A large collection of treasures form the Holy Mountain (icons, paintings objects) many of which have never been seen outside of Greece…

We never need an excuse to go back to the Petit Palais. It’s a fascinating museum, incredibly beautiful, and the temporary exhibition are always fascinating.

The new exhibition, succinctly titled “Mount Athos and the Byzantine Empire, Treasures of the Holy Mountain” looks exceptional. Mount Athos (that the Greeks know as the “Holy Mountain”) is a mysterious place that has fascinated people for the last thousand years. The northern peninsula of Chalkidiki is one of the most beautiful places in Greece. Its plains and small hills rise sharply inland, reaching up to over 2,000m. This is Mount Athos, looking over 360 km2 of land with gulfs on every side.

This magnificent peninsula has been the shelter for orthodox monks for over a thousand years, vowed to silence and isolation, far from the bustle of the world.

Even if a few male visitors – essentially pilgrims or scientists – can request authorisation to enter the monasteries, women are not allowed.
Over the centuries, numerous historical, artistic and spiritual treasures have been amassed: charts, icons,  jewellery and illuminated manuscripts.

The exhibition is an exceptional retrospective that brings together an important number of Byzantine treasures belonging to the monks of Mount Athos, dating from the 9th- to the 18th Century.

Two hundred works of art are exposed, picked from the collections of nine Greek monasteries on Mount Athos:: Vatopedi, Iviron, Dionysiou, Pantocrator, Karakalou, Simonopetra, Saint Paul, Xenophontos, Osiou Gregoriou and the Protaton church in Karyes, administrative headquarters of the Holy Mountain. They show all the different facets of the vivacity and artistic production of this higly sacred place, especially the relationship between the peninsual and the Byzantine emperors.