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Besides the practical and functional needs of the body which must be addressed in buildings and in the wider built environment, human communities have always wished to shelter, not only themselves but also the incomprehensible, the superior and the mysterious. In this way they can, by specifying them, exorcise the danger posed by the invisible forces which define both the world outside and their inner psyche. Whether conceived as magic or as a religious system, the consciousness of a spiritual realm is not just a primitive stage of the intellectual development of humanity which then was replaced by a scientific approach which aims to create order from chaos, but is an ever-present internal need which is not satisfied by rational experience and knowledge. Since therefore, recourse to the metaphysical is a given, the door opens for the transcendental to enter, which itself is the foundation of metaphysics. In consequence the transcendental and the feeling of respect and sacredness which it causes are an integral part of human nature and, so too, architecture finds ways not only to accommodate it, but as far as possible, to invite it in. Modern architecture, while avowedly rejecting its relationship with the past, continues to be an art and with steady pace undertakes to accommodate the experience of the transcendental. The two authors, both architects, find that in the modern day the concepts of the sacred and the transcendental are included in the aesthetic category of 'the Sublime', which is not associated now so much with God, as with the concept of Being. The concepts thus slip into many areas of public as much as of private life. Here they dare to borrow the five principles of Longinus for successful composition and the requirement for a 'megalophrosnes apechema' (the echo of a great soul). They then parallel these principles with the creative inspiration of the architects of the 20th and 21st centuries, in their attempt to organize a vocabulary and syntax for the achievement of the sought-after 'sanctity', and as a path towards an imposing and exalted composition of space and materials.

Gerald Cadogan's contributions to the archaeology of the East Mediterranean are directly related to the two Great Islands, Crete and Cyprus where he has directed excavations at Myrtos-Pyrgos and Maroni-Vournes respectively. This volume, comprising mostly Cretan and Cypriot studies, is offered by an array of scholars who have been taught or examined by Cadogan or who have collaborated with him in the field or excavation workrooms over the last fifty years. More than thirty short papers reflect Cadogan's wide range of interests from interpreting excavation data--architecture, stratigraphy, pottery and small finds--to matters of prehistoric chronology, ethnography and gender, technology, environment and osteology, mythology and iconography, religion and death. The collection is a fascinating testament to the continuing achievements of one of the finest archaeologists of the region.

Fashion and opera are natural arenas for collaboration. The most theatrical of arts has inspired the most visionary fashion designers. Top designers such as Viktor & Rolf, Miuccia Prada, Emanuel Ungaro and Christian Lacroix have made, successful sorties as costumiers for operas all over the world. This sumptuous book profiles leading figures in the world of fashion, together with their dazzling costume designs. Interviews illuminate the journey that led each to the opera and the challenges of working in a new medium. The book includes designs for Don Giovanni, Carmen, Aida, Cosi fan tutte, The Magic Flute and many other operas staged at such opera houses as the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the Arenes de Nimes and more. Includes over 200 illustrations, including designers' sketches and photographs of the costumes on stage.

The book deals with the issue of the approach to and treatment of Byzantine monuments during the first one hundred and fifty years of the Greek State (1833-1939). It examines representative restoration interventions in Byzantine monuments in Greece and critically analyses the theoretical principles and the practices adopted. It records the developmental course of actions taken to salvage the Byzantine heritage, both by the Greek State and by non-governmental agents. It also investigates their ideological and cultural framework, correlating this with European thought. It enhances the impact of the upgrading of Byzantium in Greece on activities for the protection, rescue and restoration of Byzantine ecclesiastical monuments. The study is based on ample archival material, which is published for the first time. This volume is an essential contribution to research into the history of Greek cultural heritage and of European restorations.

This book offers a visual-poetic journey with images that speak to the mind and the soul. Each page holds a surprise, a feast of pictures and poetry in which you want to lose yourself. A world of dreams, yet profoundly real. The photographs are not the work of a photographer but of the poet George Douatzis, whose photographic viewpoint reminds us that reality has very beautiful aspects, provided we are able to see them. Through the poet's eye images of the everyday acquire another dimension. And his verses which accompany them create a lovely, human and, primarily, poetic result.

A commemoration of the unforgettable artist whose keen intelligence and caustic wit left their mark both on modern Greek painting and Athenian society. The fruit of the author's long and productive acquaintance with Tsarouchis, the book centres on his way of thinking and his work. Interviews, brief images and reminiscences are used to build up a personal testament of the painter's life, from his conscription in the war of 1940 to the dictatorship of 1967 and self-exile in Paris; from his legendary disguises, his love of Anatolian folk dance and the Karaghiozis shadow theatre, to his years of work with the painter Photis Kontoglou; from his interest in Byzantine music, his ventures into theatrical direction in Seven against Thebes and Trojan Women to his deep concern about environmental degradation. This testimony to the man and the artist is complemented by a selection of rarely published photographs.

In this collective work scholars from different disciplines discuss the staging of ancient drama in Greece and abroad, as well as the architecture, restoration and use of ancient theatres, in which ancient Greek drama now finds its true "space."

Jurist and historian Lydia Tricha's new biography of Harilaos Trikoupis, seven times Prime Minister of Greece in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, is enlivened with photographs, paintings and prints, newspaper cuttings, maps and cartoons, while also including numerous documents from his archives, mostly unpublished until now. It aims to throw light on many previously unknown elements in the life of this great political figure and to make him accessible to a wider public by providing the opportunity not only to follow his career but to gain an insight into his family and political environment. The book's wide variety of attractive illustrations, with their extensive and well-documented captions, bring events and people vividly to life and make it a publication of value not only to researchers but the ordinary reader.

The Sistine Chapel enchants the visitor by the splendid harmony it radiates as a concept fully realised, by the unmatched artistic qualities of the individual works, the profound ideas that govern the planning of the paintings and the splendid, robust and lively figures created by Michelangelo and other artists. In this book, jointly produced by the Musei Vaticani and Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the chapel' s paintings are examined in relation to the theological interpretations prevailing in that period. Many of these works have already been presented in isolation by leading experts on the chapel, with detailed descriptions and comments. However, its recent restoration makes possible a new approach to interpreting the pictures, based among other factors on the symbolism of the colours.

Thanks to the variety of shapes and decorated surfaces found in vases, the art of pottery developed a more extensive repertoire of subjects related to the sea than any other art form. The forty-two characteristic examples of marine iconography included in this catalogue come mainly from the collections of the Louvre, though also from those of other museums. They are divided into four groups: marine fauna and seafaring, the deities of the deep, the voyages of gods and heroes who crisscrossed the ocean, and, finally, the miraculous birth of the goddess who emerged from the waves, Aphrodite, born from the foam. The variety and aesthetic quality of marine scenes in vase-painting reveal once more the importance of the sea to Greek civilization.

Watermark, by the Dutch artist Gisele Aphroditi Lubsen, contains 50 underwater photographs on the subject of the woman. Inspired by the most important female members of the ancient Greek pantheon, these photographs suggest a new approach, with emphasis on femininity. This is a beautiful, pioneering book, not only in terms ?of its content, but also from an aesthetic and technical point of view.

The North Pole, the magical kingdom of silence, has always given the impression that it would remain unchanged forever amidst its boundless tracts of ice. But the ice is beginning to melt, the icebergs of Greenland are breaking up and this legendary landscape, threatened by global warming, is gradually being destroyed. As early as the spring of 1987, Francis Latreille began to take photographs of the frozen waste of the Arctic, providing moving testimony to this alien, yet at the same time enchanting, world, and also to his admiration for those who dwell in these inhospitable regions, and their demanding way of life. Through this album, on the eve of the fourth International Polar Year, ?he pays tribute to the white paradise and its magical light, and to all those who live in or study the Arctic.

Linear B, a New Outlook", by Nicholas A. Massouridis, is the product of thirty years' study of the phonetic values of the signs of the Linear B script. Proof that Massouridis's method is correct was provided by the fact that the values have been applied for ten years by his son, Pandelis Masouridis, who has worked on the texts of tablets from Pylos and Knossos, and have also been applied for the first time to the reading of dedications and Linear A tablets from Ayia Triada. Readers will be enchanted by the wonderful world and descriptive wealth of the composite words of the Greek language found in the tablets, as this language evolved towards the Homeric dialect.

The subject of this book is the domestic and foreign policy of Charilaos Trikoupis, the great 19th-century Greek politician. It deals in particular with a basic aspect of his economic development programme: the construction of public works. The development of Greece is considered in detail through the construction of the rail and road networks, the cutting of the Corinthian canal, and the draining of lake Kopais. All these projects bear the stamp of Trikoupis and have set their seal on the development of the Greek state to the present day.

The economic life of Thessaloniki and Macedonia in general is unfolded through stocks issued by limited companies during an important period of its history (1870-1940), which covered the final years of the Turkish occupation and saw the incorporation of the city and region into the modern Greek state. A total of 84 stocks are presented, most of them shares or company bonds, accompanied by details of the foundation and history of the issuing companies, the majority of which were based in Thessaloniki. The illustrations on the stocks are highly interesting. Their variety of subjects and colour harmony is particularly striking at the present day, when stocks have become immaterial and no longer have their traditional printed form.

The book "The Gold of the World" traces the course followed by man through the world and through the centuries in his quest for gold. It begins with man's first acquaintance with the precious metal and continues with his search to locate it and the techniques and methods by which he worked it. It is a chronicle that examines man's relations with gold through myth, art, religion, the economy and everyday life. A wealth of illustrations covers every period of human history, from prehistory to the major ancient civilizations and from the America of Conquistadores to the Europe of the great artists.