Sorry I took so long.
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Originally posted by orange
Well...I'd like to know basic things about art and architecture...pictures of important work, styles, etc. Basically, whatever you can provide the better off I'll be.
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The subject is huge. I'm sorry but the best I can do is simply give you 3 very general indices, that you'll propably already know.
There's the architectural styles of classical Greece, those have been enough documented by most countries.
The byzantine or new roman styles are a category all of their own. The most significant example of that is Agia Sophia in Constantinople.
From the Byzantine styles also come the various architectural styles of various orthodox churhes and monasteries, from Agios Oros and Meteora to the all white small chapels that can be found mostly in the Aegean Islands.
Modern architectural styles have been heavily influenced by the Neo Classical design. Such buildings can be found planted among many cities, Athens included. The parliement is an example, although not thebest, of the Neo Classical architectural style.
Greece is very varied architecturally. What you will see in Athens, you will not see it in Ipirus (NW Greece) or Thrace (NE Greece) or the islands of the Aegean.
A panspermia of architectural styles can be found on the island of the knights, Rhodes, which actually is a mini history of all major architectural styles of Europe. From ancient classical, to byzantine, to frankish, venecian etc etc.
Art in general is also divided in 3 distinctive parts. Classical, again plenty of documentation on that, Byzantine and modern. Byzantine art is minimalistic and personified after the econoclastic wars of Byzantium. The music of Byzantium was based on vocals and continues to be so in orthodox litourgies. Maybe they'll burn me at the stake for saying this, but under the theocratic governance of Byzantium art producation apart for religious works had suffocated.
Modern art is more or less the same as you can find in other countries of today. Poetry is very developed in Greece. Poets have received the Nobel price for their works (Oddysseas Elytis springs to mind) but there are also dozens of other poets, most neo romantic although such classifications are too " western" which are not known because of the language barrier. Kazantzakis, another nobel price winner, has written the last temptation of christ (which brought a lot of controversy when it was made into a movie), the life and deeds of zorba and other works such as askitika. There are other writers I like very much but they are new and I doubt you can find any works of theirs in english.
Music is very big in Greece. 80% of the music products which are bought are made in Greece. This is the highest % in the EU.
There are tones of genres that do not exist in western Europe. (I say western Europe because to my mind Greece is a sui generis country, not exactly western not exactly eastern - eastern not in regards to political orientation but to cultural foundations) .
Some musicians which are quite worth mentioning and relatively not so obscure are Hatzidakis and Theodorakis.
BTW When you come to Athens be prepared to have all its uggliness thrown at your face. It's just like that. I guarantee a cultural shock when you come. The city will look monstous to you (was designed for 500.000 people and now has over 5 million), the people too loud and the heat excruciating. Once you overcome the initial shock you'll find that the best parts of Athens are like carefully guarded secrets which you will discover in time. Athens just throws all its ugly points at first and then you can spend a lifetime discovering its beauties, which are many.
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Oh, and I'll PM you with where I'll be and stuff, so perhaps we can meet up and get some grub, or something 
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Cool.
