“The wealth of the National Gallery is not only its work, but also its people. Therefore, I would like their hard work, dedication and scientific experience to be recognized. One of the reasons I’m keen to take a “behind the scenes” look at the National Gallery is so that the public can understand how complex and specialized the process of an exhibition, even a new post, is, she tells us. Sirago Chiaradirector of the National Gallery – Museum of Alexandros Soutsos.

We are in National Sculpture Gallery in Goody, in a specially equipped area where work is being carried out on the conservation of the painting by the Frenchman Charles Louis Lucien Miller “March 30, 1814”. This work of monumental proportions – about four and a half meters high and about eight and a half meters long – is located in this large hall with the infrastructure and know-how necessary to restore it from the ravages of time and from an accident that happened several decades back. The task of the multidisciplinary team of specialists working here is to hang the painting in the main building of the Gallery, on an empty white wall waiting for it.

For the first time such work comes to the fore, and “K” looks this workshop is open to the public until the work is on display in the Western European Art Hall in early autumn. “Only if people become familiar with the many levels of our activities and the various aspects of the National Gallery’s activities are illuminated will they really become familiar with our work and art itself,” says Ms Ciara, who strongly supports the extroversion of the institution. After all, she’s made it clear for months now that she wants to share her more open outlook with many. The policy of framing periodic exhibitions with inter-artistic activities (theatrical and musical collaborations) has already found a huge response and creates occasions for renewal and expansion of the audience.

“Only if people get acquainted with the versatility of our activities, they will get acquainted with our work and the art itself,” says S. Chiara.

The tour for visitors to the workshop begins with the Director of the Gallery, and then the speaker. Efi Agafonikou, head of the Department of Museum and Art Collection Planning, giving us brief information about the painting. The work was exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1855, where it was awarded the first prize. A historical moment is depicted, since on March 30, 1814, the Parisians, who until that moment thought that Napoleon’s troops were advancing with trophies, suddenly found out that the allied forces of Prussia, Austria and Russia were on the outskirts of the French capital. In order not to capture their city, they got up and ran to help. But the next day, Paris fell.

Scientific work

As we move across a huge canvas laid out on the surface of several connected tables, and employees of the EPMAS art conservation and restoration department explain the work, the faces of that Parisian march – women and children, wounded in the war, old people, children – seem to come to life. In the areas where the old, yellowed varnish has been removed – painstaking work of restorers by hand, with a small piece of cotton soaked in a special solution – the sky above the Saint-Denis arch shines blue again, the red scarf of a girl’s dress sparkles in the light like golden buttons on a soldier’s uniform. A large tear has been patched but is still visible, as are cracks in the paint that formed while the work was rolled up in storage.

The painting was donated to the National Gallery by Egyptian émigré Alexandros Kitroev in 1913, when the institution was still trying to build its collection. It was exhibited until about 1987, and since 2010, a search has been made for a way to restore and preserve it. It was found as part of the European “Proteas” program, which aims to involve the general public in the work of an art restorer and researcher and is funded by the NSRF.