Swatch Access : Avaton


 
 

Swatch Access «Avaton»

    Are Swatch just galactically stupid? Two swatches arrived for me at the same shop on the same day at different times in different packages. Incidentially, both boxes, a special cardboard one & a standard plastic one, were quite damaged. Anyway...

OCRed from the insert;

The Cultural Capital of Europe - Thessaloniki 1997

Thessaloniki was nominated as the Cultural Capital of Europe for 1997 by the European Union, back in 1992. It is a city of distinction with many centuries of history. The first recognised settlements which developed on the shores of the Theramaic Gulf were neolithic. They created the foundations for the city which took its name from the sister of Alexander the Great of Macedonia. Throughout its long history, today's capital of Northern Greece has made its name as a foundation stone of the Hellenistic world. It was the administrative centre of the Roman Empire, the joint capital of the Byzantine Empire, the second greatest urban centre of the Ottoman Empire after Constantinople and a metropolitan centre in the Balkans from the Middle Ages right up to modern times.

Mount Athos

On 21st June 1997 the Museum of Byzantine Civilisation in Thessaloniki opens its doors to host a major exhibition of the treasures from the Holy Mountain of Athos. These sacred objects which have been kept within the twenty monasteries of Mount Athos for centuries will be on display for the first time in the history of this unique monastic republic. The exhibition consists of four basic units: the natural environment, the developed environment, daily life and worship, the cultural treasure. After many centuries during which the Athos peninsula has remained closed to so many, these objects, never before seen by women, will be on show for all to see.

Monks and Time

The monks of the Middle Ages discovered that is was useful to be able to measure time. In this way they could make sure that they were keeping up with their daily round of work and prayer. This need led them to try making clocks to install in their belfries. Mount Athos is not only celebrated for its wealth of spiritual and artistic works but also for a host of technical developments which were made to improve life.

Panos Theodoridis
Artistic Director
Thessalonki, Cultural Capital of Europe 1997

OCRed from the box;

    Your Swatch Avaton gives you free entry to the Mount Athos exhibition in Thessaloniki, Greece.

    The Swatch Access you have purchased is called «Avaton,», the Greek word for inaccessible. Despite its name, «Avaton«» will give you Access to the inaccessible: The Mount Athos' treasures. Mount Athos, a remote area incorporating about twenty orthodox monasteries, is rich in religious art. As women are prohibited from Mount Athos itself, the exhibition of its treasures in the Museum of Byzantine Civilisation at Thessaloniki (Cultural Capital of Europe for 1997), gives them a unique opportunity to admire these masterpieces.

    With your Swatch Access «Avaton» you have free entry to the Museum of Byzantine Civilisation at Thessaloniki as well as a 20% discount on the museum catalogue. «Avaton's» Access function is exclusive to this exhibition.