The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 brought the Byzantine Empire to an end as a state entity. Nevertheless, this violent turning-point also marked the start of a new chapter in the history of Greece, in which the Byzantine heritage survived to the subjugated Greeks.


General view
Room 10: 'Byzantium after Byzantium': The Byzantine Legacy in the years after the Fall of Constantinople (1453-19th c.)
This exhibition concerns the period between the Fall of Constantinople and the end of the 19th century. The Byzantine legacy was especially apparent in the domain of religious painting, which developed in different approaches and styles in different areas and under different regimes (Ottoman or Venetian).

The paintings on display represent the various schools of painting in the Greek areas under Ottoman and Venetian rule. From the 16th century onwards, the monastic centres in Greece, especially Mount Athos, were very important in fostering art. Other exhibits include engravings, examples of the new genre of artistic expression adopted by the Orthodox Church in the 17th century. Other subjects are the cult of the neomartyrs and the burgeoning of monasticism in Macedonia in the 16th century, and the display also includes some outstanding examples of ecclesiastical gold embroidery and silverwork and liturgical books. Most of the latter artefacts are long-term loans from the Benaki Museum. Lastly, an approach is made to the survival of aspects of Byzantine culture in the private domain, with references to private worship and everyday life.
Third Community Support Framework

The organisation of the exhibition was co-funded by the Third Community Support Framework, Operational Programme "Culture".

The accusation and trial of Joseph, 1677-82, by Theodoros Poulakis
The accusation and trial of Joseph, 1677-82, by Theodoros Poulakis
The parts of Greece that were under Venetian rule enjoyed more favourable living conditions. Their contact with the West helped to graft elements of contemporary and earlier Italian painting onto their art, resulting in the development of local schools of painting, such as the Cretan and Ionian schools.

The Virgin Galaktotrophousa, 1784
The Virgin Galaktotrophousa
1784
In the Greek areas under Ottoman rule, subjugation to a conqueror of a different religious faith made people cling all the more to the tradition of Byzantine art.

Prelatical sakkos, 1745-53
Prelatical sakkos, 1745-53
The sakkos was made for Ioannikios, Bishop of Melnik, by the well-known painter Christoforos Zefar, and is an outstanding example of 18th-century embroidery.

Household equipment, 15th-19th cc.
Household equipment, 15th-19th cc.
Postbyzantine pottery is one of the sectors in which continuity with the Byzantine era is quite apparent. Glazed pottery used the same technology and similar decorative techniques and motifs to those of the Late Byzantine period.