Articles
An icon painter, student of Kontoglou
Rallis Kopsidis was born in 1929, within an immigrant family in Limnos Castle where he lived his childhood. Α major persona of Modern Greek painting, revolutionary saintly painter and engraver.
He started his career by studying at the Pedagogic Academy and then continued at the School of Fine Arts. For six beneficial years he was apprenticed to Fotis Kontoglou and collaborated with him on Church painting.
His saintly painting work is an innovative attempt to combine traditional artistic forms with a modern style in the painting of Orthodox churches. One of his masterpieces is the revolutionary saintly painting in the Patriarchal Center at Chambesy Switzerland.
His secular painting work, is characterized by a personal style of magical realism.
Apart from his sole artistic work, the Lemnian artist has written and illustrated several literary books.
A tragic queen
Hipsipili was Queen of Limnos in mythical times. Her life was connected with one of the most shocking events of the matriarchal years.
Legend has it, that the women on the island revealed Hephaestus the infidelities of Venus so she made them unbearably malodorous in order to get back to them! The Lemnians, because they couldn’t bear their scent, started getting interested in girls from Thrace, but they paid for it dearly. The Lemnian women slaughtered all men on the island in just one night.
Hipsipili took exception to this act of madness and saved her father, King Thoa. Years later the Argonauts, travelling to Kolchida, stopped in Limnos and mated with the women on the island. Then, a great love among Hipsipili and Jason was born.
Euripides and Aeschylus wrote about her life in their tragedies.
Today a square in Myrina is named after Hipsipili, a book written by the author Mary Lampadaridou - Pothou, and is a common female name on the island.
A painting and a story
Theophilos, who was a traditional painter from the neighboring island of Lesvos...
Cellars and fridges
In many villages of Limnos, in the courtyards of the mansions,you will find huge jars buried in the land...
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