2-974-280 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Last Defenders of Missolonghi, 22 April 1826: an episode from the Greek War of Independence, 1826. The Greeks, besieged by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire, held out for almost a year before they ran out of food. The remaining inhabitants of the town are about to blow themselves up with barrels of gunpowder. Men embrace as a high priest points a pistol at a barrel of gunpowder, and Turkish soldiers break down the door.