Prologues

The breadth and importance of the cultural heritage of Greece is exceptional. Its land possesses monuments and artifacts representing the greatest achievements of mankind from prehistory to today. Ancient objects are joined with those of the later Christian Byzantine Empire and beyond to demonstrate the importance of the country’s contributions over the centuries. The country’s archaeological sites and museums educate its citizens and international visitors about the importance of its cultural history. State institutions are joined by private collections assembled by people who have appreciated the importance of preserving the Hellenistic past and that of the larger eastern Mediterranean world, and make it accessible to people today. The George Tsolozidis Collection is an example of a private collection assembled during the last century whose founder fully recognized the importance of Greek art and culture. His enthusiasm for the past is continued today through the efforts of his daughter Mata Tsolozidis-Zisiadis.[2011]

What urges a man to become a collector of ancient artifacts, apart from direct benefits related to finances or vanity, is precisely what characterized George Tsolozidis, who did not reap either of these. His collection, which he created and formed throughout an entire lifetime, constitutes in my opinion proof of his deep nostalgia for antiquity and its ideals in relation with our times. George Tsolozidis’s decision to donate to the National Archaeological Museum a number of objects from his collection belonging to the Neolithic period may be characterized as a belief, because he simply wanted to offer them to the National Museum and nowhere else. The interesting part of this collection concerns not only the large number of artifacts or the historical, archaeological, and artistic value of many of its items, but also the fact that it encompasses all of Greek culture from the Neolithic period to the dawn of the Modern Greek world. Consequently, these artifacts could comprise the contents of a small classical museum of Greek culture. George Tsolozidis is one of the few collectors who ensured that the items in his collection became known to the wider public, with the first exhibition of his collection at the Old Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki in 1994, which contributed to the furthering of cultural education in Greece. Since his death, his work has been carried on with the same passion by his daughter, Mata, who realized a series of exhibitions in Greece and abroad to promote the collection’s cultural value. Now, with this present publication, Mata Tsolozidis, who is now herself a conscious collector, in common with her father desires and succeeds in offering a panorama of selected representative items from the collection, thus contributing to sharing this treasure with both specialists and non-specialists. [From the book “The George Tsolozidis Collection: 7,000 years of Greek Art”, Thessaloniki, 2012]

I have always believed that the way each man looks at the past is of a certain interest. This interest becomes even greater in the case of collectors who not only observe the past but gather its evidence, spending time and money. The Egyptian George Tsolozidis assembled his collection selflessly and with great love for Greek art, with the sense that the objects he collected belonged not only to him but to all those who care for our cultural heritage. It is our pleasure to present part of his collection at the Byzantine and Christian Museum. The exhibition includes 220 items of the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine periods from among the approximately 2,000 objects that currently constitute the collection, which has been enriched and treated with the same love and feeling by Mrs. Mata Tsolozidis-Zisiadis since her father’s death. Apart from the exhibition in 1994 at the Old Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki, most of these artifacts had been exhibited at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, in 2001 and by the same museum in 2002 at the Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies in Venice. The greater part of the exhibition is based on the study and work of our colleagues at the Museum of Byzantine Culture, whom we sincerely thank and to whom we are grateful for the valuable exhibition catalogue “The George Tsolozidis collection: Byzantium through the eyes of a collector”, NARF’s edition, from which we drew most of the items presented in the exhibition. The exhibition is presented in two main parts: “Daily Life” and “Private and Public Worship”, with sub-units, which offer a clear picture of both daily routines and the varieties of worship. This exhibition could not have been realized without the generous support and encouragement of the political leadership of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture; however, I would especially like to note the kindness of the Tsolozidis family, and in particular our flawless collaboration with Mrs. Mata Tsolozidis-Zisiadis. My warm thanks concern not only the typical aspects of cooperation, but also the accommodation, assistance of all kinds, and friendliness with which she treated me personally as well as the partners of the Museum. [Extract from the catalogue of the exhibition “Byzantine & Post-Byzantine Works of Art” at the Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens in 2005].

I have always believed that the way each man looks at the past is of a certain interest. This interest becomes even greater in the case of collectors who not only observe the past but gather its evidence, spending time and money. The Egyptian George Tsolozidis assembled his collection selflessly and with great love for Greek art, with the sense that the objects he collected belonged not only to him but to all those who care for our cultural heritage. It is our pleasure to present part of his collection at the Byzantine and Christian Museum. The exhibition includes 220 items of the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine periods from among the approximately 2,000 objects that currently constitute the collection, which has been enriched and treated with the same love and feeling by Mrs. Mata Tsolozidis-Zisiadis since her father’s death. Apart from the exhibition in 1994 at the Old Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki, most of these artifacts had been exhibited at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, in 2001 and by the same museum in 2002 at the Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies in Venice. The greater part of the exhibition is based on the study and work of our colleagues at the Museum of Byzantine Culture, whom we sincerely thank and to whom we are grateful for the valuable exhibition catalogue “The George Tsolozidis collection: Byzantium through the eyes of a collector”, NARF’s edition, from which we drew most of the items presented in the exhibition. The exhibition is presented in two main parts: “Daily Life” and “Private and Public Worship”, with sub-units, which offer a clear picture of both daily routines and the varieties of worship. This exhibition could not have been realized without the generous support and encouragement of the political leadership of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture; however, I would especially like to note the kindness of the Tsolozidis family, and in particular our flawless collaboration with Mrs. Mata Tsolozidis-Zisiadis. My warm thanks concern not only the typical aspects of cooperation, but also the accommodation, assistance of all kinds, and friendliness with which she treated me personally as well as the partners of the Museum. [Extract from the catalogue of the exhibition “Byzantine & Post-Byzantine Works of Art” at the Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens in 2005].

“Warm congratulations on this superb exhibition. Such efforts highlight the depth of our civilization and the importance of cooperation for this purpose between the State and private sector”. [2005, Athens, Byzantine and Christian Museum, “The George Tsolozidis Collection. Byzantine & Post-Byzantine Works of Art”, temporary exhibition].

“May the memory of the Collector be eternal! We wish success to the exhibition being inaugurated here, and health and every blessing to those continuing the departed’s work”. [2002, Venice, Greek Institute for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies, “L ‘approccio all’ uomo Bizantino atraverso l’ occhio di un collezionista”, temporary exhibition]

The importance of the George Tsolozidis Collection is well known and reflected in many ways through the wealth of publications from its first presentation to the public in 1994 and henceforth. These publications were either combined with the continuous and multi-faceted mobility of the Collection in exhibitions, donations, and loans of its holdings, or they appeared in the press, occasionally independently or in specialized scholarly studies. My personal and clearly valuable, though brief, acquaintance with the Collector gave me the chance to meet a very special individual in person, an individual with a unique sensitivity and quality which were rare, as may easily be discerned in the Collection he created, the sole objective of which was the timeless cultural legacy of Hellenism and its preservation. The same characteristics and love for the same goal may also be easily discerned in his daughter Mata Tsolozidis-Zisiadis, who both independently and with the support of her family undertook as an official collector after her father’s passing to continue to carry out with great success all the responsibilities, demands, and challenges arising from such a multi-faceted Collection. Our frequent communication and collaboration, focused on the Collection, in addition to the close personal friendship we have forged over the years, always give me the opportunity to confirm the legacy of the father in the daughter. In addition, it affords me the pleasure of observing her love and concern for her father’s Collection, as well as her ability to manage it and adapt to new cultural givens and needs, as something which now belongs to a global audience, which today is changing at breakneck speed. The Collection has been and continues to be presented on multiple occasions in various archaeological exhibitions in Greece, Europe, and America, the result of her own contacts and willingness to ensure the Collection is outward-facing. Its online presentation here as a whole has been done with particular attentiveness, care, and consistency both as regards the material and individual holdings as well as through the submission of scholarly texts written by archaeologists and other experts who have dealt with it upon occasion. We believe that with the Collection’s improved and enhanced digital presentation here, we are today helping even more in implementing its creator’s wish, which was that it be made available to a worldwide audience, to all of humankind.

There have already been scholarly approaches by experts and certainly much more will be written in the future on the objects in the collection of George Tsolozidis, which encompasses 7,000 years of Greek Art. Scholars will continue to summon their knowledge and experience and viewers their theoretical equipment as well as their sensitivity to thoroughly examine and evaluate the objects/acquisitions of a “collecting mania” that summarize moments of (mainly) private but also the public life of our distant ancestors down through the centuries. The collection, while enriched, will still be analyzed and evaluated, constituting a field for the exchange of opinions, views, and brainstorming. However, what will always remain is the riddle of its initial inspirer/collector, not so much as a natural person (G. Tsolozidis was a “transparent” personality as regards his participation in public life) but as to the causes and reasons for his obvious commitment to collecting, an exercise of primarily aesthetic education to whose dictates G. Tsolozidis skillfully responded. As a genuine Greek of the Diaspora he tried to capture the Greek element in its varied and multifaceted depictions. His selective accumulation of objects without any (obvious) traces of a strict “scientific” gaze reflects an intention to pursue the many versions of “Greekness”, the many manifestations of nationality/ethnicity as these were formed during the course of history. Choosing objects of everyday use commemorated by time in works of art, the collector attempted to say something about his own origin, to trace the routes which led him, a Greek of the Diaspora, to Himself. Through collecting, he attempted to delimit his personal course as part of the Whole – the Whole in this case being Hellenism. He attempted the re-mapping of the territory of a Homeland. Always keeping the possibility of his gaze –therefore also of his heart– open to be surprised each time at the slightest evidence of his prehistory, George Tsolozidis rewrote the elements of his identity to arrive at the roots of his own origin. A road strewn with souvenirs, each of which breathes in another rhythm, marked by a wealth of gestures, each of which results in a different style, a road-cradle of fragments is the road he followed, holding his breath in front of anything that recalled a familiar memory that stimulated the most essential of the senses: his soul. He was motivated by whatever he felt was able to add another piece of information to his autobiography, to whose mental writing he decided to devote himself: an exercise of aesthetics, but also of poetic extroversion as well as introspection, of style but also of ethics. He did not collect carried away by the luxurious neurosis of possession, but driven by the instinctive desire for self-awareness. He sought the Homeland, searched for its traces. He hunted among the remains of its periods. He acquired. This is not booty. It is the vital ability to exist as a Greek: Βy knowing. By feeling. And by loving. [Excerpt from the article “The Collector as Detector”, magazine “Pansèlinos”, issue 38, May 2001, Thessaloniki].