The exhibition of art from Mount Athos was the most successful event in Thessaloniki’s City of Culture celebrations last year and there is no doubt that the usual inaccessibility of these works added greatly to their attraction.
Mount Athos (not an island but a long peninsula) is a realm dedicated entirely to Greek Orthodox monastic life and no women have ever been allowed in. Now the feminists are laying siege, using EU law as their battering ram. The Schengen Agreement guarantees free circulation to all EU citizens, and European funds for restoration which were being funnelled through the Greek government to Mount Athos are in jeopardy because feminist politicians accuse the monks of infringing the Agreement. Last year, an attempt was made in Brussels to grant Mt Athos exemption, but the move was blocked by the foreign ministers of Sweden and Finland, both women.
In Britain (ironically, not a signatory to the Schengen Agreement), a similar situation has arisen over the $250,000 prize money awarded last year by the Onassis Foundation to the distinguished Byzantinist, Sir Stephen Runciman. He has given it to the Friends of Mt Athos to be spent on restoration there. This organisation is at present registered with the Charity Commissioners as an educational one, and to change its remit, requires their approval. Here again, objections are being made because any restored art would not be accessible to everyone. The artist Derek Hill, who co-founded the charity, says: “To me, this is the last spiritual entity left in the world and it must not become yet another tourist attraction. We started the Friends after we went to Iveron Monastery in the early 70s and it was besieged by people wanting to stay there [the monks put you up for free]. I wrote a passionate letter to a left wing Greek newspaper, saying that something had to be done to protect the Holy Mountain, but nothing happened until the Times also published it. Then the Greek government limited the number of visitors to ten a day”.
