Press Release
10 February 2015
Celebrating its 10th year in 2015,
Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum,
presents the exhibition
“Life Is Short, Art Long
The Art of Healing in Byzantium”
exploring an early period of medical history
On view from 11 February – 26 April 2015
Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum is proud to present the exhibition
“Life Is Short, Art Long: The Art of Healing in Byzantium”, which takes its name from
the famous aphorism by Hippocrates and examines the art and practice of healing in
Byzantium from Graeco-Roman times to the late Byzantine period.
Curated by Dr. Brigitte Pitarakis, the exhibition examines faith, magic, and rational
medicine as methods of healing. It traces the “art of healing” from the foundations
laid by Apollo and Asklepios, healers of antiquity, and Hippocrates and Dioscorides,
the founders of rational medicine and also examines the roles of the physician saints.
Among the other topics covered and objects on display are icons, reliquaries, and
amulets, marble carvings, medical equipment, plants and herbs, medical and
botanical manuscripts, and the centers of healing and miracle in Istanbul.
Health has always been a central concern of humankind. Examining a civilization
from the perspective of its approach to the body, in sickness and in health, leads one
into the depths of its identity. This process can also open the door to our own selfknowledge. “Life Is Short, Art Long: The Art of Healing” in Byzantium offers a glimpse
of Byzantine civilization and society through the three traditional methods of healing
practiced side-by-side: faith, magic, and medicine. It illustrates the influence of
Byzantium’s ancient cultural heritage on religious and rational thought as well as
contemporary scientific developments and innovations from around the
Mediterranean. The Byzantines’ central role in the transmission of the art of healing
to future generations is also highlighted.
The exhibition reveals that the belief that illnesses were primarily caused by demons
co-existed alongside a rational understanding of health and medicine based on the
teachings of Hippocrates. The “art of healing” was practiced by physicians, saints,
and magicians and involved practices ranging from surgery to daily cleansing of the
body, and the spirit to exorcism and the veneration of saints.
The works offering insight into Istanbul’s Byzantine past have been loaned from the
Istanbul Archaeological Museums, Istanbul Greek Patriarch, the library of the Holy
Trinity Monastery of Halki (Heybeliada), the Foundation of the Yeniköy Greek
Orthodox Church of Panayia and School, the Rezan Has Museum, the Bibliothèque
nationale de France, the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford, Oxford
University, Herbarium and the Benaki Museum in Athens, the Kastoria Byzantine
Museum, and private collections.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue published by Pera Museum.
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About Pera Museum
The Pera Museum in Istanbul was inaugurated in 2005. Funded by the Suna and
Ínan Kıraç Foundation, this private museum is in the historic Tepebaşı quarter of the
city, and the building, originally the famous Bristol Hotel, has been transformed into
an impressive suite of galleries across several floors housing both the Foundation’s
permanent collection and hosting a program of national and international loan
exhibitions. This program of activity and its successful collaboration with many
international art institutions has ensured that the Pera Museum has become a
leading cultural center in Istanbul.
“Long Fridays”
Pera Museum is open and free of admissions from 18:00 to 22:00 every Friday
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Pera Museum is free of admissions for students every Wednesday
Press Contact
Fatma Çolakoglu, Film, Video and Communication Programming,
Pera Museum, Suna and Inan Kıraç Foundation,
fatma.colakoglu@peramuzesi.org.tr (+ 90 212 334 09 00)
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