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The Sistine Chapel enchants the visitor by the splendid harmony it radiates as a concept fully realised, by the unmatched artistic qualities of the individual works, the profound ideas that govern the planning of the paintings and the splendid, robust and lively figures created by Michelangelo and other artists. In this book, jointly produced by the Musei Vaticani and Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the chapel' s paintings are examined in relation to the theological interpretations prevailing in that period. Many of these works have already been presented in isolation by leading experts on the chapel, with detailed descriptions and comments. However, its recent restoration makes possible a new approach to interpreting the pictures, based among other factors on the symbolism of the colours.

Thanks to the variety of shapes and decorated surfaces found in vases, the art of pottery developed a more extensive repertoire of subjects related to the sea than any other art form. The forty-two characteristic examples of marine iconography included in this catalogue come mainly from the collections of the Louvre, though also from those of other museums. They are divided into four groups: marine fauna and seafaring, the deities of the deep, the voyages of gods and heroes who crisscrossed the ocean, and, finally, the miraculous birth of the goddess who emerged from the waves, Aphrodite, born from the foam. The variety and aesthetic quality of marine scenes in vase-painting reveal once more the importance of the sea to Greek civilization.

Watermark, by the Dutch artist Gisele Aphroditi Lubsen, contains 50 underwater photographs on the subject of the woman. Inspired by the most important female members of the ancient Greek pantheon, these photographs suggest a new approach, with emphasis on femininity. This is a beautiful, pioneering book, not only in terms ?of its content, but also from an aesthetic and technical point of view.

The North Pole, the magical kingdom of silence, has always given the impression that it would remain unchanged forever amidst its boundless tracts of ice. But the ice is beginning to melt, the icebergs of Greenland are breaking up and this legendary landscape, threatened by global warming, is gradually being destroyed. As early as the spring of 1987, Francis Latreille began to take photographs of the frozen waste of the Arctic, providing moving testimony to this alien, yet at the same time enchanting, world, and also to his admiration for those who dwell in these inhospitable regions, and their demanding way of life. Through this album, on the eve of the fourth International Polar Year, ?he pays tribute to the white paradise and its magical light, and to all those who live in or study the Arctic.

Linear B, a New Outlook", by Nicholas A. Massouridis, is the product of thirty years' study of the phonetic values of the signs of the Linear B script. Proof that Massouridis's method is correct was provided by the fact that the values have been applied for ten years by his son, Pandelis Masouridis, who has worked on the texts of tablets from Pylos and Knossos, and have also been applied for the first time to the reading of dedications and Linear A tablets from Ayia Triada. Readers will be enchanted by the wonderful world and descriptive wealth of the composite words of the Greek language found in the tablets, as this language evolved towards the Homeric dialect.

The subject of this book is the domestic and foreign policy of Charilaos Trikoupis, the great 19th-century Greek politician. It deals in particular with a basic aspect of his economic development programme: the construction of public works. The development of Greece is considered in detail through the construction of the rail and road networks, the cutting of the Corinthian canal, and the draining of lake Kopais. All these projects bear the stamp of Trikoupis and have set their seal on the development of the Greek state to the present day.

The economic life of Thessaloniki and Macedonia in general is unfolded through stocks issued by limited companies during an important period of its history (1870-1940), which covered the final years of the Turkish occupation and saw the incorporation of the city and region into the modern Greek state. A total of 84 stocks are presented, most of them shares or company bonds, accompanied by details of the foundation and history of the issuing companies, the majority of which were based in Thessaloniki. The illustrations on the stocks are highly interesting. Their variety of subjects and colour harmony is particularly striking at the present day, when stocks have become immaterial and no longer have their traditional printed form.

The book "The Gold of the World" traces the course followed by man through the world and through the centuries in his quest for gold. It begins with man's first acquaintance with the precious metal and continues with his search to locate it and the techniques and methods by which he worked it. It is a chronicle that examines man's relations with gold through myth, art, religion, the economy and everyday life. A wealth of illustrations covers every period of human history, from prehistory to the major ancient civilizations and from the America of Conquistadores to the Europe of the great artists.