On Wednesday I attended a lecture and viewing of Byzantine Art at the Getty Villa in Malibu. The exhibit is entitled "Heaven and Earth" Byzantine Sites, Monuments and Museums. The speakers were Dr. Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports and Anastasia Drandaki of the Benaki Museum, Athens. After their talks, we had an opportunity to roam the exhibit and most of the rest of the museum built as a replica of a villa in Herculaneum, Italy that was covered with ash and buried in the eruption of Mount Vescuvius 2000 years ago.
The mighty Byzantine empire lasted from A.D. 330 to 1453. The exhibit shows over 170 treasures from Greece and the evolution from a pagan base to a deeply spiritual Christian society. During that period the center of the empire was in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) which is located in the Bosporus Strait that links the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. Constantinople became the new capitol of the Roman Empire in A.D. 330. The Parthenon was converted to a Christian Church and the empire stretched from Greece to Italy to African to Asia Minor (Turkey). The empire fell to the Ottomans in 1453.
On Friday, I visited the Getty Center and viewed the exhibit "Byzantium and the West" which explores the influences of Byzantine art on Manuscript painting in Germany, Italy and Armenia. Here is a bit of what I saw at the Getty Villa on Wednesday and Friday:
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| Table Support with Orpheus Playing the Lyre, A.D. 300's, made in Asia Minor, marble |
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| Saint John, Gospel book, Byzantium, 1418 |
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| Archangel Michael, early 14th century, tempera on wood, gold leaf. |
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| Wall Mosaic with a Fountain, about A.D. 450, Thessaloniki, Greece, glass and gold |
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| The Getty Villa at sun set. |
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