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A Moving Embroidery: From 1796 Vienna to Present-day Sofia

Artemis Yagou

The embroidery is so exquisite, so rich in colour and detail, that it seems to capture a moment of profound spiritual drama. The focus of this post is no ordinary textile, it is a magnificent ecclesiastical embroidery with a complex trajectory, involving various people, localities, and beliefs. (Fig. 1) It is an Epitaphios, a large veil depicting the body of the crucified Christ, traditionally carried in procession during the Orthodox Good Friday services. 168 centimetres wide and 130 centimetres tall, crafted from silk, shimmering gold threads, and sparkling silver sequins, it is set against a rose-coloured silk background that catches the light, creating dramatic reflections and shadows. The background creates a harmonious contrast to the shapes and colours of the embroidered parts, in particular the human figures: the mourning Virgin Mary and Maria Magdalene, the disciples and angels surrounding the body of Christ. Above them, a large cross with the symbols of the martyrdom (crown of thorns, lance, and sponge) dominates the centre of the composition. This central theme is surrounded by a large arch; there are also five smaller arches with heads of angels; above the main arch, the sun and the moon can be discerned among clouds.  The figures of the four Evangelists are enclosed in Baroque-style medallions on the left and right sections of the Epitaphios. (Fig. 2) Above these, there are four miniature representations, to the right Jerusalem and the Resurrection and to the left the Golgotha and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the Holy Grave lies. Various liturgical objects, such as hanging oil-lamps and myrrh containers complement the scene. Finally, a border with an elaborate, highly stylised floral decoration in Baroque style encloses the whole synthesis.

Fig. 1. The 1796 Epitaphios embroidered by Marina Ruheland in Vienna. Sofia, National Museum of History. Photo by the author.
Fig. 2. Detail of the 1796 Epitaphios top right corner. Sofia, National Museum of History. Photo by the author.

The art of ecclesiastic embroidery was practiced widely in professional workshops situated in bustling urban centres of the Ottoman Empire, such as Istanbul, Trebizond, Thessaloniki, Ioannina, and Adrianople; some works still survive in churches and museums in Greece and elsewhere. This Epitaphios however, as the signature and Latin inscription embroidered at its lower right part show, was made in Vienna by Marina Ruheland in 1796. Marina Ruheland belonged to a family of professional embroiderers and her exceptional skills were highly valued. Thanks to Ruheland’s reputation, members of the flourishing Greek communities of the Habsburg Empire as well as wealthy Greeks from the Ottoman Empire were regular patrons of her workshop, commissioning works to be dedicated to churches or monasteries. In this case, the donor’s identity is revealed by an embroidered inscription in Greek at the lower part of the object: “The present Epitaphios was dedicated to the St Athanasios metropolitan church of Ioannina by Mr Panagiotis Hadji Nikou for the salvation of his soul, year 1796.” The artefact was a custom-made product, commissioned by Panagiotis Hadji Nikou, an important personality of eighteenth-century Greek diaspora. A surviving portrait of Hadji Nikou shows him as a sumptuously dressed, solemn, and imposing figure. (Fig. 3) His family originated from Konitsa, but he was born in Ioannina in 1709. Hadji Nikou was successfully involved in the fur and leather trade in Moldavia and Wallachia, and event­ually settled in Braşov, in the Habsburg-controlled Principality of Transylvania, where he died in his late eighties in 1796 or 1797. He supported the Greek community of Braşov but also his native Epirus through various generous donations and endowments. His grave is preserved in the cemetery of the Greek Orthodox church of the Holy Trinity in Braşov, where he had also donated a Vienna-made Epitaphios in 1777.

Fig. 3. Portrait of wealthy benefactor Panagiotis Hadji Nikou, Church of the Holy Trinity in Braşov, painter unknown. Photo by the author.

Placing his order again to a Viennese workshop in 1796 was a strategic decision. It not only guaranteed craftsmanship of the highest quality, but was also aligned with the sophisticated Baroque fashion of the time and, furthermore, could serve as a lasting monument to the donor’s wealth and piety. Commissioning a Vienna Epitaphios was compatible with Hadji Nikou’s profile as a hard-working and successful man who had amassed a great fortune away from his homeland. It was the ultimate status symbol, seamlessly blending his professional success with his spiritual devotion to his homeland. When the Epitaphios would reach its intended destination, the church of St Athanasios in Ioannina, it would constitute an enduring tribute to Hadji Nikou’s high social standing. However, given that he died either in late 1796, the year when the embroidery was completed, or very soon after, it is questionable whether the artefact ever reached the Ioannina church to which it was dedicated and where it was meant to be placed. The object is currently held at the National Museum of History in Sofia (Inv. No. 29237). According to the museum’s documentation, it originated from the St Naum Monastery in Ohrid (today in North Macedonia). How and when the embroidery travelled from Vienna to Ohrid and eventually reached the Bulgarian museum in Sofia is unclear.

Embroideries were particularly apposite as donations because they enjoyed increased visibility during religious services, which were among the best-attended gatherings by Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Although the 1796 embroidery is a unique, bespoke item produced for a specific customer, it also acquired a broader, public character, due to its use in the communal space of the church. Despite its high cost and splendid features, it would be accessible to the wider group of ordinary people that constituted the congregation. The representations of figures in particular emphasised emotions and helped cultivate a deep spiritual bond with the viewers of the work. (Fig. 4)

Fig. 4. Expressively embroidered figures could generate strong emotions among viewers. Detail of the 1796 Epitaphios. Photo by the author.

The practice of object dedication to a church bestowed great prestige upon the donors and was directly connected with their personal honour and status in the community. In the second half of the eighteenth century, charity was established as one of the values of the bourgeoisie. The increasing popularity and diffusion among Greek Orthodox commissioners of embroideries made outside their local communities manifested in particular openness and a desire for renewal. Religious art is by definition conservative, as it expresses dogma and serves worship, but at the same time it can be innovative to some degree by following the trends of secular art and is transformed through them. All forms of ecclesiastical vestments and embroideries are subject to fashions and trends – in a different way than secular clothes but within the same general framework. Although inherited styles were still prevailing in eighteenth century ecclesiastical art, donations imported from the West contributed to the movement of ideas and the assimilation of novel features, thus encouraging the cultural osmosis of traditional and new elements.

The Epitaphios of 1796 is a profound material document capturing the impact of things that move and become carriers of diverse meanings. For the donor, the hybrid nature of this object reflected complex strategies of adaptation and social positioning. He can be perceived as an individual moving not only across physical borders, but also transgressing mental and psychological barriers and embracing the latest fashion while at the same time securing his spiritual legacy. In the community, this opulent work would be accessible to everyone and members of the congregation could forge a powerful emotional connection with it. The superb artefact would serve the spiritual needs of the community and animate the imagination of its members. The Epitaphios of 1796 is therefore an artefact that moved across different territories and cultures and brings together diverse spheres of human activity, such as religion, commerce, and art. Embodying multilayered historical evidence, this object is a powerful material testimony where­ devotion, wealth, and craftsmanship merge. Last but not least, this Epitaphios is a moving object in the sense of evoking strong emotions today, of touching and inspiring us.

References

Athanassios E. Karathanassis, L’hellénisme en Transylvanie: L’activité culturelle, nationale et religieuse des compagnies commerciales helléniques de Sibiu et de Brașov aux XVIIIe–XIXe siècles, Thessaloniki: Institute for Balkan Studies, 1989.

Ralitsa Rousseva (ed.), ‘145. Epitaphios’, National Museum of History: Catalogue, Sofia: National Museum of History/Plovdiv: Pygmalion Publishers, 2006, p. 143–144.

Manolis G. Varvounis and Nadia Macha-Bizoumi, ‘Συνέχειες και Ασυνέχειες στην Ελληνική Παράδοση των Ιερατικών Αμφίων (19ος–20ος αι.)’ [Continuities and Discontinuities in the Greek Tradition of Hieratic Vestments (19th–20th c.)], Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Neohellenic Studies of the European Society of Neohellenic Studies, Thessaloniki, 2–5 October 2014, Athens: Evropaiki Etaireia Neoellinikon Spoudon, 2015, p. 125–146.

Eleni Vlachopoulou-Karabina, ‘Ο Άγνωστος Επιτάφιος του Ιερού Μητροπολιτικού ναού Αγίου Αθανασίου Ιωαννίνων, Εργαστήριο Βιέννης, 1796’ [The Unknown Epitaphios of the Holy Metropolitan Church of St. Athanasios of Ioannina, Vienna Workshop, 1796], Epirotika Chronika 33, 1998–1999, p. 243–249.

Artemis Yagou, Products, Users, and Popular Luxury in Early Modern Greece, London and New York: Routledge, 2024.

Diasporic Heritage in Plural: Objects from ‘Home’ at the Greek Egyptian Associations in Athens

Eftychia Mylona & Irakleitos Souyioultzoglou

In 1933, the Greeks from Egypt and Sudan (Σύλλογος των εξ Αιγύπτου και Σουδάν Ελλήνων) founded their association in Athens. From its early years, the association collected objects from Egypt, and eventually became a custodian of memorabilia (photographs, documents, athletic trophies) of the once-flourishing Greek communities in the country. Over time, and as the collection expanded, its premises were transformed into a place of curated memory; entire walls are now covered with showcases, with separate compartments dedicated to a specific community in Egypt (Fig. 1). Within each, contents are carefully arranged to highlight historical transitions and cultural resilience:  in the background, photographs that depict athletic activities and Greek clubs in Egypt serve as symbolic foundations of the contemporary diasporic identity. As the visitor’s gaze shifts to the foreground, it captures more recent memorabilia, which stand as links between past and present, and indicators of a persistent social milieu that resisted displacement.

Fig. 1. Permanent display of sports memorabilia from the Port-Said and Port-Tawfiq communities at the premises of the Association of Greeks from Egypt. Photo: Irakleitos Souyioultzoglou, September 2024.

Following Timothy Mitchell’s conceptualisation of the exhibition as a symbolic space that (re)produces meaning and stereotypes within the collective imaginary (Mitchell, 1988), photographs and sports memorabilia are here examined as constitutive elements of an ad hoc sociocultural setting that conveys the prevailing narrative of the Greek communities in Egypt.

In February 2024, the Athletic Association of Greeks from Egypt (Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Αιγυπτιωτών Ελλήνων – ΑΣΑΕ) and the Association of Greeks from Port Said and Port Fuad organised an exhibition dedicated to the communal life of Greeks in the cities of the Suez Canal. Well before its opening, a series of social media posts advertised the exhibition as an opportunity for Greeks who had spent their childhood in the region to reunite and rekindle nostalgic memories—particularly memories related to their involvement in athletic clubs and participation in sporting events. This nostalgic framing extended into the event itself: in his opening speech, the president of the association introduced the interpretive lens through which visitors were invited to experience the exhibition: its purpose, he stated, was to “showcase the vitality of the Greek community in the past, in cities that are now in the hands of the Egyptians.”

Indeed, as the visitors walked past the displays, the room filled with nostalgic sighs, enthusiastic exclamations, recalling of names, and narratives from childhoods once lived in Egypt. Clearly, the event fulfilled its aim: by placing together and carefully arranging objects invested with symbolic meaning, it turned realia into a “lieu de mémoire” (Nora, 1989) that, beyond its material substance, stands as a container of the community’s collective memory — which, in turn, serves as a common denominator of the community’s persistent and distinct identity (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. A glimpse into the exhibition celebrating the athletic performance of Greeks in Egypt. Photo: Irakleitos Souyioultzoglou, February 2024

The exhibition adheres to a symbolic pattern of rendering space into a heterotopic representation of the, by now shuttered, Greek communal space in Egypt. The lounge of the Association of Greeks from Egypt (Σύνδεσμος Αιγυπτιωτών Ελλήνων – ΣΑΕ) —where Greek objects from Egypt and Egyptian handcrafted objects have been carefully arranged together — stands as another example of the imaginary reconstruction of ‘home’.

Much like in temporary exhibitions, sports memorabilia displayed across two walls of the large hall serve as identifiers of a long-standing tradition—one that first emerged ‘at home’ and continues in Greece. They demarcate material identities and the ways in which Greeks conceptualise and perform their post-diasporic heritage after their departure from Egypt (Fig. 3).

Fig 3. Showcases from the permanent display of sports memorabilia at the premises of the Association of Greeks from Egypt. Photo: Irakleitos Souyioultzoglou, September 2024

Sports constitute a symbolic space where discourses on nationhood and cultural identities intersect (Lichtenstein, 2015). For the Greeks in Egypt, such activities encompassed collective conceptualisations that defined the essence and the boundaries of Greekness in diaspora. Sports (along with other communal activities, such as scouting and school excursions) aimed to reinforce community bonds, played a central role in sustaining a distinct “Greek identity” (Ελληνική Κοινότητα Αλεξανδρείας, Λογοδοσία έτους 1965, 25-26), and became part of a strategy to counter the gradual “egyptianisation” of social life and the subsequent fear of assimilation.

The first sports clubs in Egypt emerged in the early 20th century (Jacob, 2011). The Egyptian Yacht Club in Alexandria was established in 1901, followed by the creation of the Egyptian Athletic Federation in 1910. Around the same time, Greeks began forming their own associations: the Nautical Club of Alexandria (1909), and later those in Cairo and Port Said (1927). The Greek Athletic Associations of Port Fuad (1932) and Port Said (1949) developed a strong presence in football and basketball, enriching the community’s sporting life.

The establishment of athletic clubs was considered as a critical step towards communal coherence, and was strongly supported by the community leadership. Accordingly, athletic successes were interpreted as a proof of the community’s vitality and evidence of virtues supposedly embedded in the community itself—discipline, dedication, and persistence in the face of hardship. Thus, sports memorabilia substantiated metaphors of moral and physical strength. The abolition of Capitulations (1937) and, subsequently, the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis and the Arab–Israeli wars, placed foreign communities under a legal and social framework that stripped away their privileged status and gradually led to their displacement. After most Greeks left Egypt, sports memorabilia, as prominent symbols of achievement, were transported to Athens and housed in the associations they established there—the most prominent being the Hellenic Nautical Club of Greeks from Egypt (Ελληνικός Ναυτικός Όμιλος Αιγυπτιωτών – ΕΝΟΑ), and the Association of Greeks from Egypt.

As Anna Pechurina (2020, 67) observes, in the context of migration, objects play a vital role in (re)constructing and (re)inventing the feeling of being at home. Once removed from their original setting, use, and ownership, these so-called “diasporic objects” take on new layers of meaning and significance as they are re-situated within different social spaces. Therefore, sports memorabilia, as “victorious objects,” embody migrants’ connections to their communal heritage and distant homeland. They serve both as reminders of physical separation from these places and experiences (Pechurina), and as material instantiations of collective belonging that symbolically reproduce a sense of “home.”

In the sports clubs and associations founded in Greece, former athletes assumed new roles as trainers for younger generations, and new victories soon followed. Trophies and medals were conveniently placed and proudly displayed alongside those transported from Egypt. Their display constitutes a performative act of continuity, and reconstitutes communal life in a different social setting. These objects publicly affirm that the values and shared memories of the community were re-embedded in a new environment.

The replacement of diasporic objects into a new social setting and their blending with objects that do not share the same territorial or historical origin, contributes to the symbolic construction of a new “home,” through the creation of fresh layers of memory. By evoking collective memories and materialising a longstanding tradition of communal activities, the memorabilia stand as reminders of practices that forged a sense of belonging and a shared ethnic/social identity — recognisable both within and outside the boundaries of the community of Greeks from Egypt.

References

William C. Jacob, Working Out Egypt: Effendi Masculinity and Subject Formation in Colonial Modernity, 1870–1940, Cairo: AUC, 2011.

Tatjana Lichtenstein, “‘An Athlete Like a Soldier Must Not Retreat’: Zionists, Sport, and Belonging in Interwar Czechoslovakia.” Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 34, no. 1, 2015, p. 1-26

Timothy Mitchell,Colonizing Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988

Pierre Nora, “Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire,” Representations, no. 26, Special Issue: Memory and Counter-Memory, 1989, p.7-24.

Anna Pechurina. “Researching identities through material possessions: The case of diasporic objects,”  Current Sociology 68, no. 5, 2020, p. 669–683.

Ελληνική Κοινότητα Αλεξανδρείας. Λογοδοσία Έτους 1965. ELIA Archive.