Dear lacefriends,
Back in cold Hamburg and still not again used to it I try to write you
a report. Some of you still knew that the travel agency stole me one
day. So when I arrived on friday afternoon I had to hurry to get my
tickets before OIDFA-dinner started. With buses they drove us to the
waterline in Athens beautiful Yacht-club. There big round tables on the
big lawn outside were set for us and lacefriends found each other
sitting side by side chatting and waiting for the dinner. This tasted
wonderful but the portions were huge and in the slowly coming darkness
you couldn't see clearly and at the end I had eaten too much.
Next morning after my breakfast I had with the Acropolis before my eyes
I stated the big tour of exhibitions. Next to me was the Museum Of The
History Of Greek Costumes. On the ground floor they presented several
old pieces with different laces. One of them catched my eyes first the
bobbin lace in FH-style reminded me on one I have seen in Scandinavia
and one from Italy before. On the other wall were laceworks from
Gabriele Grohmann decorated. But there are still other interestin
things to seen. In one room there is acurtain from ceiling to bottom
which adorned and isolated the bed from the rest of the house which is
named sperveria. This curtain is decorated with wonderful embroideries.
The motives of these embroideries you find on the ceramics as well.
All the things women in former time used for spinning and weaving,
printing textiles you can study there and all of them are over and over
decorated with carvings or paintings.
On another floor you see the puppets used for shadow-theater from the
16th century such ones are still in use today for critizising politics.
In one big glass part they show "cloths" and things people used during
the 12 days between Christmas eve and Epiphany and those resembled
totaly to such things people use in the Alps still today. It's so
astonishingly to find often the same customs in another place.
But you can study there also lots of folkloristique cloths from
different periods and defferent social parts of the population. And if
you take your time you find on them lots of pieces made in
Bibila-technique or needle lace done with the punto greco or bobbin
lace as well as all sorts of embroideries. The jewelleries are
remarkable as well and lots of other things. If you are sometimes in
Athens went there it's worth to do so.
The next point was the Benaki-Museum those in Koumbari Street 2. It was
founded by Antonis Benakis (1873 - 1954) in 1930. Benakis started his
collecting in Agypt were he lived before. And when he moved to Greece
in 1926 he donated it to the Greek State.
There we could see some of the origin pieces which Despina C. Koutsikas
and Lila de Chaves described int the wonderful book "The Greek Laces
in the Victoria And Albert Museum in London" . It was fascinating to
see not only the perfect pictures but this time the origin pieces
itself with only glass between the lace and the eye.
Here too several Folk costumes for women an men are to see. All of them
decorated with needle work, lace, white work, everything you knew. One
of this lady's wore a small bolero which are very fashonable at the
time here in Germany. Every time I am visiting such a museum I found
some things the fashion-creator has taken for their big shows. How do
we say in German - alles schon einmal da gewesen - everything was there
before.
And here and there a piece of lace in Reticella-technique or Bibila or
wonderful embroideries. What fascinated me a lot was a "painting" of
Crist white on white, all done in embroidery. But with every sort you
can imagine or still some more.
There are lots of other things too which haven't a relation to textile.
Now I have to do the boring ironing, sorry. But the next part will come
soon.
Greetings
Ilske
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