ARTISTS
Afterlives: Contemporary Art in the Byzantine Crypt
Artists and artisans have been intrigued and inspired by the topic of death and visions of life thereafter for millennia. Afterlives: Contemporary Art in the Byzantine Crypt brings together modern-day works that reckon with death and visualize the afterlife and Byzantine Egyptian funerary art and artifacts in the Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery known as the Byzantine Crypt (Gallery 302). The intimate and enchanting gallery with exposed brick walls and arched portals was unveiled in the year 2000 after a renovation that reclaimed the space beneath the Museum’s Grand Staircase. In this transhistorical presentation, the Byzantine Crypt’s religious and secular jewelry, textiles, ivory objects, vessels, and architectural sculpture from Early Christian and Coptic monastic sites are complemented and enriched by contemporary sculptures, works on paper, and installations from the 1960s to present day that similarly serve as memorials, reliquaries, and tokens to ward off evil.
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Artists and artisans have been intrigued and inspired by the topic of death and visions of life thereafter for millennia. Afterlives: Contemporary Art in the Byzantine Crypt brings together modern-day works that reckon with death and visualize the afterlife and Byzantine Egyptian funerary art and artifacts in the Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery known as the Byzantine Crypt (Gallery 302). The intimate and enchanting gallery with exposed brick walls and arched portals was unveiled in the year 2000 after a renovation that reclaimed the space beneath the Museum’s Grand Staircase. In this transhistorical presentation, the Byzantine Crypt’s religious and secular jewelry, textiles, ivory objects, vessels, and architectural sculpture from Early Christian and Coptic monastic sites are complemented and enriched by contemporary sculptures, works on paper, and installations from the 1960s to present day that similarly serve as memorials, reliquaries, and tokens to ward off evil.
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Beneath the grand staircase at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, a dark and intimate gallery sits tucked away.
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