Olkas II
Greece, 2015, 59′
Director: George Botsos
Production: Capri Productions
Co-production: European Center of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments – Society of Cypriot Studies
The cultural documentary: “Olkas II. Traveling to and from Byzantium. Medieval ports from the Black Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean” is a co-production of the European Center of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments and the Society of Cypriot Studies. It is a voyage to Byzantine and medieval ports of the Aegean Sea and Cyprus with the navigation of a Byzantine merchant ship, the Olkada, which crossed the seas of the East transporting products to and from Byzantium. The starting point of the trip is Constantinople, while the ports of the Aegean Sea, Lemnos, Lesvos, Chios, Kos, Samos, Patmos, Rhodes, Corinthos, Piraeus, Andros, Paros, Naxos and Crete are the main stations in the maritime routes. The final destination of the trip is the ports of Cyprus (Larnaca, Lemessos, Paphos, Ammochostos, Kyrenia, Morphou Gulf), which for centuries had been stations in the maritime routes for ships departing from the Mediterranean, mainly from the coasts of North Africa, to transport products to Constantinople.
The documentary presents various aspects of the ports, the relics of Byzantine and medieval architecture, churches, castles, towers, castle houses, settlements, detachable findings of the period exhibited in museums, archeological sites and remains of port facilities ever since the Byzantine Era. The aim of the documentary is the cultural and touristic promotion of the Byzantine-medieval ports to the extent that it highlights their importance as stations in the maritime routes as well as places where objects of trade were produced.
The documentary was produced with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Greece and the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus as well as ecclesiastical and cultural organizations, municipal authorities and local as well as state bodies from both countries, with the financial support of the Cyprus Tourism Organization and the Xotaris Art Forum.
