The Holy Mountain possesses the greatest wealth, in quality and quantity, in works of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine art. than any other place in Greece. Its archaeological, historical and artistic significance, in conjunction with its theological significance, is of the highest order, and the monuments of architecture, painting, sculpture, etc., constitute cultural evidence which is unique, not only for Greece and Orthodoxy, but for the whole world.

Yet, what is most significant about the Holy Mountain is the fact that it expresses, in the most integral way, Orthodox monasticism. It is a thousand-year-old monastic State which has survived to this day. A world which is simple and rigorous, which provides comfort to the mind, sates the soul and experiences the essence of the Orthodox Faith. A world leading a theocentric life, whose major characteristic, in its thousand-year-old course through history, was and is its great spirituality. All aspects of the life of the monks and all their works are products of this spirituality. Each and every relic is a gateway to heaven, a gateway to Paradise, guarded zealously by the monks, and all these together are the expression of their liturgical life.

This dream-world to the foreign visitor, this world of prayer for the orthodox pilgrim, will be presented, for the first time in History, at the Exhibition of the Treasures of the Holy Mountain. This has been made possible after the historical decision by the Holy Community to grant its consent for the departure of the sacred relics.

Regarding the material, a whole army of specialist scientists was recruited, and, based on their proposals, the on-si7te visits at the Holy Mountain by the working parties and the replies of the Holy Monasteries, the list of relics to be exhibited was compiled. Then the general introductory articles were written, the special articles for each specific category of exhibits, the list entries, preservation work was carried out, and now they are being arranged by the museological team into the environment of the exhibition.

Six hundred items will be on exhibition, representing twenty-two categories of works.