[...] This volume, published by the Hellenic Parliament, contains true-to-life reproductions of the most characteristic examples of the new Hellenic Parliament Art Collection. Chronologically, the works span the period from the early 19th century until the last decades of the century that has just come to a close; aesthetically, they mirror the codes and quests of modern and contemporary painting. However, it is my firm belief that they - along with the celebrated monumental frieze carved by Christos Kapralos, depicting the epic resistance of the Greek people against foreign invasion and occupation in the Pindos mountains - also transform into images and symbols those ideas and values that give meaning to the unique qualities of the Greek people: the love of freedom and homeland; faith in justice; the ability to incorporate and assimilate that which is borrowed or different; to bridge historical differences and calm the troubled waters of cultural tension; to resist threats to their national identity, and to render the international national, and the national universal. (Apostolos C. Kaklamanis, from the preface of the book)