Museums

For the last two weekends, I have visited a museum each. The previous one, which I neglected to blog about was the Athos exhibit, an exhibition of religous art and icons from Greek monasteries from the island of Athos.

"According to tradition, the Virgin Mary with John the Evangelist, or their way to visit Lazarus in Cyprus, encountered a stormy sea that forced them to temporarily seek refuge in the port which is now the Holy Monastery of Ivira. The Virgin Mary, admiring the wild beauty of the place, asked God to give her the mountain as a present. Then the voice of our Lord was heard saying: "Let this place be your lot, your garden and your paradise, as well as a salvation, a haven for those who seek salvation". Since then, Mount Athos is considered as "The Garden of the Virgin Mary. In the 5th century AD, the first monks came to Mount Athos, who disappointed from the boredom of everyday communal life, found this beautiful and uninhabited place ideal for worship their God."

What Mary thought of a bunch of men living on her island remains unanswered.

This weekend's museum trip was to the Sederholm House, which is the oldest house in Helsinki's city center, built in 1757. (I ride/walk by this house every day to work.) The exhibit was a history of Nordic maps, although the collection included more than just Nordic maps, but worldwide maps going back to the days of Ptolemy. The collection had maps by Mercator, Ziegler, and other famous map makers. Hurry to see this exhibit---it closes on 25 Feburary 2007.

For the kayakers out there, there was even something for us.