in love with icons

At 18 years young I set foot on Greek soil and felt immediately at home. I strolled through the streets, the forests, along the beaches and I climbed the mountains during the many visits, all together some years of my life.

I often ended up in churches, the doors were always open and inside it was cool. In addition the lovely fragrance of incense and fresh basil and sometimes the lure of polyphonic singing.

That’s how I found icons and frescoes. The quality was very different from one to another. Any kind of icon seemed good enough to get a place in the church.

And icons are not only found in the church, they are everywhere. In the bus, the taxi, the living room and our landlady in Chios had icons in the stable near the donkey. You can buy them anywhere; in the church, but also in the kiosk, where they stand among the lighters, tissues and chewing gum. There are many kitsch versions of icons and it seems like everyone has them. Also, on many street corners, even on the most remote peaks and river valleys, there are small chapels with icons.

I wasn’t practising any religion, but I fell in love with the icons and later with iconography.

Photo: Monastiraki – Plaka – The old centre of Athens at the foot of the Acropolis