User:Lampakisfamily/Georgios Lampakes

Georgios Lampakis originally from Mountados, Tinos, his mother’s Margarita’s Plati homeland, studied Theology at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens as a fellow of the Foundation of Evangelistria, and then completed his post-graduate education in Germany (Erlangen), where he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy ‘’CHRISTIAN ANTIQUITIES IN ATTICA’’ (1882). Upon his return to Greece, he founded the Christian Archaeological Society ( chae 1884) and the Christian (later Byzantine) Museum, developing a diverse cultural and national work nationally and internationally, as Queen Olga’s Secretary. From the first form-exhibition of the Museum, G.L. tried to consolidate in his contemporaries the idea ofcontinuity in the historical identity of Hellenism, with Byzantium as an integral and essential part of it. This pursuit grew further in him when he later undertook the teaching of Byzantine Art at EKPA, shaping the first Greek Byzantine scholars. The basic principle of his vision is reflected in his pioneering activity: “Greece, the mother of all wisdom and art, has been for all the centuries a great Museum of the Unified Immortal Spirit of the Greek race. Parthenon and Agia Sofia, genius works of two different eras”. This was the factual response of the Greek theologian (Theology is closely linked to History) and Byzantine scholar to the historian Fallmerayer, sharing his belief that “the nation is determined by cultural rather than biological factors.” Hence, Lampakis was presided over by the principle that “every person who can speak the Greek language is a Greek”. Lampakis participated in the movement of Konstantinos Paparrigopoulos, who conceived Greek history as an inseparable entity, recognizing the unity of the cultural characteristics of national identity. Guided by his scientific thought and beacons of Faith and Knowledge; he. carried out a titanic task, while it is no coincidence that until his death the members of all the Boards of Directors of XAE came from the same ideological group and served the same national purposes.