 yzantine museum,
founded in 1914, is located on Vasilissis Sofias
Avenue, not far from Syntagma Square. The
beautiful mansion, which has housed the museum since 1930, was
designed in 1848 by Stamatios Kleanthis for Sophia
de Marbois, the Duchess of Piacenza. The
museum collection includes objects dating from the
4th to the 19th century, some of which are unique
and important for a better understanding of
Byzantine art and culture. The ground floor of the
museum displays partial reconstructions of three
churches -- an early Christian basilica with three
aisles (ill. 5), a middle-Byzantine
church with a traditional cross-in-square plan, and a post-Byzantine chapel. The
first floor features a selection of frescoes,
embroideries, textiles, examples of applied art,
and, last but not least, Byzantine icons, among
which the most important are the 13th-14th-century
mosaic icon of the Virgin Odigitria called
Episkepsis or the Visitation (ill. 7), and the 13th-century
carved hagiographical icon of St.
George (ill. 6).
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