ASSOCIATION “FRIENDS OF THE ‘NIKOS PERANTINOS’ SCULPTURE MUSEUM”
PRESS RELEASE
The Association “Friends of the ‘N. Perantinos’ Sculpture Museum” and the Municipality of Paros, with the honorary collaboration of the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA), are organising a Marble Sculpture Symposium entitled “On the Road of Lychnites”, from 20 November to 6 December 2026, at the Ancient Quarries of Paros in Marathi: a radiant place that continues to inspire Art, the cradle of the “Parian Stone” from which masterpieces of sculpture were created.
The works created at the Symposium will be placed along the road of the Ancient Quarries, where they will remain on permanent display. Our vision is for the road of the Ancient Quarries to become a museum of sculpture, and we are committed to inviting artists every year, so that we can get to know their work and so that they can create sculptures that will enrich the collection of the open-air Museum of the Ancient Quarries.
With respect, emotion and joy for the honour bestowed upon us, and so that sculpture may resound today, as it once did, at the Ancient Quarries, where “lychnites”, the most famous and most translucent marble of the ancient world, was extracted, we welcome the Marble Sculpture Department of ASFA, Professor Dimitris Christogiannis and his outstanding students, to carve blocks of marble and bring out their soul and energy.
We warmly thank the Municipality of Paros for co-organising this undertaking, which has been decisive in making it happen, and for its continuous contribution to the effort to promote the art of sculpture at the workshops of the sculptor N. Perantinos in Athens and Paros.
We wholeheartedly thank ASFA and its Marble Sculpture Department for the honour of their valuable collaboration and their supervision of the Symposium; the students who gladly agreed to take part in this celebration; our members who will take part representing the Association “Friends of the ‘N. Perantinos’ Sculpture Museum” and supporting its ongoing effort to promote an art of sculpture grounded in study and knowledge; and everyone who contributed their work and technical means to make the Symposium happen.
We invite everyone to visit us during the Symposium, there at the Ancient Quarries, to become part of this celebration and to feel the energy of this primordial material and the writing of knowledge by the chisel.
During the Symposium we will enjoy parallel events that highlight the importance of art in our lives.
• We will have the pleasure of discovering the art of nature through the work of the alternative community Peliti, which cultivates and preserves precious ancient seeds. This encounter will be accompanied by the sound of the Ancient Greek Lyre played by the outstanding musician Thanasis Kleopas (Marathi, Primary School, 24/11 at 18:00).
• We will have the opportunity to watch video art by ASFA Professor Emeritus Michalis Manousakis. It will be screened throughout the Symposium at the Primary School in Marathi, on a continuous loop for visitors. The professor will honour us with his presence and will be happy to answer questions and talk with us.
• We will have the unexpected pleasure of watching work by the director and screenwriter Thodoris Papadoulakis (director of the successful series “The Island”).
• In this celebration of sculpture we will also learn about the tools and techniques of the quarrymen, following the journey of the marble block from the quarry to its final form as a work of art. Presentation by Dimitris Kollaros (Marathi, Primary School, 28/11 at 18:00).
• At the close of the Symposium we will surrender to the magic of music and its freedom, with an ensemble of two instruments and two voices (FLUXUS Museum, Parikia, 05/12 at 20:30).
It is with deep emotion that we will open this Symposium with an honorary tribute to our late teacher and President of the Association, the sculptor Christos Riganas, through the exceptional documentary “Writings of the Chisel”, which revisits, with moving tenderness, moments from the mature years of his life in sculpture (Kleoni Flessa – director, screenwriter, producer; Saturday 21/11, Lefkes, House of Literature, 19:00). Thereafter, and throughout the Symposium, the documentary will be screened alternately with the video art at the Primary School in Marathi.
The connection of our late teacher with the Symposium is direct. It was shortly before his great journey that talk of the Symposium was kindled, from a spark he had always carried in his soul, when, among friends, students and collaborators, he would share his thoughts on its planning with passion, abundant energy and an anxiety he made sure to cool with his unexpected humour.
We held on to all of this and went ahead with the Symposium, with the wish that art may resound from a radiant place and be heard as far as the “Isles of the Blessed” (from the poem “My Journey” in his last poetry collection “Laas”, Christos Riganas, The Friends’ Publications, 2025).
PARTICIPANTS
Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA)
Professor: Dimitris Christogiannis, Sculptor
Students: Georgia Giannopoulou, Dorian Kataro, Marianna Kosmidi, Dimitris Kotsaftis, Maria Bolia, Antigoni Xirogianni, Konstantina Oikonomopoulou, Emmanouil Foteinos, Roksoliana Drozd Yurii
Association “Friends of the ‘N. Perantinos’ Sculpture Museum”
President: Stavros Mavromichalis, Sculptor
Members: Maria Argyrakopoulou, Dimitris Varsos, Vaso Gioni-Zisimopoulou, Petros Dritsonas, Apostolia Mastora, Vasilis Sarris, Emmanouil Fokianos, Giorgos Christofilos
The Musicians
Alexandros Michailidis (Piano)
Alexandros Gourgoulios (Bouzouki, Vocals)
Vasiliki Nikolakou (Vocals)
In closing the list of participants, we would like to warmly thank the people of Paros and the local associations who will embrace this undertaking and contribute to its successful completion by taking part in whatever way they can. This Symposium is taking place in Paros, for Paros.