"Those who will take this road", (to paraphrase N.G. Pentzikis), "will not come across an easy phantasmagoria, like the ones that entertain people in the name of the ephemeral. The beauty of the real is revealed only to those who persevere".

The scenario - the story -around which the exhibits will exist, revolves round an axis which unifies the four thematic units (Nature, Architecture, Daily Life, Relics), in such a way that the "Whole" is served and expressed, not as a sequence in space but as a synthesis in time. It corresponds to the Theological triptych: Panaghia, The Holy Virgin - The Cross - Athos, the Mountain of the Transfiguration. It follows a course leading from the outside to the inside, from matter to the Spirit, from Man to the God-man.

Architecture, in its upward route upon the wooden ascending floor bearing the trace - print of the Holy Virgin, dominating from above, will be identified in its meaning, with the depictions of the paper icons and will attempt, as another Orchard of the Holy Virgin, to converse with the Whole.

Nature, as a place for life and an intermediary, will set the limits with "Stamps", will orientate as "a hand showing the way", will fill the gaps and facilitate transitions.

Daily Life and Worship will relate the story of a monastery, a story of modesty, of the simplicity that invests everyday things which exist next to the imperial grandeur of a library, of the humble utensil next to the monumental depiction of the wheat, the wine and the olive, of the threat of death next to the joy of life.

The climax is reached with the unit regarding Worship. In this section, the objects of worship, even though out of their natural habitat but radiant with Divine Beauty, will be acknowledged as objects of Great Art, as the spiritual products of a great Culture.

All these will illustrate the chronological periods, as these are dictated by the History of the Holy Mountain and Byzantium, and will highlight sub-units and commentaries, as these have been pointed out by the recommendations of specialist scientists. The transcription of this processing will be done in a way which will make it possible to "read", comprehend and experience the exhibits at several, different levels, in a course which will not be one of a simple arrangement of the exhibits, but a dynamic one, both in flow and in emotion.

The way the exhibition is designed will give rise to conjectures related to its several meanings, will serve the origin and content of the exhibits, will respond to the basic thematic axis. The borrowing of the geometrical characteristics of a "Church", the "Ark", the "Sacristy" - they will all move in that direction.

G.P. Triantafillidis,

Architectural Engineer, M.Arch.,

Head of the Museographical Team