Exhibition highlights ancient roots of modern revolution

The exhibition "This Is What We Fought For: Antiquities and the Greek Revolution," currently on display at the National Archaeological Museum (NAM) in Athens, was inspired by an anecdote about Greek General Yiannis Makriyiannis paying a group of soldiers not to sell two splendid ancient statues to European buyers.

In three halls painted an austere gray, two huge screens illustrate the reawakening of the nation's appreciation for its ancient past during the 1821 Greek War of Independence and up until the founding of the modern Greek state in the mid-19th century, along with 26 antiquities from the museum's collections and an equal number of artworks from the 18th and 19th century.

The show, explains NAM director Maria Lagogianni-Georgakarakos, sheds light on the "'discovery' of Greece's splendid monuments and their systematic theft and trade by foreign travelers, the...