What I can see

In Mitropoleos Square, there are three statues of historical figures. On the front side, are those of Constantine Paleologos and archbishop Damaskinos, while on the back side, the Asia Minor Catastrophe Monument with the statue of archbishop Chrysostom of Smyrna (Izmir). The 2.5m high bronze statue by Spyros Goggakis depicts Paleologos decisive, with his legs apart and with his right hand in front of his chest while holding his sword. It is a copy of the statue in Mystras (Peloponnese). The sculpture is part of a composition with a marble arched stele as a background, symbolizing the Romanos gate, in which Paleologos was killed during a fight, according to some sources. The double-headed eagle is on the upper side, the answer of Paleologos to Mohammed II when he proposed the surrender of Constantinople (Istanbul) in exchange for the Peloponnese on the left, and his name and the dates of his birth and death, on the right. The 4m brass statue of archbishop Damaskinos, a work by Fanis Sakellarios, is placed on a marble base and a two-leveled pedestal. The archbishop holds the pastoral staff with his one hand and blesses the crowd with the other. His clothes are rendered in detail, as shown by their folds. The marble statue of Chrysostom of Smyrna, a work by Kostas Dimitriadis, is part of a monumental composition that is lost in the greenery. Chrysostom is depicted at the moment of his sacrifice, in an attitude of supplication to the god and with inner drama. The background consists of carved stones and forms a semicircular niche. The names of those who were murdered together with Chrysostom are also written on the right and left.

What I can't see

Constantine XI Dragassis Paleologos (1404-1453) was the last emperor of the Byzantine Empire and the eleventh emperor of the Paleologos dynasty. Archbishop Damaskinos, born as Dimitrios Papandreou (1891-1949), served during the Second World War and the Greek Civil War and succeeded archbishop Chrysanthos, who was executed by the Metaxas dictatorship. During the war, he tried to have a strategic and balancing role between the new political conditions of the occupying Tsolakoglou government and the needs of society. He claimed and secured resources and means of social welfare in a period of absolute poverty and hunger, without however condemning the occupying forces and their practices. He was a figure with great political influence, but he had no influence on EAM (National Resistance). He tried to link himself ideologically with the government in exile in Cairo, and after the liberation, he served as prime minister and regent for a short time. Chrysostom of Smyrna (1867- 1922) was considered an ethnic leader of the Asia Minor Greeks and was heavily involved in charity work. He refused to leave his people during the destruction of Izmir, was arrested by the Turkish authorities, who summarily convicted him of philhellenism and handed him over to the Turkish mob, who lynched him, blinded him, dismembered him, and dragged his dead body around the city.

Info

• Address: Mitropoleos Sq.

Bibliography