Room of the Art of Byzantium in the 4th to 9th Century

This display features early Christian artefacts from the northern Black Sea area and other Byzantine provinces. A unique piece of plastic art is the marble sculpture of Christ as the Good Shepherd found near the town of Panderma (now Bandirma) in Asia Minor. There are numerous items of jewellery: fibulae, clasps, torques, beads and crosses that testify to Byzantine influence on the art of the barbarian tribes at the time of the great migrations. The display also includes new acquisitions. The silver bowl bearing a scene of Alexander the Great flying on griffons, a masterpiece of Byzantine metal-working, was a gift from the government of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District in western Siberia.