….and life goes on…

I’ll be collecting

and save

even if I receive

just one card…

the album 50 years Christmas Cards, 1974 – 2023 is the result of exchanging wishes for Christmas and the New Year. The collection of Dimitris Tsitouras‘ cards totals 4300 and each one was kept with love and care, each one had its own special meaning.

The selection of the few that were finally included in the publication was an extremely difficult and rigorous process. Inevitably, the emotional content of the cards gave way to the visual-historical content so that those finally published in the catalogue were selected.

The publication is “opened” by an informative historical text by the photography historian Alkis Xanthakis. Within a few pages the history of greeting cards and apostolic cards unfolds.

And Mr. Tsitouras chose not to follow a simple citation of the cards. The cards are divided by the year they were received and in the introduction of each section there is a chronology of the most important events of the year, a nice thought that was implemented with the contribution of Professor Elias Kolovos. Thus the album starts in 1973 with the Water Gate scandal and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and ends in 2023 with the tragedy of Tempi and the end of the pandemic. Browsing through the album, the reader will inevitably notice the contrast between the sad events, which are sadly absent in every year, and the hope that the Christmas cards and greetings echo.

Works of art by important artists, signatures and wishes of great personalities are included in the 306 pages of the book, which above all is a tribute to a habit that is being lost…