Mosaics, paintings, jewelry, ceramics, manuscripts from the 4th to the 15th century in Africa: the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York exhibits 200 ancient and medieval jewels, witnesses to a thousand years of influence of the Byzantine Empire on the Christian communities of Egypt, Tunisia and Ethiopia.
One of the richest museums in the world has brought together gems from collections from Africa, Asia and Europe for an unprecedented exhibition, “Africa & Byzantium”, from Sunday until March 3, 2024.
The Met presented it this week to a few journalists in the presence of its partners, the Egyptian and Tunisian governments and the oldest Coptic Orthodox monastery in the world, Saint Catherine of Sinai, in Egypt.
Bringing together artistic, religious, literary and archaeological treasures, “Africa & Byzantium” first shows the impact of the Byzantine Empire — or Eastern Roman Empire — from its capital Constantinople (formerly Byzantium) on Christianity which spread in the Horn of Africa from the 4th to the 7th century.
Other works from the 8th to the 15th century, in an exceptional state of conservation, also testify to the influence of Byzantium on the arts of Christian communities and kingdoms in Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, until the fall of Constantinople in 1453, which became Istanbul in the hands of the Ottomans.
It is, underlined by Met director Max Hollein, “to deepen our knowledge of Byzantine and early Christian art within the framework of a broader vision of the world”.
– “Universal” Byzantium –
For its curator Andrea Achi, the exhibition shows how “different communities linked to Byzantium flourished within African empires and kingdoms for more than a thousand years”, particularly among “the first African Christian civilizations”.
Painted manuscripts, textiles, marble mosaics, carved ivories from Nubia, gold jewelry from Egypt, wall paintings: pieces shown for the most part for the first time in the United States.
They allow us to “explore” the links between “cultural and multi-faith communities”, from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, mixing Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Christian and Jewish traditions, explained the Met in a press release.
The exhibition received the personal blessing of Orthodox Archbishop Damianos of Saint Catherine of Sinai, who alluded to the current crises in the Middle East.
“Byzantium was universal and offered freedom, unity, reconciliation, respect and peace. A peace that we desperately need in our world today,” the religious dignitary emphasized to a few journalists.
And Tunisian Minister of Cultural Affairs Hayet Guettat Guermazi welcomed to AFP that her country is exhibiting its “rich cultural heritage resulting from the mix of different civilizations that have occupied the Mediterranean” and a “local African background”.
2023-11-19 14:29:02
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