Your friend's story reminds me of a similar case. A non-greek classmate of mine, who graduated with a 1st class degree from an English university, moved in Greece straight after graduating. She stayed in Athens for a couple of years, doing voluntary work in the conservation lab of a big paintings museum but never managed to get a job. She now has a job in Dubai!

OK, Greece is a nice country, the sun, the ancient civilisation, the sea etc, etc, but if I were a non-greek, I doubt if I would like to find a job here! Life is expensive (one of the most expensive-to-live countries in Europe) and salaries are low. My first salary as a conservator was around 850 euros.

I really don't know if the whole situation will eventually change but I really hope so. A few years ago people in Greece barely knew what conservation is about - at that point I would like to add that the conservation school in the TEI of Athens was founded in the 1980s... Today people have just started to talk about conservation. New conservation-related courses are being founded, articles are being written, documentaries for the public are being made. We as individuals are the ones to make a change, we are the ones who should be responsible for making people and the state familiar with conservation, if we would ever wish for things to be changed. It is a pleasure of mine to teach fossil conservation to teenagers who come in the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest in order to attend our conservation-based educational programmes. When they step in, they see the fossils as 'worthless rocks', and 3 hours later, they end up loving both the fossils and the conservator's job, making lovely comments that make me say 'oh God, I really love this job'. Who knows? Maybe one day, these teenagers, after having grown up, may take the future of this country and its museums in their hands and say "hey, when I was a kid, there was a girl out there, in the island of Lesvos, who showed me that some things need special treatment so that future generations will be able to admire them the way I have. Now I have the power -political, economical, social or whatever- to do something about it myself. Yeah, let's do something for conservation!"

I have been reading with curiosity about the situation in Greece as you present it, and I found this kind of information is very useful for people. I have even recommended this topic to my friend, a mural paintings conservator with more then 10 years of experience, coordinator of several worksites. She had to move to Greece some time ago and yet she couldn’t find a job in her field. If for Greek conservators it is hard, then for foreigners is it "impossible"? Do you think the situation is going to change soon?

This is an issue that comes more and more often in discussion. For the museums i work with currently, the Museum of Helenic Folklore Art (MHFA) and the Jewish Museum of Greece (JMG, www.jewishmuseum.gr) some interesting corporate events are the following:

The MHFA houses storytelling in one of its buildings which is actually an Othoman Bathhouse. There are no collections currently there but there will be in the future. Still the Bathhouse is a historic building.

The JMG , houses the main furniture (eg. habimah and architectural ornaments) from the destroyed synagogue of Patras at the Greek Synagogues section. About a year and a half, a jewish religious ceremony of 'name giving' took place at the museum and it was requested to be done at the synagogue of Patras. By the end, out of good organisation and a bit of luck no collections were affected. Yet, i consider this to be beneficial for the museum, but risky.

I would really like to hear other cases as well from other museums, from the inner sight by conservators.

Interesting topic! Much can be said about this. In some countries, this external financial support is working since very long time ago while in other countries only very recently have been introduced. I believe this happens also due to political will, and not only because of the museum decision. It is always a positive thing once the collection conservation is assured.
In case the museum is accommodating "corporate events" it does not imply necessarily that the museum will receive more visitors, especially if they do it for financial need. For example, there are museums that are renting their gardens or some conference rooms that are apart/independent from the visitor circuit. Not very long time ago I went to a conference in the Hermitage and it was in a part completely independent from the main building, with its own entrance and everything. Of course in the last day we could go to visit the museum but we were so few when compared. I have also been in others where the conference is only held in the museum but there is no visit included, also because the schedule may not fit with the normal opening of the museum.
In case the museum is hosting some events that will increase significantly the number of visitors, of course it has to be certified that the increase of the visitors will not have a negative effect over the collections. I'm hoping the museums have always this concern. However, it always depends from which kind of collection is and the number of visitors. Were you having in mind a specific case?

It is good to meet you in here Evagelia, Hope you visit Athens soon,

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When I returned in Greece in 2004, I realised that it was easier for the IEK graduates to find a job in conservation than it was for the TEI graduates. I also found that it is quite hard for a university graduate to find a job in Greece, perhaps because in Greece there is no university for conservators. There is only one TEI, located in Athens, and approximately 40 students are enrolled annually, whereas there is a number of private and state IEKs. A personal estimation is that in an excavation field, 10 people are IEK graduates, 2-3 are TEI graduates and 1 or even none is a university graduate. I assume that this is because of budget restrains. An IEK graduate is less well paid than a TEI graduate, not to mention a university graduate. What makes it even harder for conservators to find a job in Greece is that most places require for applicants to have several months' professional experience.

Hello Evangelia!

Welcome! We are glad to see you here.
That is a quite detailed and impressive cv. It is amazing how you can manage to do so many things 
I visited your museum website and it seems very interesting. Good luck with your paper!

It is a curious system, but somehow familiar. I wasn't aware of how the system works in Greece. It is a good information for the education section. For sure we will dedicate a number to Greece in a future number.
Just by curiosity, do these technicians find a place in the market easily?

Hello
My name is Evangelia Kyriazi and I come from Greece, and particulary Lesvos, the 3rd biggest greek island, located on the north-eastern Aegean Sea.

I studied Conservation and Restoration in the University of Lincoln, England, and since 2006 I have been working as the head conservator in the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest (www.lesvosmuseum.gr). Before working here, I did placements in the Benaki Museum in Athens-Greece, the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens-Greece, the Museo Egizio (Museum of Egyptian Antiquities) in Turin-Italy and the Teriade Museum-Library (museum with original prints of the Verve editions of publisher Teriade, with printings of Matisse, Picasso, etc). I have attended seminars on the use of lasers in the cleaning of works of art, and seminars on the restoration of ancient books. In 2007 I have taught conservation of fossils in the vocational training centre of the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest. My first paper will be presented in the 2008 IIC Congress in London in September 2008.

I speak greek, english, italian and german. My hobbies include acting (I am a member in an amateur theatre group), mountain-bike, in-line skating and enduro riding (I ride a CRE 250X)