Post-Byzantine Art in Athens

Today, the Byzantine Museum in Athens opened the doors to the reinstallation of its sizable collection of "Post-Byzantine" art. According to Kathimerini, the new installation includes 243 icons, 30 frescoes and 24 sculptures, material that had been out of view for the last 10 years. I wish I were in Athens to see the opening of these galleries in the basement of the glorious Villa Ilissia with its own interesting history. It is here that, in 1930, Aristotle Zachos designed four medieval rooms from disparate fragments. Scholars may be familiar with the collections of the Byzantine Museum in Athens through Myrtale Acheimastou-Potamianou's catalog, Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art (Athens, 1985). Anastasia Lazaridou curated the new installations.

The one thing I regret is the unsatisfactory label "Post-Byzantine" that still holds currency. Post-Byzantine starts with the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and typically ends arbitrarily at 1850. I like to joke that we continue to live in the Post-Byzantine period.