”Athos – Monastic Life on the Holy Mountain”, major exhibition on Byzantine art at the Finnish Tennispalatsi Art Museum in Helsinki, has raised interest both in Finland and on the international level. The treasures of the monasteries of Athos are now first time available for the eyes of the general public outside the Holy Mountain and Greece. The exhibition, which was opened in August 2006, has attracted over 30 000 visitors from Finland and far beyond, and it has deepened the local ecumenical relations in Finland.

“The exhibition of Byzantine Art at the Tennispalatsi Art Museum contains treasures and sacred objects of the Greek Orthodox Church dating back for over a thousand years. The exhibition opens the door on the legendary but still living monastic community of Mount Athos and its way of life to the public for the first time outside Greece itself.

Mount Athos is a semi-autonomous community of Orthodox monks located in Macedonia, northern Greece, about an hour and a half’s drive from the city of Thessaloniki. There are 2000 monks living there at present, belonging to 20 monasteries, the oldest of which was founded in the year 963. The history of the peninsula of Mount Athos goes back very much further than this, however, and its significance in preserving and maintaining the Byzantine culture is unrivalled. Only male pilgrims are allowed to visit the area, and then only after obtaining the necessary diamonitirion.

This unique account of the life of Mount Athos today and in the past takes the form of a collection of some 500 objects from the monasteries themselves and from 15 museums in various parts of Europe, including ancient icons, rare manuscripts, unique sacramental vessels, magnificent textiles, wood carvings and other forms of art such as jewellery, crosses, maps, photographs and paintings. These treasures tell of the everyday life of the monasteries and their living tradition that stretches back more than a thousand years.” (Lasipalatsin Mediakeskus Oy)

Exhibition promoted ecumenism – Archbishops visited the Holy Mountain
The exhibition has invited Christians from other traditions to widen their knowledge on Byzantine art and iconography by visiting the exhibition and the workshops. Furthermore, the exhibition served also the “official” ecumenical relations between the Orthodox Church in Finland and the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland, which are the two official state churches in Finland. It inspired Archbishop Leo (Orthodox) and Archbishop Jukka Paarma (Lutheran) to leave together on a pilgrimage to Athos at the end of September. “Our common journey and common prayer is a sign also to other churches how the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland and the Orthodox Church in Finland work in mutual understanding and build Christian unity”, stated bishop Jukka Paarma in the Finnish Christian magazine “Kotimaa”.

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