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THE GENNADIUS LIBRARY
ΓΕΝΝΑΔΕΙΟΣ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΘΗΚΗ
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jane Conlon Goble, jgoble@ascsa.org (609) 683-0800 ext. 14 February 1, 2009 To mark the end of Carnival and the beginning of the Lenten season the Friends of the Gennadius Library will convene for the 9th annual benefit celebrating the Library’s 83rd year. The event will feature special Clean Monday cuisine prepared under the direction of Milos’ famed chef Costas Spiliadis. For Greek families, Clean Monday is one of the most festive holidays of the year. Often coinciding with the first hints of spring, the day lures families into the countryside to fly kites and feast on special fare at local tavernas. Cuttlefish stewed in wine, rice pilaf with mussels, varieties of bean stews and salads, squid stuffed with spinach and rice, Lenten dolmades and halva, and the once-a-year appearance of lagana, a yeastless bread, make up just a portion of the unique tastes of the day, often accompanied by joyous music and dancing. Since 2001, the Gennadius Library has brought the celebration of this uniquely Greek holiday to New York City. The Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens is one of Greece’s national treasures. Located in an historic building in Athens, the Library houses a richly diverse collection of books and rare bindings, archives, manuscripts, and works of art illuminating Hellenic culture and civilization from antiquity to modern times. In 1922, Joannes (John) Gennadius, Greek Ambassador to Great Britain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, offered his 26,000-volume collection to the American School; the Library opened to the public in 1926. Since then the collections have grown to over 116,000 volumes, hundreds of scholarly journals and numerous archives. It was Gennadius’s hope that the Library would “become a world center for the study of Greek history, literature and art, both ancient, Byzantine, and modern.” (www.gennadius.gr) The Clean Monday party at Estiatorio Milos, located at 125 West 55th Street, will begin at 6:30 with a buffet of traditional Clean Monday foods and a selection of fine Greek wines. The 2009 Zagat Survey heralds Milos as “a ‘superior’ source for ‘fabulously prepared’, ‘fresher-than-fresh’ seafood served with ‘panache’ in a ‘grand’, ‘airy’ space” (www.milos.ca). Grigoris Maninakis and the Mikrokosmos Ensemble will present music of Hadzidakis, Theodorakis, and others in an evening of dancing and singing. Guests will receive a copy of The New Griffon 10: The Archaeology of Xenitia, a Gennadius Library Publication, along with a gift of Lenten delicacies from Joan Coukos’s Chocolat Moderne. (www.chocolatmoderne.com) Open-seating tickets are $300 per person and must be reserved and paid for in advance. In addition, a limited number of reserved tables are available. Reserve early as space is limited. For invitations, tickets and information, call J. Goble at the U.S. office of the Gennadius Library at 609-683-0800 ext. 14 or e-mail to jgoble@ascsa.org. Proceeds from the Clean Monday celebration will be applied to the Gennadius Library Capital Campaign for the Library’s endowment. |
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