Greece - Delpi - Arachova

  Delpi - Arachova

Our first stop this morning was a visit to a local studio painter "Pefkis workshop of Byzantine Icons" Father Pefkis and his family workshop business in Trikala, Greece.  The father is a true master iconographer.  The Byzantine icons are created with varies wood frames (pine, walnut, olive wood).  Then how the canvas is prepared, gold leaf and silver applied then painstakingly painted.  The icons created are stunningly beautiful.  Him and his wife work side by side creating the icons. Father Pefkis also created the icon of St. Paul which is now in the Vatican.  He has also done several icons for the Vatican.  

We then moved on to Delpi Archaeological site and Museum.  The museum presents the history of the famous Delphic sanctuary and the most prominent Oracle of the ancient Greek world.  The collection of the museum has some of the most important works of the ancient Greek art, covering the period from the 2nd millennium BC, before the foundation of the Sanctuary, until Late Antiquity, when a small Christian community was established in Delphi.

Sphinx of Delphi by Naxians in the 6th century BC.

Battle of the Olympian gods against the Giants, children of Gaila.  Which was victorious for the Gods and is the favorite theme in ancient Greek art.

Pair of identical marble kouroi, possibly depicting two heroes from argive mythology.  The work of an archaic workshop of Argos. Circa 500 BC

Marble acroterion from the archaic temple of Apollo.  It represents a winged Nike (Victory) in an iconographic convention suggesting that the figure is running. This is a typical archaic sculpture.  515-505BC

Temple of Delphi

Temple of Delphi

Doric Temple

Archaeological ruins

We stayed in this quaint town of Arachova.