The Museum of Byzantine Culture in collaboration with the Holy Bishopric and the Municipality of Morphou, Cyprus participates in the events of Thessaloniki’s 4th Biennale of Contemporary Art with the exhibition “The veneration of Saint Mamas in the Mediterranean”, realized within the framework of the “5 Museums’ Movement in Thessaloniki”(5M).

For the first time, the exhibition presents the broad dissemination of Saint Mamas’, which until today remains alive among different peoples across the Mediterranean. Artifacts from Greece and Cyprus, but also rich photographic material cover a period from the 6th c. to our time.

Initially, the exhibition traces the identity of the saint, martyred in Caesarea during the years of the Emperor Aurelianus (270-275 a.D.), as well as the origin of the iconographic type as a shepherd boy. The main part of the exhibition focuses on the diffusion of Saint Mamas’ veneration in Cyprus, Constantinople, Eastern Mediterranean and Greece. A special reference is made to the relation between Mamas and Demetrius, patron-saint of Thessaloniki, highlighting their healing and myrrh-streaming powers. The exhibition ends with the diffusion of the saint’s veneration in the medieval West.

Through churches, wall-paintings, icons, objects of metalwork, religious fairs and place names a common tradition is displayed, a tradition that survives in several parts of the Mediterranean. The exhibits and the photographic material come from the collections of the Museum of Byzantine Culture, public museums, private collections and Ephorates of Antiquities around Greece, as well from museums and churches of Cyprus.



IN COOPERATION WITH:

Holy Bishopric of Morphou, Cyprus

Municipality of Morphou, Cyprus

Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, Historical Archaiv Bank of Cyprus

Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem

Hellenic Ministry of National Defence

Greek Embassy in Nicosia

Holy Bishopric of Lemesos, Cyprus

Holy Bishopric of Kykkos and Tylliria, Cyprus

Holy Bishopric of Tamasos and Orinis, Cyprus

Museum of Kykkos Monastery, Cyprus

Byzantine Museum and Art Gallery of the Archbishop Makarios III Foundation, Nicosia

Ministry of Communications and Works, Department of Antiquities, Nicosia

Holy Monastery of Vatopedi, Mount Athos

Holy Monastery of Dionysiou, Mount Athos

Holy Diocese of Cassandria, Halkidiki

Academy of Athens Research Centre for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art

Byzantine & Christian Museum, Athens

1th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Αthens

2th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Αthens

3th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Chios

4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Rhodes

5th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Sparta

8th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Ioannina

10th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Polygyros

13th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Herakleion

16th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Kastoria

19th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Trikala

23th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Chalkida

26th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Kalamata

28th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Rethymno, Chania

Ephorate of Private Archaeological Collections

Agioritiki Estia. Mount Athos Center

Society for Macedonian Studies Library, Thessaloniki

Georgios Tsolozidis Collection

Arsen and Roupen Kalfayan Collection

Museo Correr

Yale University Art Gallery

Ville d'Auxerre

Direction de la Culture, Service de l'Inventaire, Region Champagne-Ardenne

Agence photographique, Reunion des Musees Nationaux

Picture Library, National Gallery London