The most complete information guide about Athens, Greece
Byzantine
and Christian Museum
The Byzantine and Christian Museum was founded in 1914. Initially
it was located on the ground floor of the Academy of Athens. In
1930 it was permanently transferred to the Ilissia Manson, the
winter residence of the Duchess of Piacenza, in the area between
Vasilissis Sofias and Vassileos Konstantinou avenues.
The
mansion was completed in 1848 by the architect Stamatis Kleanthis.
Its main entrance was opposite the River Ilissos, which was still
visible at that time. Under Professor Georgios Sotirou, Aristotelis
Zachos turned the interior of the mansion into a museum. From
1993 work began to expand the building on three underground levels,
taking advantage of the sloping ground so as to make more space
available for displays.
The
present mansion is similar to its predecessor. The main entrance
is still on Vasilissis Sofias avenue through a building with a
portal, which has “ILISSIA” inscribed on the arch.
The building was initially used to accommodate the servants. Today
it is home to the museum’s offices, library and research
department. Visitors going thought the portal are led into a rectangular
courtyard, which is defined by the mansion’s lateral buildings.
In the center of the courtyard is a marble fountain and an early
Christian mosaic. The walls around the yards have architectural
elements of various churches.
The
main building, one of the most important monuments in Athens,
consists of two floors and a basement. The northern side, which
looks less heavy thanks to a pillared arcade, is framed by two
corner tower-staircases. The narrow bass-relief panels on the
building indicate the separate floors. The external walls are
covered with marble. In general, the building looks more like
a Tuscan Renaissance villa with classical elements (dominant horizontal
lines, low enclosed towers), as well as romantic (arched vaults,
protruding roofs.
When
the extensions are complete, all 15.000 objects of the collection
will be easily displayed and the building will form a part of
a larger archeological park that includes Aristotle’s Lyceum
and a small open air amphitheatre.
The
museum’s large collection documents the development off
art from the early Christian period to the post-Byzantine years
(4th to 19th centuries). The collections includes sculptures,
paintings and small ornaments from Greece and other parts of the
Byzantine Empire such as Asia Minor, the Black Sea, Easter Trace,
Coptic Egypt and the Donubian Principalities, which more or less
covered the area of modern Romania.
The
collections also include around 3.500 icons, a larger number than
any other museum in the world has. The icons, from various parts
of the Byzantine world, cover the empire’s 1.000 years history
as well as the post-Byzantine period. Among the earliest are those
showing the Virgin Mary such as Glykofilousa (the Virgin Mary
kissing Jesus affectionately) from the 12th century – Northern
Greece, Odegetria (guiding Madonna) from the 13th century –
Cyprus) and under various names, for example the Episkepsis (the
Visitation) a mosaic from Triglia in Bithynia in Asia Minor and
the Akatamachetos (undefeated) from the 14th century.
Also
important is the 13th century icon with two images of Saint George
on either side, one painted and one sculpted, with scenes from
the saint’s life. Among the numerous post-Byzantine icons
(15th to 19th century) are rare signed works of famous Cretan
painters such as Angelos, Andreas Ritzos and Michaël Damaskenos.
The
largest part of the museum’s collection consists of around
4.000 religious and secular artifacts and ornaments. Among the
most important ones are oil lamps from Attica, Corinth, Asia Minor
and North Africa, decorated with scenes from the Roman and Christian
traditions, dating from the 3rd to the 6th century.
There
also are small ceramics phials of holy oil, also know as eulogies
(blessings), which were brought back by pilgrims from the Church
of Saint Menas near Alexandria. The collection also has ornate
crosses, reliquaries made of holy wood, post-Byzantine religious
artifacts, rare 24 carat golden coins from the Byzantine Empire
(the Avgeris Collection) as well as jewels from the 2nd to the
7th century and the Treasure of Mitilini (Lesvos), accidentally
discovered during excavations prior to the construction of the
airport, which includes valuable artifacts, gold coins and jewels.
The
sculptures collections consists of around 2.000 Byzantine
and post-Byzantine pieces. They are mostly architectural elements
from churches fallen into ruin in Attica and also decorative
works such as the famous small statue of Christ-Orpheus from
Aegina (4th century) and a bas-relief showing a nativity scene
from Naxos (ca. 400 AD), a rare piece of narrative sculpture
from the early Christian Era.
Equally
important, though less known, is the ceramics collection, which
consists of finds from excavations or shipwrecks from the area
of greater Greece and from Fostat in Egypt. It includes items
across the whole period of Byzantine art as well as early Christian
grave offerings and Byzantine glass-coated cooking pots.
There
also are numerous textiles, including Coptic material, donated
to the museum by Antonis Benakis, which cover the first seven
Christian centuries as well as ecclesiastical textiles from the
Byzantine and the post-Byzantine era (canonicals, epitaphs and
antimensia) many of which are outstanding samples of gold embroidery.
The earliest of these date from the 14th to the 15th century.
As their decoration is flat, they imitate paintings while the
post-Byzantine samples are influenced by western and popular art
and are embossed in imitation metalwork.
The
exhibits of the Byzantine and Christian Museum also include manuscripts,
wall paintings of the 13th and 14th century, mosaics, woodcuts,
anthiviolia, copper engravings, lithographs and copies painted
by famous Greek painters such as Fotis Kontoglou. The museum has
a conservation department and, since 1989, it has been organizing
education programs aimed mostly at schoolchildren to familiarize
them with the Byzantine world.