The Region of Crete, the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, the British School at Athens, the French Institute of Greece and AMKE Photoxenia present a short film by Davide Fecarotti and Noé Arthur Vercaemst entitled Un vase, des histoires (A vase, different stories) that combines art, archaeology, ecology and archival material, illuminating aspects of the seabed through the power of the image. It is about the seabed of the Cretan sea and the coasts of the island, as captured in the ceramic vessels of the Late Bronze Age.
We are in the period 1500-1450 BC. and in the Minoan palaces the fashion of the new era in the decoration of high-quality ceramics is cultivated: the compositions of the Sea Rhythm. Octopuses embrace the body of a closed vase, sea urchins and corals the ceremonial rhyta, sea creatures swim among algae, rocks and shells, nautiluses-argonauts move slowly between strips of mesh – the conventional statement of the sandy bottom. They could perhaps be the works of specialized workshops that, with compositions, render the world of the sea from sun-stars, shells-tritons and all kinds of algae emerging in the otherworldly silent world of the immense blue. The fashion of the sea coincides with the heyday of the Minoan world; an era of prosperity, power and cultural reach in the Aegean and the countries of the eastern and southeastern Mediterranean, as far as Cyprus and Egypt. The film unfolds the visual portrait of this maritime power in a historical flashback, in the artistic event of three similar vases found in three different parts of the Mediterranean.
Georgia Milaki, Deputy Regional Governor for Culture and Equality of the Region of Crete, will deliver a speech at the event.
The General Director of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Stella Chrysoulaki, will speak on “Landscapes of the Seabed in Minoan Vases” and the Director of the Knossos Research Center of the British School at Athens, Kostis Christakis, will speak on the topic: “Clay and Soil: the World of the Sea in Minoan Vases”
The coordination and artistic curation of the cultural action has been undertaken by Maria Choulaki, President of AMKE Photoxenia, and on behalf of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, by archaeologist Paraskevi Stamataki.
MINOAN VESSELS AND THE SEA ROUTES-WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE REGION OF CRETE
Knossos Research Center (British School of Athens)
Villa Ariadne, Knossos
Wednesday 17 September 2025, 20.30
Free admission
