Mosaics on paper. From Ravenna to Paris

The exhibition is dedicated to the reproductions on paper of the Byzantine mosaics of Ravenna, conceived as a tool for enhancing and recording the city’s mosaic heritage and its worldwide divulgation. Some of the cardboards on display were sent from Ravenna to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1931, as part of an exhibition of great interest that brought Byzantine art back to the centre of international cultural debate, as well as the reception of its aesthetics in the artistic avant-gardes of Europe. Other mosaic cardboards will also be exhibited, documenting the research into the mosaic heritage of Ravenna following the numerous restoration campaigns of buildings by a group of expert mosaicists and restorers, who then taught their crafts in various schools, thus ensuring the preservation of the city’s mosaic tradition.