Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d’Arte Antica, Turin, presents, from 10 May to 28 August 2023, the exhibition The Byzantines. Places, Symbols and Communities of an Over Thousand-Year-Old Empire, curated by Federico Marazzi with contributions from MANN - Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Palazzo Madama and the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sport and the collaboration, for the overall organisation of the exhibition, of Villaggio Globale International.
The exhibition, which was on view from 21 December 2022 to 10 April 2023 at MANN – Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, is coming to Turin, its second venue, where the exploration of the ‘long Byzantine millennium’ will be expanded to include a special section on Piedmont.
More than 350 objects – sculptures, mosaics, frescoes, tableware, seals and coins, extraordinary works in ceramic, enamel and silver, valuable gems and goldwork,important architectural fragments –tell the story of the structures, organisational systems, trade activity and rituals of a complex civilisation, at the same time revealing the Eastern Empire’s fine artisanship, cultural intersections, stylistic features and symbols across the centuries. In short, the artistic creativity of the ancient world moving towards the Middle Ages, using a language updated by the Christian faith and influenced by the East, in particular Iranian and Arab culture.
Hundreds of loans from major Italian museums and more than twenty Greek institutions are coming to Turin to tell the story of the millenary effort of an Empire intent on dialogue between the classical and Eastern worlds.
A Byzantium, linked to Piedmont, that would see the Principality of Achaea, oriented from the start towards the Greek and Byzantine East, give rise to the Savoy-Achaea Dynasty – formed by the marriage of Philip of Savoy and Isabella de Villehardouin, Princess of Achaea in 1301 – but also a very close link to the dynasty of the Palaeologi, which ascended to the imperial throne in 1261 along with Michael VIII Palaeologus and held onto it until the definitive decline of Byzantium in 1453, this western branch of the empire managing to revive the splendours of the Aleramici court, remaining in power until the death of the last of its line, John George, in 1533.
Mosaic panel with portrait of Pope John VII, 705-707, glass (Provenance: Vatican City, Oratory of San Giovanni VII). Vatican City, St. Peter's Factory
Bust with male portrait, ca. 400, marble. Thessaloniki, Archaeological Museum
Band bracelet 9th - 10th century, gold and glass, cloisonné enamel (Provenance: Thessaloniki, excavation in Dodekanisou Street). Thessaloniki, Museum of Byzantine Culture
Full ticket € 12Reduced ticket € 10Exhibition + museum, full ticket € 16Exhibition + museum, reduced ticket € 14
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