Please contact Faith Warn
Telephone +44 (0)7890 533872 or +30 6944 750389

Briefing points for journalists

A rare kouros statue is on display for the first time in a new museum on Kalymnos Island. In its androgynous look and serene smile, Buddha meets Mona Lisa. It was sculpted in the Archaic era, 530 BC, when elements of Classical Greece were being formed.

The kouros is the oldest and most valuable of 26 statues in a record-breaking discovery, the only haul of antiquities of its kind in Greece and the biggest find for 50 years. The sculptures span five centuries and were buried at the site of a temple to the god Apollo on Kalymnos

Marbles and fragments from the same site are in the British Museum and its staff are collaborating with Greek archaeologists. The pieces were excavated and taken to London by Sir Charles Newton in the 1850s. He was the museum's first Greek and Roman director.

Writer Faith Warn, who has lived on Kalymnos, has studied the kouros, its historical and archaeological importance and philosophical meaning. She sees a spiritual message of hope and links with the egalitarian culture of Minoan Crete. Her work is endorsed by Kalymnos's mayor.

Kalymnos is a rocky island with a strong traditional culture and a tragic history of sponge diving. It has become a mecca for sport climbers. Kalymnos lies in the Dodecanese Islands, north of Kos, and is about 5 by 10 miles (8 by 16km) with a population of some 14,000.

Olympic Airlines flights go direct to Kalymnos from Athens and ferries from Piraeus. Between May and October, charter flights from many European countries go to Kos, with frequent ferries to Kalymnos. There is plenty of accommodation, with many tavernas and cafes.