[MGSA-L] Nikos Kazantzakis Museum looks ahead

June Samaras june.samaras at gmail.com
Wed Mar 16 21:46:33 PDT 2011


Nikos Kazantzakis Museum looks ahead

By Nikos Vatopoulos

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite4_1_16/03/2011_383287

The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum is situated in the village of Myrtia
(Varvari), 15 kilometers south of Iraklio on Crete. Following
extensive renovations, the museum entered a fresh chapter in its
history in 2009, while respecting -- more than ever -- its founding
principles laid out by its creator Yiorgos Anemoyiannis at the time of
its establishment in 1983. As an institution, the museum is defined by
a desire to keep improving itself, something every single local museum
should seek, while developing its scientific scope at the same time.

As a nonprofit private entity presided over by University of Crete
professor Giorgos Grammatikakis, the museum’s legal status allows for
plenty of activity. Looking at the organization from a distance, you
could compare it to a small-scale, healthy cultural organization, of
the kind that should be scattered around Greece, if ever the
intellectual-meets-business model was to come across some kind of
fertile ground.

Leafing through a list of books published by the Nikos Kazantzakis
Museum, it is hard to contain a certain amount of enthusiasm regarding
the republication of “Around the World in Eighty Days,” in a
translation by Kazantzakis, a work originally published by the
landmark Dimitrakou Editions back in 1931. While the prospect of
revisiting Jules Verne is always a plus, there is also a need to
remember the translation oeuvre of major Greek authors. In this case,
the republication combines the old-fashioned beauty of the original
edition with a new foreword by scholar Christina Argyropoulou.

The museum is also putting emphasis on digital publications, in view
of developing a broad database for research purposes. Meanwhile, other
projects include a collection of engravings by Titos Petrakis which
had served as covers for Kazantzakis novels in the past.

Marking the late author’s February birthday, the windows at the
Dokimaki bookstore in Iraklio were recently filled with the museum’s
publications, accompanied by copies of Kazantzakis correspondence and
portraits of the author by various artists. In Crete, it seems that
the Kazantzakis legacy is turning into an interactive process.

Meanwhile, the museum’s revamp was co-funded by the European Regional
Development Fund (80 percent) and national funds (20 percent). The
project was carried out by architects Yiorgos Psomadakis and Maria
Marinou and a team of worthy collaborators.

For more information, visit www.kazantzakis-museum.gr.
	
	
ekathimerini.com , Wednesday March 16, 2011 (20:39)

-- 
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : june.samaras at gmail.com



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