c.1954 Greece Rhodes Acropolis of Lindos Greek Line Travel C. Neucia

Date: c.1954
Artist: Neucia, C.
Size (in): 31.75” x 23.5”
Size (cm): 80.5 x 59.7
Condition: B+
Linen backed: No

This vintage original poster was first issued by the National Tourist Organization of Greece in 1952 to promote travel to Rhodes, the largest of the country’s Dodecanese Islands, as a travel destination. This version here, overprinted with advertising for the Greek Line shipping company and the TSS Olympia, was likely issued a year or two later probably around 1954.  

The Acropolis of Lindos is a natural citadel which has baffled archeologists and scholars of the ancient world for generations because the same site was fortified successively by the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans. Remains of The Temple of Athena Lindia, a significant Pan-Hellenic shrine of Athena and arguably the regional center of her cult, is depicted against the brilliant azure of the Aegean Sea and a cloudless sky. The lower margin is printed “No. 24 – 5,000 – 10.52 – Edited By The National Tourist Organization” and “Printed In Greece By The Phoenix, Ltd. Athens”.  We can date this poster a year or two later because the TSS Olympia, the only ship commissioned as new construction by the Greek Line, did not launch until 1953.   

This poster is a vintage original free of tape or pinholes.  The poster has two short tears without paper loss at the bottom edge and a small bit of contact surface loss to the paper on the back of the poster near the lower left corner.   This poster is otherwise in excellent condition and doesn’t look like it was hung up or used with the original vibrant colors well retained.