Koukouli, a beautiful Zagori village: this is to lament the loss of irreplaceable, priceless heritage, the theft of over fifty icons from the church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, stolen sometime during the period before Christmas 2009. The thieves ruthlessly stripped the iconostasis, took gospels and the relics of saints, according to reports on the internet. They effectively destroyed the soul of the village, just as the theft of the same church’s renowned solid gold Epitafios (made in Vienna) had done in 1936.
Communism might have forbidden and even destroyed these things. Capitalism commodifies them for the ugly greed of a fragmented world. This is so sad. I guess these treasures will not be destroyed and may for that reason be recoverable - eventually - if placed on the international stolen treasures register. S
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