What a great museum! Who would have guessed. This gem focuses on the lost period in Greece, the early Christian period and then the Byzantinne period, between Rome and the Ottoman conquest. It had so much information about that time period, and helped us to understand the origins of Greek identity. The Orthodox religion is so central to Greek identity, and we westerners don't get it. Constantinople was one of the twin capitals of the Christian empire. Then when Rome fell in 410 AD, Constantinople became the only capital -- it WAS the Roman Empire. It didn't fall until 1204 AD when the crusaders sacked Constantinople on their way to the Holy Land in the 4th crusade. Even then, parts of the Byzantine Empire still held on until the Turks captured Theodoro in 1475. So a direct continuation of the Roman Empire lasted another 1000 years in the east, but not in the west.
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| The Museum, former mansion of the Duchess of Plaisance, for whom Doukisis Plakentias metro station is named. |
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| Beautiful Byzantine art |
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| And momre |
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| Crosses that were worn by people. |
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| Ancient bread stamps. They still make these, mostly out of wood. We saw some at the paniyiri yesterday! |
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| Gorgeous gardens, and a lovely cafe. |
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