We owe a debt of gratitude to all our visitors, for supporting it and revealing its existence to friends and beloved ones, during these 25 years. Their contributions keep the sculptor’s (Pavlos Vrellis) memory alive and Museum’s identity intact. Many thanks to Spyros Tapas and Aris Argyris (concept, creation) and Giorgos Kavalas (support). Anna &...
“I wanted to revive here my old workshop in Ioannina in 1971 which I had made in my old paternal home. Not that I had the pleasure of working in a steady environment for long. Many pieces of work and workshops I ruined and changed owing to either lack of space or lack of money....
I have chosen ‘the Clandestine School’ to be my first theme as a tribute to those who kept our language and National identity during the first, dark times of the Turkish occupation. The room is as we get in and small. I made the stone walls and the ceilings look old. Its main function is...
He was born in Paramithia area in 1541 and while still very young he became a monk at St Dimitrios monastery. Later on, he studied philology, philosophy and medicine in important European centers like Venice and Padova. Afterwards, he went on with logic, poetry, grammar and astronomy in Constantinople. He kept studied until the age...
The benefactors from Epirus had humanitarian and national consciousness as well as important action. This small place is called ‘Epirus of good men’. These people offered much but did not get back what they deserved. In my opinion, rich is the giving one, not the one who possesses. Most of them set out poor and...
In the beginning letters were taught in clandestine schools. Then, little by little, schools came out in the open, where teachers of the nation taught. The foundation of schools was at last allowed. Thus the time of the Greek Enlightment began. In Ioannina the first school was that of Epifanios but later on more schools...
“‘Association of Friends’ was founded on a winter night of 1814, in Odessa, Russia. Three were the men who took the vow: Nickolas Skoufas, Athanasios Tsakalof and Emmanuel Ksanthos. In this composition I am referring to these tree men. The movements and revolts that had broken out until that time were suppressed because they were...
“He was from Epirus, a village in Tzoumerca. It was called Vastavetsi at the time, now called Petrovouni (rocky mountain). His parents were shepherds and they were named Makrigianis. He was born in 1770 or 1773. He had three brothers, George, Costas and Chris, who was the youngest. Because he was accused of stealing sheep...
“There were lots of prisons during the Turkish rule. They were aimed to imprison the Hellenic soul that fought against the conqueror in its way. They were a place in which the spirit and the dream of each Greek slave (ragias) that longed for freedom was imprisoned. People were put in them either after a...
