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| The Attarouthi Treasure, Syria, 550-650 |
I had seen the Medieval areas back in 2005 -- before I started going through all the rooms meticulously -- so I decided it was time to revisit those areas, which includes a Byzantine section and a separate department devoted to Arms and Armor. The first galleries off the Great Hall is devoted to Byzantine Art, and the first thing one encounters is the impressive golden chalices from the Attarouthi Treasure.
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| Glass vessels with Jewish and Christian symbols |
The prior evening, coincidentally, we had a discussion about whether the main market street of the Old City of Jerusalem had changed over the centuries. It turned out I was right: it had not. I discovered a display (pictured here) suggesting that even in the 6th century, merchants were selling souvenirs to visiting pilgrims. Although hard to decipher now, some of these have Jewish symbols, some Christian, to accommodate all possible buyers (Muslims weren’t around yet). After this one gallery, the rest of the family joined me, and we saw the extensive special exhibit, Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom.
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