The Lampakis Family Archives (LFA) consist of photographic material, journals, books, manuscripts, icons, oil paintings, drawings and artefacts which once belonged to the Lampakis brothers. The three brothers were:
- Georgios Lampakis, Byzantinist, founder of the Christian Museum, the forerunner and core of today’s Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens
- Emmanouil Lampakis, artist and icon painter
- Ioannis Lampakis, photographer and, subsequently, priest.
The Lampakis Family Archives are legally represented by Ioannis-Nikolaos E. Lampakis, who maintains and runs them. The LFA’s primary concern is to conserve and preserve its collections. They also seek to highlight and raise awareness of the Lampakis brothers’ spiritual, intellectual and artistic work.
Consequently, the Lampakis Family Archives were set up as a non-profit organization concerned with cultural, educational, social, environmental, charitable and artistic matters for the common good.
The aims of the Lampakis Family Archives are specified as:
1. Conserving, preserving, organizing, recording, documenting, promoting and generally utilizing and raising awareness of the artistic and historic oeuvres of Ioannis, Georgios and Emmanouil Lampakis.
2. Cultivating and promoting the written word, painting, sculpture, photography and the arts in general.
3. Founding, expanding and maintaining a folklore museum at 17, Odos Charitos, Athens.
4. Disseminating and continuing the ideals espoused by the original creators of the works in the LFA’s collection’s: Ioannis, Georgios and Emmanouil Lampakis.
5. Affording the Global Community free access to the material in the Lampakis Family Archives.
6. Administering the material in the Archive, and specifically the bodies of work left behind by Ioannis, Georgios and Emmanouil Lampakis, the rights to which belong to Ioannis-Nikolaos Lampakis.
7. Collecting, recording and studying our cultural heritage, and bringing our children into meaningful contact with it by means of specially-designed educational programmes.
8. Raising popular awareness and knowledge of cultural and environmental matters.
9. Organizing conferences in Greece and Turkey at which Greek and Turkish Byzantinists and archaeologists can discuss issues relating to Byzantine antiquities in Turkey.
In order to achieve its aims, the Lampakis Family Archives:
- Institute awards in the spheres of Culture, the Environment, the Arts and any other areas that should be judged necessary in the future.
- Collaborate with other private and public sector bodies, organizations and foundations in Greece and abroad, as well as with private individuals.
- Conduct and support relevant research on their own account and on behalf of other private and public sector bodies and private individuals.
- Stage exhibitions, seminars, conferences and other events to raise public awareness of cultural and environmental matters.
- Design, implement and participate in educational programmes relating to their aims.
- Publish and reprint writings, studies and publications with a view to raising awareness of the material in the Lampakis Family Archives with both the general public and the academic community.
In terms of promoting the collection and selecting suitable ways of presenting it, our primary concern is always to stress the social nature of the collection and the Lampakis brothers’ contribution to promoting and raising awareness of Greek culture.
“The Lampakis brothers concerned themselves with our cultural identity. From very early on, they realized the need for concerted action and the institution of state obligations in regard of Greece’s cultural riches. In today’s globalized era, the people of Greece feel the need more acutely than ever before to be fully familiar with the principles and values that underpin their national culture and identity.
“An outstanding feature of the Lampakis brothers’ work is their respect for the singular features which mark out the Greeks and define their roots and place in history.”
We are convinced that our efforts to promote the LFA and to play our part in preserving Greece’s cultural identity would best be served by building bridges of communication with public benefit foundations, associations, societies, museums, academic institutions, state bodies in Greece and abroad, the Orthodox church and the political leadership of the Hellenic Republic.