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Orpheus is surrounded by animals, creating an allegory of Christ and his followers. This transmutation of ancient pagan myths into the new religion of Christianity was an essential element of Byzantine art.

This 4th-century marble sculpture is also a Christian allegory with pagan roots. Though the shepherd is meant to be Christ, the image is taken directly from an Archaic sculpture found on the Acropolis of a man bringing a calf to be sacrificially slaughtered to the goddess Athena (see The Calf-Bearer).

Set in a glowing field of gold, this 14th-century icon from Constantinople depicts the Archangel with a sceptre and an orb, symbolic of the terrestrial world.

The highlight of this collection is a 14thcentury imperial document issued by Emperor Andronicus II. The top of the scroll bears a miniature showing the emperor himself handing a document to Christ, while at the bottom, the emperor’s signature appears in red ink.

This 13th Century mosaic shows the Virgin and Child, with a gold background symbolising divine light. Mosaic icons are very rare: Only about 40 are known to exist, all of which, like this one, originate from Constantinople.

This case contains a late 14th-century wooden cross covered with silver and embellished with small steatite icons, a 10thcentury copper chalice, and a 14th-century silk stole decorated with holy figures embroidered in metalic and silk thread.

Executed between the 10th and 13th-centuries, these paintings depict biblical scenes in warm, muted hues. They are displayed in the positions as they would have been in the church, which was based on a ‘cross in square’ plan with a dome and Narthex.

Large, double-sided icons were extremely rare in Byzantium. This 13th-century example is especially unusual as it is carved in three dimensions and depicts the full body.

A collection of 6th-century silver vessels, gold jewellery and coins, discovered in a sunken ship off the island of Mytilene (Lesvos). Scholars believe the valuables were brought to the island to be hidden, and were never recovered by their owners.

Take the time to look beyond the permanent collection to the Temporary Exhibitions Wing. The Orthodox Church works in co-operation with institutions around the world to borrow and exhibit rarely seen Byzantine artifacts, such as items from the famous Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai.