Byzantium show heads to Britain with modern lessons

By Mike Collett-White

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - The next "blockbuster" show at London's Royal Academy will focus on Byzantium, bringing together what organizers say is a unique collection of artifacts and ideas that can teach us about the world we live in today.

"Byzantium: 330-1453" will run at the central London gallery from October to March, 2009, and feature some works of art that can rarely, if ever, be seen by the public.

"The objects are now old, fragile and difficult to transport," said curator Robin Cormack at Friday's press announcement of the show. "I really think you will never see these objects together again. This will be the last time."

One of the aims of the exhibition is to address some of the bad press Byzantium has received through the ages.

He quoted both English historian Edward Gibbon and French philosopher Voltaire dismissing the empire with disdain.

"We hope to put together a new view of Byzantium for the 21st century," he said. "We want to show that 1,000 years is not continual decline."

Asked whether he saw parallels between Byzantium and the world today, Cormack replied:

"I don't think you can understand Putin's Russia without understanding Byzantium.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was Russian president for eight years until stepping down in May.

"What's interesting about Putin is his orthodoxy, his support of the Orthodox Church, his development of Russia using this combined notion of church and state supporting and supplementing each other."

"HOLY GRAIL" AMONG TREASURES

Byzantium was the name given to the Greek-speaking empire concentrated around the Mediterranean Sea. The Royal Academy will focus on the period between the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD to the time when the city, now Istanbul, fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

It will follow the development of the empire chronologically, beginning with some of the earliest pieces of Christian sculpture from the 3rd century.

It explores the threat to art posed by iconoclasm, when emperors banned Christian figurative art, and the post-iconoclast revival.

Among the highlights on display will be the Antioch Chalice, dated between 500 and 550, which was believed by some to be the Holy Grail, or the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper, when it was discovered in around 1911.