...more precisely, to the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens, where the exhibition 'Byzantium and the Others in the First Millenium' was inaugurated on 17th May 2018.

Athens is the second venue of the international travelling exhibition created in the framework of the CEMEC – Connecting Early Medieval European Collections project. The Hungarian National Museum, being a partner to the cooperation, has leased a number of outstanding early medieval aftefacts, such as the burial assemblage of the Kunágota Avar chief, the golden pseudo-buckle from Tépe and the golden cup of Bócsa, as well as the precious jewels of the ladies of Germanic origin whose graves have been excavated at the Avar Period settlement and cemetery site of Kölked-Feketekapu.

The main aim of the travelling exhibition – as well as that of the project, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union – is to familiarize visitors with the incredibly diversified communications network which once existed in early medieval Europe. Through this network, religious beliefs, cultural and artistic influences, political ideas travelled free from East to West and North to South throughout the contintent, having a decisive influence on the cultural and power structures being formed at this era.

At the Athens venue of the exhibition tour visitors can explore the 300-100 AD period from the point of view of the Byzantine Empire. Exhibited objects highlight numerous aspects of religious and intellectual life, warfare, trade and everyday life, all of which reflect on the stability of Byzantium as well as the turbulent transformations of the European historic scene.

The rich selection of original artefacts is complemented by state-of-the-art digital applications realized in the framework of the CEMEC project in order to enhance visitor experience: holoboxes, hands-on digital 3D models and the so-called Cross Cultural Timeline, a user-friendly artefact data base complete with wall projections and a touchscreen interface which visitors can use not only to have a close look at the smallest details of the objects but also to learn about their cultural and historical context.

'Byzantium and the Others in the First Millenium' will be on show in the Byzantine and Christian Museum until the 10th October 2018, after which it will travel to its next venue in the LVR Landesmuseum Bonn, Germany.