The Byzantine Fresco Chapel
Located in a separate building near the main collection, the Byzantine Fresco Chapel houses two 13th century Byzantine church frescos, an apse semi-dome of the Virgin Panagia and a dome with Christ Pantocrator (pictures on website). These were recovered from the illegal art trade, which removed them from a church in Lysi in Turkish-occupied North Cyprus during the 1980s. According to the museum they are the only such frescoes in the Americas. They are held at the museum by agreement with the Church of Cyprus, their owners.
In September 2011 the Collection announced that the frescos would be permanently returned to Cyprus in February 2012, an example of art repatriation. The future use of the chapel remains undecided.
Read more about this topic: Menil Collection
Famous quotes containing the words fresco and/or chapel:
“No man could bring himself to reveal his true character, and, above all, his true limitations as a citizen and a Christian, his true meannesses, his true imbecilities, to his friends, or even to his wife. Honest autobiography is therefore a contradiction in terms: the moment a man considers himself, even in petto, he tries to gild and fresco himself.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“One thing’s certain. With a name like Abrahams, he won’t be in the chapel choir, now will he?”
—Colin Welland (b. 1934)