Videocast: Christos G. Zacharakis - Ιερή χαρτογραφία και ελληνικός χώρος

On Wednesday February the 22nd, Ambassador Christos G. Zacharakis delivered a lecture on "Ιερή χαρτογραφία και ελληνικός χώρος". The lecture was in Greek and was sponsored by Gennadeion Overseer Margarita Samourkas.

Ambassador Christos Zacharakis was born in Athens in 1939. After graduating from the Law School of the University of Athens, he entered the Greek Diplomatic Service in 1964. In 1979 he was appointed Ambassador in Nicosia, Cyprus, and subsequently he served as a Permanent Representative to NATO, Ambassador in Washington, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador in London, and Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He retired from the Diplomatic Service in 1999, and was elected to the European Parliament. Among his many honors and awards, we single out a Prize for his work on the printed cartography of Greece by the Academy of Athens.

The lecture presented the genesis, the historical evolution, and the goals of sacred or religious cartography. Ambassador Zacharakis discussed the different categories of religious maps as well as maps in early sixteenth-century Bibles relating to Jewish history and geography. He showed religious maps of Greek interest, maps of the Middle East, Cyprus, and the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as maps of the missionary journeys of Saint Paul the Apostle. The speaker explored the diachronic evolution of religious maps, and the various versions and variants. Finally, he talked on the geographical and artistic aspect of sacred maps.

13 maps of the famous Samourkas collection were exhibited during the event.

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This year the Gennadius Library would like to thank Lloyd E. Cotsen and Margit Cotsen for their generous support.