The Organizing and Academic committees would like to give you a general outline of the activities that include the Academic Programme (student papers and lectures by professors) and the Social Activities (receptions, excursions, visits to historic sites, entertainment).
We reserve the right to make changes, if necessary, and will have a final programme handed to you on 19 May 2017.

You will be staying at the Theoxenia Hotel by the Messolonghi lagoonside (Tel: +30 26310 28098).

Please note that due to the constraints of academic and personal schedules, some participants will not be able to attend the entire conference. Accordingly we have grouped the academic sessions tightly on the days when all participants will be in attendance so that even those who are obliged to come late or leave early will experience in full the evolving conversation on “Byron and Nature”. To allow the conference to proceed on schedule, the papers must not be longer than 20 minutes.

FRIDAY 19 May 2017

17:00 – 18:30 Registration at the administrative office of the Messolonghi Byron Society and its Byron Research Center in the Byron House.

18:30 Visit to the Gallery of “Christos and Sophia Moschandreou” to see an exhibition of modern paintings and pictures of Byron.

19:30 Visit to the Center of Literature & Arts “Diexodos” Museum, for the exhibition of the Ancient treasures found in the excavations of the new Ionian motor way, guided by the Archaeologist Ms. Katerina Leontariti.

20:30 Visit to the Municipal Museum of History and Art Municipal Gallery with a welcome ceremony by the Mayor of Messolonghi, Mr. Nikos Karapanos.

21:00 Dinner at the fish restaurant “Avgo tou Kokora”.

SATURDAY 20 May 2017

The Academic Programme starts in the Byron House.

09:30 Welcome addresses.

09:50 Archival lecture by the Consultant Librarian for the Messolonghi Byron Research Center.

10:15 – 11:45 First Session of 3 lectures.

11:45 – 12:15 Coffee Break.

12:15 – 13:45 Second Session of 3 lectures.

14:00 Lunch at Pelada cafeteria-restaurant, Port of Messolonghi.

17:00 – 17:30 Following Byron’s footsteps in Messolonghi.

Wreath-laying ceremony at the monument newly renovated by the Messolonghi Byron Society, at the site where Byron breathed his last on 19 April 1824, and where the University of Athens dedicated a memorial column to Byron to commemorate the centennial of his death.

17:30 – 18:30 Visit at the House-Museum of the prominent statesman, diplomat, and historiographer of the Greek Revolution of 1821, Spyridon Trikoupis, who delivered Lord Byron’s oration. In this house, his son Charilaos Trikoupis, spent his boyhood years. He became one of the greatest statesmen of modern Greece, a dominant figure during the second half of the 19th C., and seven times prime minister of Greece.

18:30 – 19:30 Visit to the Garden of the Heroes, stretching alongside the defensive walls of Messolonghi. A big memorial garden with many Monuments dedicated to Greek fighters and to Philhellenes who fought or fell during the sieges and the Exodus (sortie). At the center of the Garden of Heroes you will find the grave of Markos Botzaris as well as a statue of Lord Byron, underneath which are buried some of the poet’s organs.

SUNDAY 21 May 2017

09:30 – 16:30 Departure by coach for a visit to Thermo the ancient capital of Aetolia 620 b.c, on the slopes of Panaitolikos mountain over looking the Trichonida Lake, the biggest lake in Greece. We’ll visit the new Archaeological museum, the site with the Temple of Thermios Apollo, the agora, the Byzantine Monastery of Panagia Myrtias 11th century, and the shore of the Trichonida Lake, to walk along to enjoy the view. The excursion includes lunch and is guided by the Archaeologist Ms. Katerina Leontariti.

Night Free.

MONDAY 22 May 2017

Papers in the Conference Room of Theoxenia Hotel.

10:00 – 12:00 Third Session of 4 lectures.

12:00 – 12:30 Coffee break

12:30 – 14:30 Fourth Session of 4 lectures.

14:30 Lunch on your own.

19:30 The Official Ceremony at Theoxenia Hotel Introduced by Professor Peter Graham and the President of the Messolonghi Byron Society, Rodanthi-Rosa Florou.

Two Keynote speakers will deliver lectures related to the conference topic.

• Dr. Christine Kenyon-Jones, King’s College London, UK
• Professor Andrew Hubbell, Susquehanna University, USA

The Ceremony will end with a Gala dinner in the Ball Room of the Theoxenia Hotel. The Gala includes also music and Greek traditional dances.

TUESDAY 23 MAY 2017

Papers in the Conference Room of Theoxenia Hotel.

10:00 – 11:30 Fifth Session of 3 lectures

11:30 – 13:00 Visit to the Salt works and to the Chapel of Panayia Finikias, the island Chapel dedicated to the Virgin of the Palms, where Byron used to ride at sunset from Messolonghi and where he fell ill under the heavy rain on 10 April 1824; to the archaeological site of ancient Plevron, named after the mythical hero Plevron. Plevron actually consists of two Homeric hillside towns with a beautiful view over the Ionian Sea.

Lunch on your own.

18:00 – 20:00 Visit to Aetoliko. Walking tour of the picturesque island town visited twice by Byron in February 1824; to the Church of Archangels inside which there is a well which Byron saw. In the garden outside is the grave of Ali Pasha’s wife Kyra Vassiliki. Visit to the Vasso Katraki museum situated at the eastern side of Aetoliko, the only art museum exclusively devoted to engravings in Greece and Europe. It houses over 500 works of Vasso Katraki, a distinguished woman painter, engraver, and political activist.

20:30 Dinner at “Archontiko” restaurant.

WEDNESDAY 24 MAY 2017

Last breakfast at the Hotel.

End of the Conference.