Greek Studies Scholar to Discuss 'Venetian Cities of Crete'

Prominent Greek studies scholar Maria Georgopoulou will present “The Venetian Cities of Crete” on Tuesday, March 19, at 5:00 p.m. in the Burchfield Penney Art Center Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Georgopoulou, who serves as the director of the Gennadius Library at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece, will discuss the Venetian occupation of Crete from 1204 to 1669 and the architectural and archaeological evidence for their presence on the island.

“This was a culturally rich period in the history of Crete,” said Harriet Blitzer, professor of fine arts, who met Georgopoulou in 2009 when Blitzer was a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow at the American School. “Many do not realize that Venice dominated the island for over 400 years.”

Georgopoulou was educated at the University of Athens in Greece, the Sorbonne in Paris, and the University of California, Los Angeles, where she received her Ph.D. in art history. From 1992 to 2004, she taught art history at Yale University, where she founded the program for Hellenic studies.

She wrote Venice’s Mediterranean Colonies: Architecture and Urbanism (Cambridge University Press, 2001) and is currently working on a book about portable objects in the thirteenth century and their social and economic contexts.

“Dr. Georgopoulou is a terrific scholar and director of the finest collection of texts on the Greek world dating from late antiquity through the present day,” said Blitzer.

Part of Buffalo State’s Year of the City offerings, Georgopoulou’s lecture is sponsored by the art history program and the School of Arts and Humanities Dean's Office with generous funding from the Margaret E. Bacon Fund.