Old photos from Greece: 19th century photographs from ancient ruins of Athens and Olympia
The stereotyped vision of Greece: 19th century photographs in the Benaki Museum archives
THE PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE of the Benaki Museum was founded in 1973 with the object of collecting, storIng and classifying photographs of monuments and works of art of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine eras. Over the years the initial thematic repertoire of the Archive has been expanded, so that it now covers all aspects of modern Hellenism and is currently exploring trends in contemporary Greek photography.
The Museum’s photographic collection comprises 300.000 negatives and 25.000 vintage prints which have been acquired by the Archive mainly through major donations and purchases.
Outstanding among the material from the 19th century is the oeuvre of the European photographers James Robertson and Alfred Nicolas Normand, as well as that of the Greeks Dimitrios Constantinou and Petros Moraitis.
The impressive twentieth-century collection includes the archives of professional photographers such as Nelly’s, Voula Papaioannou, Periklis Papachatzidakis, Dimitris Harissiadis, Nikolaos Tompazis, Henri Paul Boissonnas and Nikolaos Rizos, as well as amateurs.
19th century photographs in the Benaki Museum archives:
The east façade of the Propylaia, October 1839, Joly de Lotbinière
Ν. Normand, View of the Acropolis and the Temple of the Olympian Zeus, 1851. Albumin print from calotype negative,
J. Robertson, South front of the Theseion sen from the south-east, 1853-1854
J. Robertson, The north porch of the Erechtheion from the north-east, 1853
C. Schiffer, The Parthenon, c. 1859.
V. Kargopoulos, Gate of Athena Archegetis in the Roman Agora, 1860. Stereoscopie photograph
Fratelli Alinari, The Gate of Athena Archegerìs in the Roman Agora, c. 1890
F. Bonfils, The Arch of Adrian, c. 1870.
P. Sebah, The Theatre of Dionysos, c. 1872
Fig. 1. Underwood & Underwood, The Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, 1897. Stereoscopic photograph, 8.1 χ 15-5 cm.
Fig. 2. Underwood & Underwood, Olympia, 1897- Stereoscopic photograph, 8.1 χ 15-5 cm.