THE SAFE. A glimpse into the past a family come to life

The Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece

organized and presents the exhibition 

THE SAFE 
A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST 
A FAMILY COMES TO LIFE

On Thursday 19 September at 20:00
on the second floor of the Thessaloniki Centre of MIET

Duration of the exhibition: 19 September – 17 November 2019

The exhibition took place for the first time in 2018 in the Y & E Vatis Art Gallery, and it was a collaboration between the Municipality of Syros-Ermoupolis, the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece and the Cultural Section of the South Aegean Region.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The exhibition presents a story of mystery and intrigue, with the protagonist being the contents of a safe.  It remained locked and forgotten for nearly a century in a storage place of an old estate on the island of Syros, and which was opened three years ago thanks to the curiosity of Agis Tsouros who since he was a child had a burning desire to discover its hidden treasure and whose family had purchased the place in the sixties.

The findings tell the story of one of the most prominent families of Syra of the 19th and early 20th century: the Athanasios Ladopoulos (grandson of a a merchant from Thessaloniki who moved to the newly founded city of Ermoupolis in 1823) and Olga Vafiadakis family (daughter of the well-known mayor of Ermoupolis Dimitrios Vafiadakis), an upper bourgeoisie family which dominated in the amazing development of Syros in the 19^th century and had significant activities in trade, banking, manufacturing and shipping being also actively engaged in local and national political life.

The unexpected contents of the safe include rare documents, personal correspondence, enigmatic photos, postcards from the travels of the family, guns, ancient coins, medals and a wide variety of objects that function as a “time capsule” and offer an intimate glimpse into a personal treasure from a long-gone era, when Ermoupolis of Syros had become the first urban centre with the largest economic, industrial, social and urban development of free Greece.