Created out of the chaos of the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 and the First and Second World Wars, Albania has had various identities imposed upon it. This workshop will focus on the part of southern Albania that corresponds with the territory of ancient Epirus and on the rediscovery of its Greek past by a dedicated young archaeologist, Demetrios Evangelidis. His letters and reports, housed today in the National Archive of Monuments at Athens, recorded the work of a very limited, albeit ideologically charged, archaeological mission sponsored by the government of Athens from June to August 1913. These are extraordinary documents. The data they contain constitutes the very foundation of archaeological work in southern Albania. They also articulate a sense of belonging to Hellenism and genuine concerns for protecting Greek monuments and Christian heritage in foreign lands that Evangelidis shared with many intellectuals of his generation.

Respondent: Sam Holzman, Art and Archaeology

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Images: The Pavla Valley at Mount Mile (photo@Milena Melfi) and one of Evangelidis' report to the Ministry of Education and Ecclesiastical Matters (@National Archive of Monuments, Athens).