European caricature and cartography display the European dimension of the long efforts to integrate the previously ottoman regions of Thessaly and Arta into the Greek state. The exhibition is organized by the National Historical Museum, the Volos Municipality and the Archives of Magnesia, as a celebration for the 130 years anniversary of the union of those regions with Greece.
In a crucial period, where the map of the Balkans was being redrawn, the newly established Kingdom of Greece tried, in the midst of conflicting interests of European Powers, to defend and promote its claims. Political caricature reveals the political and diplomatic background of the era. In these caricatures, people and events are satirized in a subversive way and harsh criticism of the protagonists of political life is operated. The maps exhibited were drawn at a time when the expansion of the geographic space of the Greek state and the delineation of Thessaly and Arta were a thorny diplomatic issue for the Great European Powers.
More specifically, The exhibition presents political caricatures from magazines, like «Il Pappagallo-Le Perroquet», «La Grenouille», «Il Fischietto», «Charivari», «Punch» (period 1877-1881), maps of H. Kiepert, Stannard, If. Kokidi, M. Chrysohoou, Ardagh, Otto Neussel, the Geodetic Mission and Ottoman maps, all together showing the development of mapping of the Greek regions during the second half of the 19th century. Also woodcuts, inventory books and commemorative plates that were released for the Union of Thessaly with Greece. The private collection of collector and professor Dimitris Tsoumas from Volos, forms the core of this exhibition.
Duration of exhibition: February 4 - June 10, 2012
Tuesday - Sunday, 09. 00 am – 2. 00 pm, free admission
Είσοδος ελεύθερη
