President
Lila de Chaves (b.1948, Athens) studied social and political sciences at the University of Geneva (Bachelor in Humanities) with a specialisation in geo-human comparative ethnology. She has done research and has extensively studied minor arts, acquiring a rare for that time specialisation in historic textiles, jewellery and clothing in their global dimension, always in relation to man. She was a professor in the Master of Art Programme of the South-eastern American College in Athens and a visiting lecturer at the Chair of Folklore Studies at the School of Philosophy of the University of Athens, supervising postgraduate students in the fields of “Textiles”, “Exvotos” and “Metalwork” in 1996. She teaches History of the art of textiles and jewellery in comparative ethnology fields as a visiting lecturer in many global universities, such as Stanford University in California, St. John Malta etc., as well as in museums, such as the Textile Museum in Lyon, the National Museum in Luxemburg etc.
She is a scientific partner of the Benaki Museum since 1980 and was the curator of the museum’s collection of Coptic art until 2000. In 1989, she created an innovative short-term training on jewellery for adults in the context of “Lifelong Learning” in which she taught for 23 years.
She is a founding member and President of HFFM, the Hellenic Federation of Friends of Museums, and of the non-profit organisation H&M, “Heritage and Museums” (Art, Culture & Education) in Athens, Paris and New York, having signed a Partnership Agreement since 2010 with EMF/EMYA of the Council of Europe in Liverpool.
She has also founded the Development Committee of the World Federation of Friends of Museums and was elected President of the Committee. During 2003-2010, she served as General Secretary of WFFM. She is a member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and CAMOC, EUROPA NOSTRA, LEM, NEMO, IACS and CIETA, as well as a member of the Institute for Graeco-Oriental and African Studies. During 2010-2015, she served as vice-president of the Foundation for the Mediterranean Culture and Environment in Paris. She has also served as Deputy President of the International Organisation of Folk Art of UNESCO (IOV). Serving as vice-president of Culture of the EAWC and the international organisation committee, in December 2006 she participated in the organisation of the welcome reception for the newly elected at the time Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon. During the 1990s, she was an advisor of the Hellenic Centre of Silver and Goldsmiths “ELKA” and the Hellenic Organization of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Handicraft (EOMMEX).
In 1998, she was invited to the V&A Museum in London, where she studied for the first time the corpus of the collection of Greek lace and wrote “Greek Lace at the Victoria and Albert Museum”, London, Indictos 1999. Her book “Greek Jewellery. History-Art-Technique. Catalogue of the European Conference of Jewellers.”, Volos 1993, addresses for the first time the historic evolution of Greek jewellery from the prehistoric period until today, aiming at not only highlighting Greek jewellery as mere ornamental objects but also at ensuring that they are recognized worldwide as an important field of the History of Art through their archaeological and historical museologicaldimension. She has written articles on the collections of the Benaki Museum in “KATHIMERINI”, “VIMA” and other newspapers. She has participated in international conferences, such as the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in Washington, the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku and in Abacan, Siberia, where she laid the foundation stone for the biggest museum in Eurasia, as a guest of honour of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Khakassia.
She has been awarded prizes by the Mayor of Taranto in Italy, the Mayor and the Consulate of Lyon etc. She has also been awarded prizes by Greek bodies, such as the “Friends of Europe” of the European Parliament Office in Athens, the Rotary Club Inner Wheel and the Exaleiptron Group in 2018, when she was awarded the prize of Culture as an international ambassador for the Greek Culture by the Mayor of Piraeus, Giannis Moralis.
She has been honoured by the President of France, Italy and the American Congress for her intercultural efforts and initiatives with the following honorary medals:
- Officier de l’ Ordre National du Mérite du President de la République Française, 2009
- Cavalliere del Ordine del Merito Ossi della Stella della Republica Italiana, 2007
- Congressional Award, House of Representatives, USA. 2003
