‘Byzantium through the Centuries’ @ Russia’s Hermitage

A foremost event of the ongoing “Cross-year Greece and Russia” events, the “Byzantium through the Centuries” exhibition kicked off recently at the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.

Jointly organized by the Greek Culture & Sports ministry and the State Hermitage and running through to October 2, the show features 121 masterpieces spanning Byzantine history from the early centuries to the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453.

The works of art and craftsmanship showcased include sculptures, fragments of floor and wall mosaics, extracts of frescoes, bronze liturgical vessels, gold jewelry, cloisonné enamels, a two-meter 13th-century Shroud of Christ from Thessaloniki, 10th-15th century manuscripts as well as painted icons.

The show pieces have been lent by 22 cultural institutions in Greece  including museums, libraries and monasteries in Athens, Thessaloniki, Kastoria, Veria, Corinth, Sparta, Rhodes, Argos, Halkida, Viotia, Serres, Lesvos and the Cyclades.

The “Byzantium through the Centuries” exhibition aims to draw attention to the aesthetics, artistic style, beauty and harmony of Byzantine art, demonstrating meanwhile its Hellenistic origins.