Correspondence

 

Including over a thousand letters from Greece and abroad in various languages, the Archive is revealing of G.L.’s plurality, his incredible work ethic, his humanity, his cosmopolitan world view and the methodical approach which may have been a product of his German education: Every letter is annotated and marked to indicate if and when a reply was sent.
A systematic approach was taken to the incoming correspondence at the organization stage. The letters were filed by year and their sender, language and date / place of despatch were all recorded. In addition, to make this section of the Archive more accessible to researchers, basic observations were recorded along with a brief summary of contents.
The senders were very varied. They included Queen Olga, church leaders (Ioakeim of Constantinople, Damianos of Jerusalem, Chrysostomos of Smyrna), archaeologists and Byzantinists (Burchner, Schultze, Millet , Strzygovski, Dimitriefski), and leading representatives of the free and enslaved Greeks. Their subject-matter is also very varied, ranging from a simple request from a provincial schoolteacher to the negotiations that preceded Chrysostomos’ candidacy for the post of Metropolitan of Smyrna and information about Christian antiquities. The main thematic sections include Byzantine and archaeological issues, national issues, social welfare and Church history.
In terms of size and completeness, two sections are of particular interest: firstly, 67 letters from the future Archbishop of Athens, Chrysostomos Papadopoulos, a key figure in Greece’s spiritual and academic life, and, secondly, 41 letters from L. Thiersch, the celebrated German Nazarene painter who played a seminal role in the development of modern Greek church painting.

 

 


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