Christmas, Commemorative Issue
Dublin Core
Title
Christmas, Commemorative Issue
Description
Τhe murals depicted on this set of three stamps originate from the Chapel of Agios Themonianus (a corruption of the name Agios Euphemianos) from the village of Lysi, now in the Turkish occupied part of Cyprus. The Chapel lies a mile to the south of the village beside a cluster of eucalyptus trees. It is not known if the trees still exist).
From a dedicatory inscription it is surmised that the Chapel was a dependency of a long lost monastery the abbot of which had paid for its erection and for the paintings sometime in the 14th century.
The paintings were looted and the Chapel plundered after Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974. In 1983 a representative of the well known Menil Foundation Inc. of Texas found the paintings in a flat of a Turkish dealer in Munich. In a court case that ensued the Republic of Cyprus proved irrefutably that the murals came from the looted Chapel in Lysi. The Orthodox Church of Cyprus was recognized
as the legal owner of the murals and reached an agreement with the Menil Foundation whereby they would restore the works and hold them for a period of 15 years from 1st January 1986.
The 40c stamp depicts Christ Pantocrator, the Supplication, the Preparation of the Throne and the angels as installed in the Dome of the Chapel in Houston which was specifically built with the exact dimensions of the plundered Chapel.
The murals were repatriated to Cyprus in 2012 and are now held at Archbishop Makarios III Foundation in Lefkosia.
From a dedicatory inscription it is surmised that the Chapel was a dependency of a long lost monastery the abbot of which had paid for its erection and for the paintings sometime in the 14th century.
The paintings were looted and the Chapel plundered after Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974. In 1983 a representative of the well known Menil Foundation Inc. of Texas found the paintings in a flat of a Turkish dealer in Munich. In a court case that ensued the Republic of Cyprus proved irrefutably that the murals came from the looted Chapel in Lysi. The Orthodox Church of Cyprus was recognized
as the legal owner of the murals and reached an agreement with the Menil Foundation whereby they would restore the works and hold them for a period of 15 years from 1st January 1986.
The 40c stamp depicts Christ Pantocrator, the Supplication, the Preparation of the Throne and the angels as installed in the Dome of the Chapel in Houston which was specifically built with the exact dimensions of the plundered Chapel.
The murals were repatriated to Cyprus in 2012 and are now held at Archbishop Makarios III Foundation in Lefkosia.
Source
Cyprus Post, Republic of Cyprus
Κυπριακά Ταχυδρομεία, Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία
Κυπριακά Ταχυδρομεία, Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία
Publisher
Library of Cyprus University of Technology
Date
Contributor
Designer: Costas Panayi
Rights
Απαγορεύεται η δημοσίευση ή αναπαραγωγή, ηλεκτρονική ή άλλη χωρίς τη γραπτή συγκατάθεση του δημιουργού.
Relation
www.cypruspost.gov.cy
Format
jpg
Language
en
Type
Identifier
2007CS61, 2007CS62, 2007CS63
Coverage
35.160417, 33.346556
Files
Collection
Citation
Cyprus Post, Republic of Cyprus
Κυπριακά Ταχυδρομεία, Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία, “Christmas, Commemorative Issue
,” Αψίδα, accessed April 25, 2024, https://apsida.cut.ac.cy/items/show/44168.