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Day conference and photography exhibition

12 September 2025
On Friday 12 September 2025, at the Thessaloniki History Centre (Billis Building, Ippodromiou Square), the Mount Athos Center, in collaboration with the UK-based Friends of Mount Athos (FoMA), organised two events under the title ‘Mount Athos: A Unique Monument of Nature’, both of which were devoted to the unique biodiversity and natural environment of Mount Athos.
The first event took the form of a day conference involving leading researchers and members of the Friends of Mount Athos, who for decades have been working to clear and improve the footpaths on Mount Athos. The second event consisted in an exhibition of photographs taken by members of the Friends.
The day conference began with a welcome address by the Holy Community of Mount Athos, which was delivered by its representative, hieromonk Ieronymos Simonopetritis, First Vice President of the Mount Athos Center. This was followed by an address by the Mayor of Thessaloniki and President of the Center’s Board of Directors, which was delivered on the Mayor’s behalf by Mr. Vasileios Gakis, Deputy Mayor of Culture, Tourism Development and Intermunicipal Cooperation of the Municipality of Thessaloniki and Executive Vice President of the Mount Athos Center. Immediately afterwards, Mr. Christopher Thomas, Vice Chairman of the UK-based Friends of Mount Athos, addressed the conference and referred to the successful collaboration between the Friends and the Mount Athos Center.
View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://www.agioritikiestia.gr/en/news#sigProIdf246a446b5

In the first session of the conference, Mr. Stephanos Diamandis, former Director of Research at the Forest Research Institute, gave a talk on the theme ‘Landscape, Flora, Fauna and Fungal Diversity of Mount Athos’. This was followed by a talk by Mr. Nikos Gounaris, Forestry Consultant of the Mount Athos Authority, on the subject ‘Management of the Chestnut Forest of Mount Athos and its Enhancement in View of Climate Change’. The session ended with a talk by Prof. Spyros Galatsidas of the Democritus University of Thrace on the theme ‘Origin of the Black Pine (Pinus negra) of Mount Athos’.   
View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://www.agioritikiestia.gr/en/news#sigProId2efea0d289

The second session of the conference began with a talk by Mr. Andrew Buchanan of the Friends of Mount Athos (FoMA) on the subject ‘Walking and Working on the Holy Paths’, and this was followed by a talk by Mr. Peter Howorth, publisher of the Mount Athos Map, who spoke on the theme ‘The Topography of Mount Athos’. The conference presentations were followed by an open discussion with the public that focused mainly on the future and the preservation of the unique natural wealth of the Athonite Peninsula, while the conference organisers also urged pilgrims to make use of Athos’s footpaths.
View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://www.agioritikiestia.gr/en/news#sigProIdc80570c837

The conference was followed by the second event of the evening: the official opening of the photography exhibition, which contained material gathered by members of the Friends of Mount Athos on their visits to the Holy Mountain. Through the thematic units Natural Landscapes and Ecosystems, The Patina of Time, and The Friends of Mount Athos In Action, the exhibition captures not only the rare beauty and spirituality of the Holy Mountain but also the systematic work carried out by the Friends of Mount Athos to care for and improve the ancient footpaths.

The exhibition was curated by Peter Tatooles, a member of FoMA’s path-clearing leadership team and coordinator of the US group, and Anastasios Ntouros, Director of the Mount Athos Center.    
View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://www.agioritikiestia.gr/en/news#sigProId8cca92a293

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue bearing the same title as the exhibition and containing all the photographs presented in it, together with short descriptive texts by FoMA members who have participated in missions to Mount Athos.  



Further details about the catalogue may be found HERE.
 
ΓTo view the conference proceedings, click HERE.
 

The 25th anniversary of the foundation of the Mount Athos Center was celebrated in splendid style on Sunday 28 September in the central auditorium of the Olympion Cinema in Thessaloniki, in the presence of His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Metropolitan of Thessaloniki Philotheos, representatives of the Holy Community of Mount Athos, clergymen and prelates, state representatives, members of the academic community and a large number of friends.   

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