AFTER MORE than two decades on loan to Houston’s Menil Collection art museum, two 13th-century Byzantine frescoes are finally going home to Cyprus.
The frescoes — described by Menil Director Josef Helfenstein as “beyond rare” — came to Houston in 1988 and were housed in a consecrated chapel specially built for them on the Menil campus in 1997. The frescoes are now scheduled to return to Cyprus this coming Thursday, and Andrew Schofer, the Chargé d’Affaires at the American Embassy, could not be more pleased.
“The US government is committed to protecting the cultural heritage of Cyprus as evidenced by the Memorandum of Understanding on the Protection of Cultural Property between our two governments,” said Schofer. “The agreement between the Menil Collection and the church benefitted both institutions, but now it is time for the frescoes to come home.”
Before coming to the attention of museum founder Dominique de Menil in 1983, the frescoes had been stolen from the church of St. Evphemianos in Lysi, and cut into 38 pieces by thieves intending to sell them on the black market. Told by a London art dealer that the fragmented frescoes were available for purchase, de Menil grew suspicious and began researching the frescoes’ provenance.
As the largest intact Byzantine frescoes in the Western Hemisphere, the paintings quickly became a popular attraction at the museum, but their journey from Cyprus to Houston and back again is a story of theft, detection and rescue.
Discovering that the frescoes’ rightful owner was the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus, the Menil Foundation — which runs the museum — bought the fragments on behalf of the church, with the church’s permission. The foundation undertook a meticulous restoration of the paintings, which was carried out in London from 1984–1988 by British conservator Laurence Morocco.
In return for the foundation’s help, the Church of Cyprus agreed to a long-term loan of the frescoes and approved their display at the Menil Collection museum.
The frescoes’ restoration, according to Menil chief conservator Brad Epley, was as challenging as the most complex jigsaw puzzle, if not more so.
One of the frescoes depicts Christ Pantokrator (“Christ All-Sovereign” or “Almighty”). Christ is shown with one hand raised in blessing and the other holding a closed book representing the Gospels. This fresco, originally installed in the dome of the Lysi church, would have had a curved shape to fit the dome’s dimensions. But because of the way the fresco had been removed from its setting, “the painting fragments were flattened,” said Epley.
After the Menil built its Byzantine Fresco Chapel and the newly restored frescoes were in place, the structure was opened to the public. The frescoes have been protected “in a carefully controlled environment, in terms of light, temperature and humidity control.
On two occasions, a conservator from the Cyprus Department of Antiquities went to the US and did a couple of minor treatments to ensure the frescoes’ preservation. “This same conservator came over from Cyprus” to assist in their transport home, said Epley. “She and I will be doing a very careful examination, with photos, to document the paintings’ condition.” The frescoes “will be lowered to the floor and removed from the chapel with a crane; then each fresco will be placed in a specially prepared crate and that crate will be placed in a second crate to provide additional protection.” The Cypriot conservator will take custody of the artworks and accompany them on the plane to Cyprus.
Sunday was the last day for Houston visitors to see the frescoes. Attendance at the Menil has increased substantially since the museum announced the paintings’ imminent departure, said Epley. For more information, see the website of the Menil Collection and also the museum’s Byzantine Fresco Chapel website.
