He is considered the 20th century Giorgio Vasari and Bernardo de' Dominici.
Benakis offered him a scholarship to study at the École du Louvre in Paris.
Chatzidakis received a degree in Islamic art from the École du Louvre.
He helped organize and structure the framework of museums in Greece during the 20th century.
Greek diplomat and historian Dimitrios Sicilianos was one of the early proponents of the field.
He studied with Gabriel Millet and André Grabar in Paris under a scholarship from Antonis Benakis.
In 1953, Hatzidakis was sent to Zakinthos immediately after the earthquake, countless Greek artifacts were lost and destroyed from the fires.
Around the same period, he carried out research on Mount Athos, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Saint Catherine's Monastery, Ionian Islands, Crete and Venice.
He was also special representative of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem in the three-member committee for the restoration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during the mid-sixties and seventies.
He was disrupted under the Greek junta they confiscated his passports and removed him from the position.
When the Greek junta was overthrown, he returned as director of the Byzantine and Christian Museum .
The Greek government passed legislation that changed the composition of the council and transferred its responsibilities to the Ministries of Finance and Coordination.
The books featured hundreds of biographies about Greek painters including Georgios Klontzas, Emmanuel Tzanes, and Michael Damaskinos.
He was vice president of the board for the Educational Institute of the National Bank of Greece.
In 1985, he was appointed chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Byzantine Art Exhibition, he was 76 years old.
He was the principal advisor for the restoration of countless works of art at their laboratories.
He was also an advisor at the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art Research Center of the Academy of Athens.