The subjects dealt with in this book are closely bound both with the development of archaeology and with the history of modern Greece. In six main chapters, the author covers the long period from the fifteenth century until the mid 1970s. The first chapter deals with the state of ancient monuments under Turkish rule and the Europeans who visited Greece during that period. The remaining chapters describe the steps taken by the newly-founded Greek state to preserve existing monuments, uncover others, set up collections of antiquities and build museums in Athens and the provinces. For the first time, a detailed search of archives, archaeological journals, newspapers and other publications provides us with a fully-rounded picture of the subject, presenting the work of archaeologists, architects and other specialists and public figures who worked to discover, preserve and display the monuments of Greece from ancient times, through the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods and onwards into our own era.
