POWERFUL ART

Many visitors flocking to Greece for the Olympic Games in August this year are expected to make a trip to one of the numerous exemplary museums and galleries detailing the country’s rich cultural past. This desire to see some of the stunning archeological finds that conjure images of past civilizations is an international phenomenon, and exhibitions of such objects all over the world are thronged with people eager for fascination.

One such opportunity will be the Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557) exhibition running from March 23 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It will bring together more than 350 masterpieces of Byzantine art from some 30 nations, including Greece, Bulgaria, Egypt, France, Italy, Romania, and Russia. The exhibition will explore the artistic and cultural significance of the era.

The Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Philippe de Montebello comments, “We are particularly honored by the exceptional support offered by the countries of the former Byzantine sphere, especially Greece. In fact, Greece’s monasteries and cultural centers [...] produced moving religious art and at the same time encouraged a revival of classical learning that inspired the Renaissance in Italy. After Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453, Mistras survived for nearly a decade. Thus, appropriately, it is a Greek site that is the last outpost of the great Empire that our exhibition celebrates."