THE EXHIBITION IS HELD UNDER THE AUSPICES
OF THE HOLY ARCHBISHOP OF ATHENS

The Museum of Byzantine Culture cordially invites you to the opening of the exhibition, titled “SPOLIA: 22 TRANSCRIPTS OF THE STONES OF THE LITTLE METROPOLIS OF ATHENS” which will be held in the “Kyriakos Krokos” gallery on Wednesday 22 July 2026 at 19.30 with free entrance.

The church of the so-called “Little Metropolis” stands exactly by the church of today Metropolis. It was built at the end of the 12th century, on the ruins of an ancient temple dedicated to Eileithyia, the ancient deity who protected pregnant women. According to the prevailing opinion, the Holy Temple was built by the scholar and Metropolitan of Athens Michael Choniates, who, as a bearer of classical education, particularly loved the ancient past of the city.

The walls of the temple are entirely made of large unadorned marble stones and reliefs, which come from ancient Greek, Roman and early Byzantine monuments, while bricks have not been used anywhere.

The use of marble reliefs from ancient temples testifies to the existence of an educated elite who felt and appreciated the aesthetic values ​​of the ancient world.

Biography of Nora Okka

Nora Okka is an architect and visual artist who lives and works in Athens. Many of her ancestors were architects and this family heritage acts as a creative background and a constant source of dialogue and shapes an architectural practice where design, research and curation coexist. Her work combines the idea of ​​regenerative architecture and material reuse.

Since 2012, she has been systematically researching spolia (architectural members of older buildings that have been incorporated into newer ones) and developing an online mapping platform dedicated to them, aiming to highlight the invisible networks that connect the material traces of the past with the present and to create an open reference point for the local reuse of building materials.

In the context of her research and artistic work for the Little Metropolis of Athens since 2014, different series of the work have been presented in solo exhibitions at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences in 2026, at the Silversmiths’ Museum of the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation in Ioannina in 2025-2026, at the Patmian Culture Society in 2024, at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens in 2019, at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, United States in 2018-2019, at the General State Archives at the Historical Archive – Museum of Epirus in Ioannina, at the Patmian Culture Society in 2017 and at the Athens Conservatory in 2015-2016.

She holds a degree in Architectural Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (2006) and holds a master’s degree in Digital Arts and Cinema from the Athens School of Fine Arts (2009) and in Set Design from the Institute of Design and Technology, Zurich University of the Arts (2012). Her PhD from the University of Vienna (2017) focuses on the curation of architectural exhibitions, while her postdoctoral research at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, USA, investigates the scattered network of Venetian spoils.

Her research has been honored with scholarships and distinctions from the State Scholarship Foundation (IKY), the Swiss Confederation, the A. G. Leventis Foundation, the Vassilis and Elise Goulandris Foundation, the Onassis Foundation, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the Athanassios and Marina Martinou Foundation, and the Schwarz Foundation.

Exhibition curation: Dr. Panayotis Kampanis, Archaeologist – Historian, Head of the Digital Applications and Publications Directorate,

Museum of Byzantine Culture

Museographic application: Anastassia Karadimitriou, Architect

Museum of Byzantine Culture

Information

Museum of Byzantine Culture Thessaloniki

www.mbp.gr | T 2313 306400

Email: mbp@culture.gr

Exhibition duration: July 22 – August 31, 2026

• Invitation
• Press Release