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Byzantine Museums around the globe

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Yiannis View Drop Down
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  Quote Yiannis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Byzantine Museums around the globe
    Posted: 20-Sep-2005 at 06:21

I can start by posting the link to the Thessaloniki one, it was recently awarded the Council of Europe's Museum Prize for the year 2005 for "the excellence of the museum and the balance between conservation, restoration and presentation", noting in particular the virtual absence of show-cases and the illustration of restoration work. It described the museum as "visitor-friendly, with an educational emphasis on children".

>>http://www.mbp.gr/html/en/index.htm

It's most recent exhibition has as theme "nutrition in Byzantium". According to it Byzantines (mainly in Constantinople) were consuming olive oil, olives, vegetables, cheese, sour milk & yogurt, nuts, a lot of bread and less meat, usually accompnied with various sauces. 

Many types of wine were produced: Kirros (white), Russios or Melas (red), Ritinites (retsina - a wine preserved with colophonium) as well as wines made of fruit(quinces, apples, pears, a.o.)

They used spoons, knives, plates and ceramic bottles to eat their food, but not forks (they were not invented yet). Cookware was made of coper, wood or ceramic.

Meat was consumed grilled, boiled or salted. Mainly lamp & goat meat and less beef or pork. But since the church had set more than 180 days per year of fasting, they din't have many opportunities to consume expensive and hard to preserve meat or fish products.

The first meal of the day was called "Ariston" but unlike ancient Greeks, Byzantines would consume it not in the morning but at midday. They had lunch in the afternoon and at night, before the sunset, they had dinner which was the main dish of the day. 

 

 

 

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  Quote Constantine XI Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Sep-2005 at 06:42
Interesting how their eating habits mirrored the Romans more than Hellines in the respect to how they prioritised their meals. Eating very little during the morning and building up to a satisfying dinner was a very Roman habit.

Incidentally there was a conference in Adelaide in 2003 which covered Byzantine food and eating. The Australian Association for Byzantine Studies sponsored the event IIRC.

For their age the Byzantines were often far in advance of their contemporaries in such cultural habits and inventions.


Edited by Constantine XI
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  Quote Byzantine Emperor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-Sep-2005 at 22:07
Did anyone get to attend the late Byzantine art exhibit that was at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art a few years ago?  I have looked at the book that was published by the Met with pictures and descriptions of all the pieces in it - beautiful Byzantine art! 
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  Quote Byzantine Emperor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03-Jul-2006 at 00:33
Have any of you Greeks (or anyone else for that matter) ever been to the Archaeological Museum of Mystras?  From what I can tell, it is located in the complex of the church of St. Demetrios.  I was told that at one time the museum had on display some of the only pieces of late Byzantine armor and weapons ever to be found.  Recently, as I was also told, the museum put up an exhibit of aristocratic clothing from the late Byzantine period.
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  Quote akritas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03-Jul-2006 at 06:45
You're right Byzantine Emperor.The Archaeological Museum of Mystras is housed in the two-storeyed building at the west wing of the north courtyard of the Cathedral of St. Demetrios. It was founded in 1951 and since then its collections have been considerably enriched.It contains collections of Byzantine sculpture, jewellery, pottery, coins, fragments of wall paintings, portable post-Byzantine icons, and pieces of fabric. Mystras is the best asnswer in those that support the Fallemayer theory.
 
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  Quote Constantine XI Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03-Jul-2006 at 07:04
What is the Fallemayer theory?
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  Quote akritas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03-Jul-2006 at 07:37
Originally posted by Constantine XI

What is the Fallemayer theory?
Is a theory that came from the German historician  Jacob Fallmerayer(middle 19th cent) by proposing that the Hellenic nation in Pelloponessus had perished in the Middle Ages by admixture with Slavs and Albanians. 

The major  argument of Fallmerayer was that the majority of the place names were Slavic.

The German Hopf bring down this allegation. He mentions that only 1/;40 of the geographical names in Peloponnesus is of Slavic origin. He adds also that wherever the Slavs settled within a few generations they absorbed everything, even the prevailing elements which were few and not dominant enough. And finally said that since this did not happened in Hellas then we must suppose that the Slavs did not outnumber the Hellenes and they did not flood or dominate the country.

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  Quote Anton Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03-Jul-2006 at 09:51
I may also recommend Byzantium collection in Hermitage museum in St.Petersburg. It is supposed to be second largest collection and is very interesting.
 


Edited by Anton - 03-Jul-2006 at 09:51
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  Quote Byzantine Emperor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03-Jul-2006 at 12:08
Originally posted by akritas

You're right Byzantine Emperor.The Archaeological Museum of Mystras is housed in the two-storeyed building at the west wing of the north courtyard of the Cathedral of St. Demetrios. It was founded in 1951 and since then its collections have been considerably enriched.It contains collections of Byzantine sculpture, jewellery, pottery, coins, fragments of wall paintings, portable post-Byzantine icons, and pieces of fabric. Mystras is the best asnswer in those that support the Fallemayer theory.
 
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Yes, I know this - I went to the same website!  For my purposes, whether or not Mystras supports the Fallemayer thesis is irrelevent.  Has anyone here actually gone into the museum before?  I am interested to know what pieces of late Byzantine armor they had.  Unfortunately the descriptions on the website were too vague. 
 
Also, I was informed that there is a museum in Sofia, Bulgaria that supposedly has some late period weapons and armor.  Can anyone confirm this?  Smile
 


Edited by Byzantine Emperor - 03-Jul-2006 at 12:10
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  Quote Aelfgifu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04-Jul-2006 at 09:53
How come every threas that's even vaguely connected to Greece/Turkey/Arabian peninsula/Balkan/ Eastern Europe always ends up in a discussion about who is supposedly superior? Who the F*** cares? This is a history site, and the issue is museums. Let's stick to it please?

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  Quote Yiannis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04-Jul-2006 at 10:05
Thanks Aelfgifu, for waking me up! For some strange reason, now that I've deleted all the irrelevant posts, the topic looks much better and I actually feel much better as well.
 
I think I'll continue along this line from now on!  Thumbs Up


Edited by Yiannis - 04-Jul-2006 at 10:05
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  Quote akritas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09-Jul-2006 at 03:19
The Byzantine Museum of Kastoria stands at the highest point of the city, in Dexamenis Square (Platia Dexamenis), next to the Xenia Hotel. It has been open since 1989. It has a collection of some 700 icons from the citys 75 Byzantine and post-Byzantine churches, and almost all of them have been restored and cleaned by the museums conservators. Of this large collection, 35 icons are on permanent display. They date to the 12th17th centuries and are divided into six groups on the basis of their age and the atelier which produced them.
 
 
 
The museum of the ancient,Byzantine and post-Byzantine musical instruments in Thessaloniki also is a good place.
 


Edited by akritas - 09-Jul-2006 at 03:21
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  Quote Anton Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-Aug-2006 at 18:57
I visited a good exposition today in York. It is about Constantine the Great. It was regarding 1700 anniversary of his proclamation as an Emperor in York. So, Yorkshire museum collected a lot of artefacts connected to him from around the globe and presented them there. I enjoyed it very much. And recommend those who are in the UK now to visit it.   
 
 
Some of the things in the exhibition
 
 
 
 
 
 
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  Quote Komnenos Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03-Aug-2006 at 14:27
Originally posted by Anton

I visited a good exposition today in York. It is about Constantine the Great. It was regarding 1700 anniversary of his proclamation as an Emperor in York. So, Yorkshire museum collected a lot of artefacts connected to him from around the globe and presented them there. I enjoyed it very much. And recommend those who are in the UK now to visit it.   
 
 
 
Looks like a great exhibition and some nice resources on the website too.
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