The drama is turning thanks to her two worthy children

For visitors it was just a dilapidated palace. But for the famous dramenos Marble house It is an iconic landmark, the silent narrator of the city’s illustrious and multifaceted past as it passed from Ottoman to Greek, with Jews and Armenians maintaining their own communities. She was the connecting force between all these people – and what else? Tobacco, which made members of different nationalities and beliefs work side by side. Moreover, the marble house on the springs of Agia Varvara was the home of the tobacco seller, Anastasiades, and next to it was his tobacco warehouse. Built in 1875, it had its ups and downs until recently, when Dramino, a prominent shipbuilder, came into being. Aris TheodoridisHe bought it, preserved it, and gave it a second life.

The Marble House has been meticulously restored, with the scientific help of historians and experts, and is now ready to be a camera museum since the shipbuilding company has one of the largest collections in Europe, with rare pieces from the beginnings of this art until the advent of digital models. To date, the building has hosted several noteworthy tributes in the rotating exhibition hall, most recently an individual tribute to photographer Nelly. This is a summary of the wonderful exhibition we also saw at the Benaki Museum in Athens, an institution with which Aris Theodoridis’ non-profit company KYKLOPS collaborates.

But Benaki also has a steady collaboration with annual exhibitions at the Sundarvan Mosque in Drama, a mosque of rare beauty, once choked with residential buildings. Raycap, affiliated with another Draminos, businessman Kostas Apostolidis, has bought and expropriated neighboring buildings in order to have the space around them to breathe. Thus it turned into an amazing cultural place, even though it housed one of the most important historical drama newspapers. If previously drama was only associated with the short film festival, it is now acquiring a cultural network that is envied by many other parts of Greece. This weekend in the large courtyard of the Marble House, awards will be presented for this year’s CYCLOPS for the annual photography contest, Drami Farmer of the Year and Drami World of the Year. However, in the near future, it will be given a breath of fresh air by the new architectural masterplan from the world-renowned Foster office (funded by Raycap), the future opening of the Camera Museum as well as the restoration of other old buildings. With gorgeous nature and excellent wineries nearby, Drama is truly worth a visit in the fall to see just how strong the forces of resistance and creativity exist. As the envious person says: “If only there were more Theodorides and Rhyscelides to change the situation!”