During the FoMA path clearing week our base was the Dionysiou Monastery. Dionysiou was founded in the 14th century but the first photo’s of the monastery appear in the 19th century.

A few years ago, photographs and negatives of Athos were auctioned at Sothebys. These were the oldest photos of Athos made by Ernest de Caranza and Emile Charles Labbe. The photos are from 1853 when photography was still poorly developed.

An even older image is an etching of the monastery, dating from 1780. This clearly shows the shape of the monastery, the tower, the thick walls with cannons and the boathouse below. The steel cannons are still kept in the monastery’s museum. A boat is entering the boathouse.

A rock formation can be seen behind the boathouse. If you look closely you will see a lying head of an Indian. Note his chin (left) and nose.

The boathouse is clearly visible in the watercolour by the artist Preziosi, also, coincidentally, from 1852 almost the same moment as the early photographs. The photo of an American Athos expedition from 1929 shows again the boathouse.

Herman Voogd