The Byzantine Museum in Nicosia, Cyprus, has opened a new exhibit spotlighting early Christian relics with a distinct history.
Many of the artifacts were once stolen by looters and trafficked on the black market after a Turkish invasion in 1974, Reuters reported.
Mosaics, icons and wall frescoes were recovered after being stolen from churches north of the island.
The museum is still searching for many of the stolen items, according to the museum’s director, Ioannis Eliades, PhD, Reuters reported.
“The looting, the destruction was on a great scale…We have calculated that more than 20,000 icons have been stolen and disappeared from the churches,” said Eliades.
Mosaics from the early 6th century AD from the Church of Panagia Kanakaria at Lythrangomi are featured and are known as rare by archaeologists, surviving when Byzantine emperors banned the use of religious images.
A depiction of Christ, the Virgin Mary, archangels and apostles was chopped into pieces and sold on the black market in the late 1970s.
The majority of those pieces were later discovered in private collections acquired by Cyprus officials after litigation.
“We want the new generation to understand what happened on our island, and why it is important to safeguard even the smallest piece which we can bring [home],” added Eliades.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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