What I can see

“Hellas and Lord Byron” is a marble 3-metre tall complex showing Greece personified, crowning Lord Byron with a palm branch –a symbol of immortality– as a token of gratitude. The base of the sculpture is modular with embossed decorations on top and it exudes monumentality. The nude male figure on the back of the sculpture symbolizes the enslaved Greeks. Greece is depicted in a larger scale –adding emphasis to its form– with an oval face and wearing a headband, which falls on her back. Byron is depicted shaved, with combed hair. He looks at Greece with passion, although his body and the palm of his hand are moving away from her. The posture has romantic overtones, since Byron was a romantic poet.  

What I can't see

Lord Byron (1788-1824) was one of the most honoured personalities of the Greek Revolution. He was a devoted philhellene and one of the most famous Romantic poets. He was in Greece during the revolution and died in 1824 in Messologgi due to illness. His heart was buried there with great honours. As for the sculpture, the winning model in the contest of 1888 was by Ioannis Vitsaris, but the project was eventually assigned to French artists, which aroused a storm of protest. The final model was made by Henri Michel Antoin Chapu (1833-1891), while the sculpting of the marble was made ​​by Alexandre Falguiere (1831-1900). 

Info

• Address: V. Olgas & Amalias Av.

Bibliography