Nederlands Instituut in Athena

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The Nederlands Instituut in Athene ( Greek Ολλανδικό Ινστιτούτο Αθηνών , or NIA for short ) is one of 17 foreign archaeological institutes in Greece , all of which have their headquarters in Athens .

History and tasks

The institute was founded in 1976 as the Archeological School van Nederland in Athene and in 1984 recognized by the Greek Ministry of Culture as a foreign archaeological school on the condition that it had its own seat in Athens, which had to provide space for a library and photo archive, and a Dutch resident permanently in Greece To appoint archaeologists as director. Already in 1976 under the aegis of Simon C. Bakhuizen launched Archaeological Survey School van Nederland Griekenland allowed archaeological fieldwork by Dutch explorers in Greece. However, only permits for surveys were granted. The aim of the establishment of the institute was therefore initially to have a facility under whose leadership archaeological excavations in Greece were made possible. The Dutch government was ready to support the institute for a number of years, but the long-term funding should be provided by the Dutch universities.

When the government discontinued its support in 1991 and such an institute could not be maintained through archaeological research alone, its area of ​​responsibility was expanded to include all areas of research related to Greece. On the one hand, the new name Het Nederlands Instituut in Athene took this into account, on the other hand, scientists from research fields beyond archeology were also hired. An association of friends was set up to support the institute. The administrative management was transferred to the University of Amsterdam , the other five Dutch universities of Utrecht , Leiden , Groningen , Nijmegen and the Free University of Amsterdam are involved in the institute. In 1999 the institute moved into a neoclassical building at Makri 11, where it is still housed today.

The institute has expanded its academic and cultural activities through the organization of colloquiums, lectures, lectures and seminars. It organizes concerts, video presentations, readings and exhibitions that are intended to promote the Greek-Dutch relationship and the cultural exchange between the two countries.

Institutions and research

The institute's library comprises around 5,500 volumes. The aim is to build up a collection on the archeology of Greece, the Greek antiquity , the ancient, Byzantine and modern history of Greece as well as modern Greek philology . In addition, the institute collects works on the Greek religion , Athens in antiquity , geoarchaeology , landscape studies and special areas such as the “ Aegean in Ottoman times ”.

Excavations by the institute are currently taking place in Geraki near Sparta and in Neos Halos in Thessaly . Surveys are carried out in Zakynthos and Tanagra .

Publications

The institute publishes the annual Pharos magazine, which serves as a forum for Dutch researchers on topics related to Greece and informs about the institute's own research. Since 1990, the series Publications of the Netherlands Institute at Athens has published monographs and conference volumes.

List of directors

literature

  • Elena Korka (Ed.): Foreign Archaeological Schools in Greece: 160 Years . Greek Ministry of Culture, Athens 2005, pp. 134–143.

Web links