PAINTING AND SMALL-SCALE WORKS
The various gifts to monasteries and churches in places which are especially dedicated to the worship of God are an expression of the faith and love of the people towards Him. The religious sensitivities of the monks meant that, even under often testing conditions, these offerings were preserved as select treasures, as a sacred repository, passed down through the generations. These treasures demonstrate the importance of the Holy Mountain in general, and of HGM Vatopaidi in particular, as a leading spiritual and cultural agent and bear witness to the history and Orthodox culture of a variety of places, since this collection includes examples of styles and techniques from different regions and eras.
In the main church, the chapels and the icon room of the Monastery there are more than 3,500 icons, dating from the 12th to the 20th century, a great deal of rich embroidery, as well as gold and silver work. As sacred objects and a repository to be venerated, these are treasures of inestimable cultural and historical value.
Through the Athoniada School an effort will be made to digitalize and document the works of art, to conserve them and to produce digital catalogues to assist in searching the material and promoting research and training through particular academic programmes. This will be effected through collaboration with universities and specialist scholars and afford young scholars the opportunity to take part.
The ‘Grace’ Institute wishes to contribute to the systematic study of these liturgical and artistic treasures, and to assist, through a series of activities and specific actions, in the renovation, preservation and, at the same time, promotion of these precious treasures of Byzantine culture, which are, equally, part of the heritage of the whole world.
Through specialist scholarly and educational programmes, an attempt will be made to study, collect, catalogue and organize the treasures and manuscripts, to protect and conserve them and also to utilize them to the full.
CONSERVATION- PROMOTION OF THE TREASURES
- Mosaics- Wall-Paintings- Icons
The spiritual and artistic flowering of the Palaiologan era (1261-1453) resulted in many wall-paintings of exceptional importance on the Holy Mountain. The outstanding work of this period are the wall-paintings at HGM Vatopaidi, which date back to 1312.
- Portable icons
The Monastery’s icons provide invaluable evidence, direct and indirect, concerning its history and that of Athonite monasticism more generally. They give us the opportunity to identify the direct relations established by the Monastery with the great centres of the Byzantine Empire, with Constantinople and Thessaloniki, and to evaluate the leading role it played in the milieu of Orthodoxy and the Greek nation.
- Embroidery
The richly-embroidered vestments, often with gold and silver thread, are kept in the Monastery’s sacristy and comprise liturgical and hieratic items as well as others which are decorative. They are evidence of the high degree of expertise in embroidery in the countries of the Christian East, under the influence of Byzantium, and also the activity and evolution of a variety of ateliers from the 14th to the 18th centuries.
- Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Small-Scale Art
In the sacristy of the HGM of Vatopaidi there are kept exceptional examples of the wealth of gifts which have been received, such as sacred vessels, crosses, pectoral crosses and miniature icons. These valuable works have been rendered with refined taste, admirable beauty of form and painstakingly technical flair.
- Library and Manuscripts
The Monastery’s manuscripts are unique works of art of inestimable worth, both as regards their content and their outstanding aesthetic value. They have been executed with great skill and are of exceptional charm. They exude a freedom in their rendition and combine all these features with Christian reverence and faith. They are among the most prized treasures in the Monastery.