Research

Public Lectures

The Gennadius Library maintains a busy program of lectures in Cotsen Hall (the audotorium of the American School, entered from 9, Anapiron Polemou street).


The Walton Lecture was endowed in 1982.

Since 2004-2005 the Cotsen Lecture Series has allowed the Gennadius Library to sponsor numerous lectures and events to showcase the richness of its collection and to make the mission of the library known to the general public. This lecture series has been possible thanks to the generosity of Lloyd Cotsen, Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Overseers of the Gennadius Library and his wife Margit.

Gennadeion Overseer Margarita Samourkas sponsors an annual lecture on Cartography.

The Library has also co-sponsored lectures with the Onassis Public Benefit Foundation and the Fulbright Foundation.

The Annual Walton Lecture

The Annual Walton Lecture was established in honor of Francis (Frank) R. Walton, the most successful director of the Gennadius Library (1961-1976). Frank Walton contributed to the opening of the Library to the Athenian public while he managed to present the Gennadeion to the world at large as an international research center for the history of Hellenism through the ages. Following on Johannes Gennadius’s footsteps, Frank Walton strongly believed that the rich collections of the Library can become a point of reference for scholars from all over the world. The vision of both men has now become a reality since generations of scholars have pursued their studies based on the collections of the Gennadeion. 

The Annual Walton Lecture was instituted in 1982.

A list of the lectures of the past 38 years follows:

  • 1st: Angelos Delivorrias, “Tracing the Sources of a Scopasian Aphrodite” (March 16, 1982)
  • 2nd: Manolis Hatzidakis, “Ο Ζωγράφος Θεοφάνης ο Κρητικός [The Artist Theophanes of Crete]” (March 30, 1983)
  • 3rd: “Συντήρηση και Αποκατάσταση των Μνημείων της Ακροπόλεως [Conservation and Preservation of the Monuments of the Acropolis]”: Evi Touloupa, “Εισαγωγή [Introduction],” Al. Papanikolaou, “Το Ερέχθειο [Erechtheum]”, Manolis Korres, “Ο Παρθενώνας [The Parthenon]” and Film, “Η Μεταφορά των Καρυάτιδων [The Transport of the Karyatids]” (April 3, 1984)
  • 4th: Doula Mouriki, “Η Ζωγραφική στην Κύπρο το 13ο αιώνα [Painting in Cyprus in the 13th Century]” (April 3, 1985)
  • 5th: Kevin Andrews, “On the Aftermath of the Revolution” (March 31, 1986)
  • 6th: Paul M. Mylonas, “Η Γεννάδειος τιμά τον Βιτρούβιο. Με την ευκαιρία δύο επετείων [The Gennadeion Honors Vitruvius. On the Occasion of two Anniversaries]” (April 2, 1987)
  • 7th: Nikolaos Stavroulakis, “A Sixteenth Century Album of Ottoman Costumes in the Gennadius Collection” (March 30, 1988)
  • 8th: Marcus Wheeler “Russian Slavophilism and the Byzantine Lecagy” (March 29, 1989)
  • 9th: C. M. Woodhouse, “The Platonic Renaissance in 15th - Century Italy” (March 29, 1990)
  • 10th: Dimitri Obolensky, “Byzantine Crimea. The Greek World on the Confines of the Northern Steppe” (March 19, 1991)
  • 11th: Averil Cameron, “Syria and Palestine after the Arab Conquest: the Greek Population and the Fate of the Greek Language” (March 10, 1992)
  • 12th: Nicolas Barker, “Greek Scribes and Greek Printers at the end of the 15th century” (March 23, 1993)
  • 13th: Anthony Grafton, “How Guillaume Bude read Homer” (April 5, 1994)
  • 14th: Dennis E. Rhodes, “Paving the way for Aldus Manutius: Greek books printed in Italy before 1495” (March 7, 1995)
  • 15th: Helene Glykatzi-Ahrweiler, “Προβλήματα Ελληνικής Συνέχειας [Problems in Greek Continuity]” (March 19, 1996)
  • 16th: Patrich Leigh Fermor, “Travel” (March 18, 1997)
  • 17th: Ioli Kalavrezou, “H Γλώσσα της Αυτοκρατορικής Τέχνης στο Βυζάντιο [The Language of Imperial Art in Byzantium]” (March 17, 1998)
  • 18th: Angeliki Laiou, “Το Βυζάντιο και οι Σταυροφορίες [Byzantium and the Crusades]» (March 16, 1999)
  • 19th: Charlambos Bouras, “Από τη Μεταβυζαντινή στη Νεοελληνική Ναοδομία στην Τουρκοκρατούμενη Ελλάδα [From Post-byzantine to Modern Greek Church Building in Ottoman Greece]” (March 21, 2000)
  • 20th: David Woodward, “The First Map of the World: Anatomy of the World Map of 1508 by Francesco Rosselli” (March 20, 2001)
  • 21st: Philippos Iliou, “Βιβλία με συνδρομητές [Books by Subscription]” (March 29, 2002)
  • 22nd: Sergei Karpov, “Pontic Hellenism and the Empire of Trebizond in the 13th -15th Centuries” (March 4, 2003)
  • 23rd: Chryssa Maltezou, “Δύο Τραγικές Μορφές στο σύνορο του Βυζαντινού και νέου ελληνικού κόσμου: Βησσαρίων και Άννα Νοταρά [Two Tragic Figures between the Byzantine and the Greek World: Bessarion and Anna Notara]” (March 2, 2004)
  • 24th:  Helen Evans, “Visions of Byzantium: Past, Present and Future (?)” (February 1, 2005)
  • 25th: Nina M. Athanassoglou – Kallmyer, “Classicism and Resistance in the Mediterranean” (November 22, 2005)
  • 26th: Mark Mazower, “The Virgin Mary and the War of Independence: Religion and Nationalism on Tinos in the 1820s” (January 9, 2007)
  • 27th: Cyril Mango, “Imagining Constantinople” (May 6, 2008)
  • 28th: Paul Magdalino, “Byzantium as the New Israel” (March 31, 2009)
  • 29th: Robert Ousterhout, “Byzantine Constantinople: Visualizing a City in Transition” (March 2, 2010)
  • 30th: Sir Michael Llewellyn Smith, "Kings, Princes and Powers: Venizelos and Dilemmas of National Revival" (March 29, 2011)
  • 31st: Henry Maguire, "Nectar and Illusion: Art, Nature, and Rhetoric in Byzantium" (May 8, 2012)
  • 32nd: Molly Greene, “1453: How Important Was It?” (October 30, 2012)
  • 33rd: Christopher Clark, “The Balkan Dimensions of the Origins of the First World War” (March 18, 2014)
  • 34th: Cornell Fleischer, “The Mystic Lettrist ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Bistami (d. 1454) and the Origins of Ottoman Historical Consciousness” (May 5, 2015)
  • 35th: Gerhard Wolf, “The Peacock and the Basket, the Marble and the Brick. Architectural ornaments and their materiality in a transcultural perspective. Constantinople to Bukhara (6th to 10th century) (February 16, 2016)
  • 36th: Richard Clogg, “The Colonels’ Dictatorship: The View from London” (April 25, 2017)
  • 37th: Dr. Scot McKendrick, “English Collectors of Greek Manuscripts at the British Library: Lord Guilford and Anthony Askew” (April 24, 2018)
  • 38th: Carlo Ginzburg, "Gods, Humans, Apes. On the Eighteenth-Century Reception of Winckelmann's History" (May 30, 2019)