Visual arts

Andreas Dorgiomanolakis shapes a terracotta pot in one of the last surviving ceramic workshops in Thrapsano, a village in Crete that had around 150 such workshops up until the 1970s. In the business since the age of 15, Dorgiomanolakis laments the lack of interest among the younger generations to take up the craft. "I fell in love with it through my grandfather," he told the AMNA.

In the last few months there have been encouraging signs that what Cavafy might have termed "mia kapoia lysis" to the vexed question of the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Athens might be found.

Α 50-year-old man accused of stealing three paintings - including a Picasso - from Greece's National Gallery in Athens in January 2012, in what was called the "heist of the century," was handed a suspended prison sentence of six years on Friday.

Regarded as a pioneer of the Arte Povera movement, Italy's Pier Paolo Calzolari is showing work for the sixth time at the Bernier/Eliades Gallery (bernier-eliades.com), through January 26. Titled "Demons and Dew," his new show is described by the curator as "a meditation on the transience and delicate beauty of everyday life."

Greece will continue to demand the return of the Parthenon Sculptures to Athens and their reunification with the Parthenon, Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said on Friday, responding to recent comments by her British counterpart that returning the sculptures would "open a can of worms."

The B&E Goulandris Foundation (goulandris.gr) has gotten the new year off to a strong start with a tribute to the Nouveau Realisme movement, a turning point in the history of art that marked the transition from modern to contemporary.

How have Rome's ancient aqueducts and architectural marvels such as the Pantheon, which features the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome, endured the test of time? Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and other institutions believe they have uncovered the mystery of the durability of the 2,000-year-old structures - self-healing concrete.

The Greek Culture Ministry's International Evaluation Committee has unanimously selected a proposal by the architectural firms of David Chipperfield and Alexandros N. Tombazis for an ambitious expansion of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

Negotiations for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures are ongoing, government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou said on Monday.

In an apparent reference to the return from the Vatican of fragments of the temple's decorations, Oikonomou said the "partial return of the Parthenon Sculptures" has already begun and underlined the "radical shift in public opinion in the UK."

A sarcophagus determined to belong to the Roman era has been unearthed during the excavation works of an apartment demolished within the scope of the urban transformation project in Istanbul.

The sarcophagus came to light during the foundation excavation of the demolished building in the Büyükçekmece district.