Page 15 - Zakynthos Tourist Guide 2025

Zakynthos

Ζάκυνθος

CULTURE OF ZAKYNTHOS

LITERATURE Kalvos and Solomos’ mortal remains are
at the museum that has been dedicated
Literature origins dated back to the 15th to them.
Century when the island poets were pop-
ular for their poems, prose, and the trans- PAINTING
lation of texts from ancient Greek to the The first influence in painting came from
spoken language. Byzantine art. The first painters dedicate
themselves to religious themes repre-
In the following Century Zakynthos strong- senting holy icons in churches and uti-
ly contributed to the Greek literature and lizing the technique of egg tempera on
art by founding the first Greek Academy wood.
and with characters such as Martelaos,
Foscolo’s teacher, Gouzelis and Solomos In the 17th Century thanks to Doxaras the
and Matesis, playwrights considered the painting technique changed into the oil
forerunners of the modern Greek theatre. on canvas one with portraits and per-
spective drawings.
Among the most popular poets of the XIX
centuries there are Foscolo, Italian lan- Another important painter was Koun-
guage, Kalvos, whose sentence “Freedom dounis belonging to the Filikì Eteria and
requires virtue and audacity” is quoted in he painted pictures with nationalistic
the symbol of the city of Zante and and not only religious messages.
Dionisio Solomos to whom a church and a
square have been dedicated.
Solomos studied in Italy and wrote poems
in Italian, then came back to Zakynthos,
his homeland, where he wrote poems
to sustain the population during the war TOURIST GUIDE 2025
against the Turkish domination; among
his works some lyric compositions of the
modern Greek literature.

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