It is our great pleasure to invite you to the first presentation of the new book ‘Flora of the Athos Peninsula. Plant Life of the Holy Mountain’ (BROKEN HILL Publishers Ltd), which will take place at 19:00 on Friday 22 May 2026 at the Thessaloniki History Centre.

The book has been authored by the distinguished botanists Arne Strid (Denmark), Thomas Raus (Germany), and Stylianos Charalambidis and Panayiotis Dimopoulos (Greece).   

  

The book constitutes the first full and modern monograph on the flora of Mount Athos. In 570 pages it provides records of approx. 1,500 species of plants, with individual descriptions, ecological notes, details of distribution and a wealth of photographs (over 80% of the species are illustrated). This is a landmark work which, with scientific precision and photographs of exceptional quality, for the first time records the unique floral wealth of Mount Athos. The book includes a foreword by His Excellency the Ecumenical Patriarchate Bartholomew.

 

Programme:

 

19:00   Welcome addresses

 

19:20   Protecting Mount Athos: challenges faced in the management of natural dangers and Athos’s unique biodiversity

Georgios Mallinis, Forestry expert, Professor of Remote Sensing, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, AUTh

 

19:40    Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow 

Stylianos Charalambidis and Arne Strid

 

20:00    Mount Athos: where the integrity of faith meets the miracle of biodiversity 

Panayiotis Dimopoulos, Professor, University of Patras          

 

20:30    Discussion

 

Moderator: Eleni Maloupa, Curator of the Balkan Botanic Garden of Kroussia (BBGK), former Director of Research at the Hellenic Agricultural Organization – DIMITRA   

 

The event is being held with the support of the Mount Athos Center and the Thessaloniki History Centre.