place in Bucharest, expanding on the relations between native and non-native populations during the first post-revolutionary years. Due to the Covid-19 emergency, these activities have been postponed to the spring of 2022.
Photo: “The Battle of Navarino” (1827). Source: Travelogues
