Pera Museum will open its doors to the "Life is Short, Art Long: The Art of Healing in Byzantium" exhibition between Feb. 11 and Apr. 26. The exhibition sheds light on a specific period of the history of world medicine. Taking its name from the famous aphorism by Hippocrates, the event aims to explore the art and practices of healing in Byzantium from Roman times to the late Byzantine period. Curated by Brigitte Pitarakis, the exhibition showcases icons, amulets, marble carvings, medical equipment, plants and herbs, medical and botanical manuscripts, gravures, reliquaries, rare books, archive photographs and anthropological findings. The objects explore the healing methods of the Byzantines created by Apollo and Asklepios, the sacred healers of antiquity, as well as Hippocrates and Dioscorides, the founders of rational medicine along with physician saints and the centers of healing and miracles in Constantinople. Furthermore, the exhibition reveals that demons were believed to be the primary cause of illnesses at the time. This belief co-existed with a rational understanding of "the art of healing" based on the teachings of Hippocrates. The art of healing was commonly practiced by physicians, saints, magicians and pharmacists. Visitors will also learn about the daily rituals for protecting the soul from demons, purifying the body and soul, keeping healthy and avoiding illnesses. The items which offer a new perspective on Istanbul's Byzantine history have been borrowed from the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the library of the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary in Heybeliada, the Foundation of the Yeniköy Greek Orthodox Church of Panayia and School, Rezan Has Museum, the Bibliotheque nationale de France, the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford, Oxford University Herbaria, the Benaki Museum in Athens, the Kastoria Byzantine Museum, and other private collections.
