Benaki Museum
Collaborations
On 6 December 2018, following the presentation of the publication “Pictures of Drama and Its Splendid World”, the homonymous photography exhibition was inaugurated, running from 7 December 2018 to 10 February 2019.
Structured into three sections, the exhibition presented an impression of Drama in earlier times through rare archival material, culminating in the depiction of the contemporary city and its natural landscape.
In the photos of the first section, set in the late 19th century, we see the harmonious coexistence of Ottoman Drama with the Greek Orthodox community. In the decades that followed, tobacco agriculture and trade became the driving force that transformed the city. Trading houses, tobacco warehouses, schools, and clubs shaped a period of prosperity and predominance of the Greek group. The railway connection of Drama with Thessaloniki and Istanbul was another pivotal event in the city’s modernization.
In July 1913, Drama was liberated by the Greek army and incorporated into the official Greek state. During the Interwar period, the impression and spirit of the city took on a new form. The wealth of the tobacco merchants was reflected, among other things, in the architecture of their mansions. This newly affluent class played a significant role in the city’s cultural life, in literature and the arts.
A few years later, after 1922, the refugee population flooded the region of Drama. Thracians, Pontians, and Asia Minor Greeks, an energetic human element with a distinct culture, formed the backbone of the region’s workforce.
This blend of people, despite the hardships of war and migration, continued to contribute to the country and to leave their own mark on its development and history.
In the second section, we move to the modern era, where the city of Drama is presented with its Byzantine walls and churches, Ottoman inns and mosques, the mansions of the tobacco merchants, and the tobacco warehouses.
We see the old alleys of the city with the small shops, the Garden with its centuries-old plane trees and fountains, and the city’s lively and outgoing inhabitants in the marketplace. We see the Springs of Agia Varvara, this small oasis in the heart of the city, with its dense vegetation and towering trees, the water gushing from underground, the lakes and streams it creates, the old watermills—all harmoniously intertwined for over a century, continuing to serve as a source of life.
Surrounding the city, it lies the plain- small in size, yet fertile and productive- fields of grain, cotton, olive trees, pomegranate trees, walnut trees, and above all, vineyards. The region’s wineries produce wines with labels that stand out both within and beyond the country’s borders.
Amid the mountain slopes, marble quarries bring to light the whitest marble in Greece. This has grown into a major industry over decades, with model facilities for extraction and processing. The region of Drama ranks first worldwide in the export of white marble.
Finally, images of the old customs of the region’s inhabitants highlight the local culture. “Babougeroi”, “Momogeroi”, “Arapides”, and “Koudonoforoi”, disguised in sheepskins and hides like modern-day satyrs, create each January a Dionysian atmosphere, with a ritual intended to awaken both nature and the human spirit.
The third section of the exhibition is devoted to the unique natural environment of the region of Drama. Its landscape consists of a mosaic of diverse ecosystems with a rich variety of plant and animal species. In the mountainous part of the region lie some of the most fascinating forest ecosystems in Europe, where rare or even unique types of vegetation are found. Emblematic for Drama is deemed the Forest of Elatia (or Kara Dere), the only pure spruce forest in Greece and the southern European limit of the species’ distribution. It forms a landscape reminiscent of those in northern Europe—an ideal setting for hikers, nature lovers, and explorers of wild flora and fauna.
At the northeastern edge of the region stands the Virgin Forest of Fraktos, perhaps the only forest in Europe that has remained undisturbed for centuries. No human intervention is known there and it functions solely according to the laws of nature.
In a particularly arranged section of the hall, seventeen cameras from the personal collection of CYCLOPS Chairman Mr. Aris Theodoridis were exhibited. These rare pieces span a period from the invention of photography to the modern era of image recording. The oldest dated back to the mid-19th century, while the most modern belongs to the first decade of the 21st century.
Apart from the antiquity of the black-and-white photos that depicted life in Drama in past years, and the modern color shots that offered the public a glimpse into an unknown and unexplored region, the uniqueness of the cameras attracted the audience’s attention, with visitors pausing especially at this section of the hall.
The exhibition attracted a large number of visitors and received commendatory remarks from both the public and the press. The guestbooks included positive comments and wishes, extensive articles were published in the daily and weekly Press, and the state television featured an exclusive report in its news program.