1,000 years’ worth of Byzantine art

A dazzling exhibition of a thousand years of Byzantium’s art is in the final stages of assembly in London after months of labyrinthine complications -- in fact, the very definition of the word “byzantine.”

This effort to bring Byzantium to Britain culminates in the opening Saturday of a major exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts.

Institutions in Russia, Ukraine, Greece and Egypt did not easily give up their treasures for loans.

“It’s been quite a process in order to get some of these objects here, and multi visits and multi layers of red tape have had to be passed to get these objects,” said Adrian Locke, the Royal Academy’s acting director of exhibitions.

The exhibition traces the development of art from the foundation of Constantinople -- now Istanbul -- in 330 to the fall of the capital in 1453. Intricately worked objects illustrate how Christianity and imperial power shaped Byzantine art, which in turn influenced Europe’s Renaissance.