John Kittmer
@johnkittmer
Greek literature and culture | Christianity | Churches, abbeys, cathedrals | Poetry | Chair of school governors | Visiting professor | Ex-ambassador | Enthusiast for Yorkshire
In my latest post to Substack I take a look at the unusual Greek novels of E.F.Benson, the art of Vaso Katraki, and the glories of Greece cheese. Something for everyone. open.substack.com/pub/johnkitt...
I got back from Greece in time for #YorkshireDay today. In celebration of God’s Own Country here are some photos from this year’s York Mystery Plays: a glorious community production on wagons that happened on the streets of #York and in the shadow of the incomparable Minster.
Λίγη ευλάβεια σήμερα στην ιερά πόλη του #Μεσολογγίου μπροστά στον #Βύρωνα και τον #Άστιγγα. A little veneration today in #Mesolongi, a sacred place for Greeks because of the heroic and tragic history of the siege, in 1826. Statues of #Byron and #Hastings in the Garden of the Heroes.
Το ελληνικό καλοκαίρι! Γύρισα στην αγαπημένη μου Ελλάδα. The Greek summer! Back in my beloved Greece.
Melrose I was able to admire on the ground and from a very high vantage point on the roof of the south transept. Stupendous. 2/2
Devotees of St #Aelred cannot but admire the career, ambition and religious policy of #King_David_I of Scots. I had the pleasure today of exploring his #Augustinian and #Cistercian foundations at #Jedburgh and #Melrose respectively. 1/2 Jedburgh
Heavy snowfall on the Yorkshire coast. Encrusted with snow. #BleakMidwinter
A simple font holding its own with dignity amid the jolly clutter of parish life. St Mary’s #Brandesburton, Yorkshire. #fontsonFriday
Neither church was open, so I will have to return to see the interiors. But it was easy at #Dalton to identify the windows from the outside. Wonderful to have a full scheme in this remote location. Here (L-R) St Peter, St Paul, the Annunciation, Noah. 4/4
St John the Evangelist at #Dalton is twenty years later: built as a memorial to #Dawnay by his widow. Unusually, #Butterfield turned to Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. for the glass. An early (not the earliest) example of the company’s work in Yorkshire. 3/4
St Cuthbert at #Sessay was the first of #Butterfield’s churches for #Dawnay—late 1840s. A handsome composition, with broach spire, bridge and lychgate, and neighbouring school and schoolmaster’s house. It all feels timeless and properly rural—not qualities often associated with Butterfield’s work.
Last church-crawl of the year continued my exploration of Wm. #Butterfield’s churches for Wm. Dawnay, 7th Viscount #Downe. Headed to the edges of the vales of York and Mowbray, to visit #Sessay and #Dalton. 1/
Brilliant to get @mptmagazine.bsky.social’s latest issue focusing on the poetry of Greece and Cyprus. Since its foundation in the mid-1960s by Ted Hughes & Daniel Weissbort, MPT has been hugely important in bringing Greek poetic voices to an English-speaking readership. Great that this continues.
The Church’s year draws to a close, with what is known in English tradition as “Stir-up Sunday” and is widely celebrated now as the Feast of Christ the King. Here the collect for the day and an icon of Christ as King of Kings.
A lovely window for #stainedglassSunday by Harry Harvey at St Mary’s #Brandesburton, #Yorkshire. The parable of the seed that fell on stony ground.
Much enjoyed this highly innovative and stylistically poised novel, “Brandy Sour”, about the #Cyprus problems, by #ConstantiaSoteriou in an elegant translation by #LinaProtopapa. It focuses on the #LedraPalace Hotel, caught now in the Green Zone between the 1974 lines. Recommended!
I will never forget what it was to celebrate Holy Week and Easter in 1984 on the island of #Aegina. My current trip to Greece ended yesterday with a return to the island and calls on friends, living and dead.
Maria Komninou giving an excellent intro to the short retrospective of #IrenePapas at the Greek Film Archives in Athens. Tonight we saw her star in #Cacoyannis’s #Electra (1962): a magnetic performance in a great film of #Euripides’ tragedy.
Day #7 of the Anglo-Greek pilgrimage. Books & art. Caved into temptation at Politeia bookshop. Then the wonderful #Goulandris Gallery. An astonishing private collection, open to the public. Much French and, of course, Greek art. But Mr and Mrs G found space in their lives for #Bacon and #Hepworth…
Day #6 of my Anglo-Greek adventures. Back at the #Benaki’s historical archives, completing my examination of the Ritsos-Stangos correspondence. Two excellent books of translations by #Stangos of #Ritsos’s work emerged from often angry correspondence—conducted in very different styles of handwriting.
Day #4 of my Anglo-Greek decameron. Having reached #Athens yesterday, I spent the day in the wonderful historical archives of the always hospitable #Benaki Museum, exploring #YannisRitsos’s collaboration with #NikosStangos and #PenguinBooks.
Day #2 of my ten Anglo-Greek days. A great morning at the 9th Greek-British Symposium, in #Cambridge, where I heard a thought-provoking keynote by Greek Defence Minister, Nikos Dendias, and a stimulating if gloomy panel discussion on geo-political trends.
Day 1 of 10 intense Anglo-Greek days. A talk by David McClay of @britschoolathens.bsky.social, hosted by John & Virginia Murray in the historic home of John Murray publishing: 50 Albemarle Street. Here, Thos. Phillips’s great painting of Byron, above the fireplace where his memoirs were burned.