The General State Archives (GAK), while concluding the festive events celebrating the 100-year anniversary of their establishment (1914-2014), present to the public an exhibition with archival specimens and collections gathered and preserved within one century of operation. Parchment codices, architectural blueprints, photographs, glass photography tablets, film reels, music records, artifacts and items of worship alongside with formal documents of the Greek State, Foreign commissions and collections of private documents comprise the polymorphic diversity of their archival abundance.
The exhibition “100 years of the General State Archives – 500 years of history” comprises of nine sections and incorporates archival material well covering a five-century time spectrum from the 17th to the rise of the 21st century. Each section is allocated to a different period of hellenic history. A special section-namely the 10th and final one is dedicated to the presentation of Yanni Vlachogiannis’ collection, founder of the Greek General State Archives. The first section includes selected exhibits taken from the collection of manuscripts and graven images of the Archives. It is through such exhibits that the aspects of the Greek Struggle for Revolution (1821-1827), the efforts towards the establishment of the new Greek State under the governance of Ioannis Kapodistrias (1828-1832), the monarchy with the reign of King Othon (1833-1862) and the modernization of the Greek State are displayed and projected. Special stress is placed upon the exhibits dating back to the period 1912-2004 which are displayed for the first time to such extent. Furthermore, archival material allocated to the first World War, the “Great Idea” aspiration-related to the Greek expansionary military campaign in the rise of the 20th century-and the reception and reinstatement of refugees (1912-1935) are also displayed in this section. The period of dictatorship imposed by Ioannis Metaxas, the Italian-German occupation, the period of Resistance and opposition and the Greek Civil War are all included in the section dedicated to the years extending from 1936-1949. The period extending right after the Greek Civil War, severely afflicted by the constant presence of the palace in the affairs of the state along with the dictatorship constitute the core presentation of the section dedicated to the years 1950-1973. Finally, the last section includes exhibits of the regime change period (Metapolitefsi) spanning from 1974 onwards. The exhibition is supported-accompanied by two photography collages; the first being an impression of the related historic periods through carefully chosen photographs from the Archives’ audiovisual collections and the second a presentation of exhibits and photo material of its centennial journey and the figures to travel alongside it.
More info: http://www.gak.gr/
