R E L I C S o f the PA

With this exhibition the Orthodox Centre in Chambésy, spiritual powerhouse of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Switzerland, is celebrating the official opening of the Museum of Christian Art, a space dedicated to the systematic promotion of the religious and cultural heritage of the Ecumenical Patriarchate through the ages. [...] On the part of the management of the Foundation, our warmest thanks are extended to His All Holiness the Most Godly Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for the continued support and blessing he has given to this project, to His Eminence the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Switzerland Ieremias for the valuable contribution he has made to the successful organization of the exhibition, and to the Benaki M. [...] The opening of the exhibition of refugees’ heirlooms by His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew also marks the inauguration of the Museum of Christian Art in the Orthodox Centre in Chambésy. [...] And we know about the next move, in the opposite direction, the journey made by the objects: the sacred vessels commissioned from and produced by celebrated craftsmen in the capital were sent from the centre out to the regions, to the provincial church of the donor’s birthplace, where the well-to-do patrons would reverently deposit them. [...] In 1816, around the time of the traveller Firmin Didot, the Soapmakers’ Guild underwrote the expense of making a sacred reliquary in the coastal town of Ayvali, a centre of Greek learning and home to the famous school of Kydonies.