23 January 2013 until 16 April 2013

The choice of subject-matter for this year’s diary and of the small exhibition accompanying it, stems directly from the proposals submitted for the remodelling of the Museum grounds. Perusing the selected artefacts presented in the exhibition, the visitor can embark on their own search for paradise...

We looked to the Byzantine perception of nature, gardens, springs to provide the starting point for our study. The descriptions of the natural landscape included in Byzantine rhetoric provided valuable literary insights into the concept of a garden as paradise and into its multiple symbolisms: the walled garden, the tree of life, the gushing fountain as a source of life and wisdom. The paradisal landscapes depicted in Byzantine art recall the beauteous imperial and monastic gardens of the Byzantine era.