The Photo
Collection
At the “Hostel of Colors”, admire exclusively rare paintings, engravings and hard-to-find books from the Christos Fotos collection.
The Photo
Introduction
Collection
The “Hostel of Colors” was an idea of its owner, who aimed to house a large part of his collection in an old mansion that would function simultaneously as a guesthouse and a cultural space. In this way, it would give its guests and visitors the opportunity to admire its works and be introduced to the history of Thessaly, and indeed in a special place, where art meets history. Thus, in Lafkos, at the “Hostel of Colors”, paintings and engravings from the collection of lawyer Christos Fotos are permanently exhibited for guests and visitors. Part of the collection was exhibited in 1998 at the Museum of Makrinitsa. Chr. Fotou, a historical researcher of Thessalian history, has collected, after many years of effort, paintings and engravings that refer to the region of Thessaly and in particular Magnesia, and about a thousand books, older and newer, that have been written by authors from the region and that refer to Pelion, Magnesia and Thessaly in general. The authors include Georg. Filaretos, Sof. Triantafyllidis, Dim. Saratsis, Giannis Kordatos, Kitsos Makris, M. Mourtzopoulos, Nitsa Koliou, G. Thomas, K. Liapis, Mil. Karathanou, Char. Charitos, etc.
The paintings have been created by old and famous painters, who originate from the region and have been particularly distinguished, such as K. Geskos who studied at the Munich School of Fine Arts, Pal. Theologos, one of the pioneers of abstraction, Sp. Kokkinos of the Athens School of Fine Arts, Paul. Soulikias, who excelled in Canada, K. Zimeris, famous not only as a photographer but also as a painter, Fampas (Ath. Fampas), who created in Romania, etc. The engravings that make up the collection date from the 16th century and reach up to 1850, covering a very wide range (archaeology, cartography, landscape, historical figures, costumes, images from everyday life, etc.). The guesthouse exhibits maps by famous cartographers Coronelli, Mercator, Mortie, Blau, Wells, etc., watercolor aquatints from Edward Dodwell’s album, Views in Greece, London 1821, views of places, unique documents for that era, before photography was even discovered, from the album of Baron Otto Magnus von Stackelberg, La Grece, Vues Pittoresques et topographiques, Paris J.F. d’ Ostervald 1834, as well as images of everyday life and costumes from the album of
Stackelberg
Rome 1825
Stackelberg: Costumes et usages des peuples de la Grece Moderne, graves d’ après les dessins executes sur les lieux en 1811 par le Baron O. M. De Stackelberg. Rome 1825.
The collection is spread throughout the guesthouse and guests and visitors have the opportunity to admire the works, not in a museum space, but in their living space. This gives the guest the opportunity not only to reside but also to become a partaker of the Pelion architecture, the history and the art of Magnesia. The use of the books is after prior agreement.
Here are presented some indicative works, paintings and engravings.
Choose between
paintings, engravings & books
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