The “Technopolis” of the Municipality of Athens presents to the Athenian public the exhibition “Light on light: an illuminating story” that was also hosted in Folklife and Ethnological Museum of Macedonia-Thrace.

The exhibition refers to the history of lighting instruments from Byzantium until today with an emphasis on the byzantine period on the one hand and on the 19th century when light was produced by electricity or gas on the other hand. This story is part of the big story of the conquest of fire, namely it is the story of the Human Culture itself. This shocking conquest was followed by the development of techniques for the touch and the maintenance of the flame. In other words, our history is also the history of the instruments for touch and keeping the fire as the light source; the torches, the fireplaces and the lamps, the candles and the oil lamps as a means of lighting are essentially the means for maintaining the fire. And this is even true for the electric lamp because it also shines “through the fire”. The exhibition is organised in the frame of the Technopolis effort to illuminate the significance of the Industrial Park of Athens and is signalling the opening of the Industrial Gas Museum that is expected to function in the Technopolis district. The exhibition is co-organised by the Technopolis, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Folklife and Ethnological Museum of Macedonia-Thrace and the Museum of Byzantine Culture, and the following institutions:

• Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki
• 16th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Thessaloniki
• 18th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Kavala
• 27th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Katerini
• 7th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Larissa
• 9th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Thessaloniki
• 10th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Chalkidike
• Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens
• Museum of Folklore Art, Athens
• Benaki Museum, Athens
• Jewish Museum of Greece, Athens
• Folklife Museum of Tositsa, Metsovo
• Noesis Science Center & Technology Museum, Thessaloniki
• Private Collections