Royal Academy's Byzantine show still waiting for treasures

By Arifa Akbar, Arts Correspondent

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

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The Antioch Chalice, Byzantine, from Syria, possibly Kaper Koraon or Antioch from the first half of the sixth century. It is a silver cup set in a footed silver-gilt shell and has been lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Antioch Chalice, Byzantine, from Syria, possibly Kaper Koraon or Antioch from the first half of the 6th century. It is a silver cup set in a footed silver-gilt shell and has been lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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The Royal Academy of Arts' promise to display the world's largest collection of treasures from the Byzantine empire is being frustrated by Egypt and Russia just days before the exhibition is to open.

Seven pieces from Russia have not yet arrived while nine from Sinai are still being "signed off" by Egyptian authorities, and the show opens on Saturday.

Many of the 400 treasures have never before travelled from their home countries and, due to their fragile nature, can never be lent again.

The RA endured months of uncertainty last year over the lending of Russian paintings for a show called From Russia, after galleries in the country feared works might be seized by those campaigning for restitution of art to the owners before the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. But the Department of Culture, Media and Sport then helped to push through legislation to ensure immunity from seizure.

Charles Saumarez Smith, the chief executive of the RA, said: "We thought the new legislation would solve all these anxieties for ever. To our surprise, there are still some anxieties, which I assume are... irrational," he said.

Regarding the objects from Sinai – including three icons from the Monastery of St Catherine in the Sinai desert that are among the show's highlights – Professor Robin Cormack, a co-curator of the show, said the delay was caused by Egyptian bureaucracy. "They have increased the number of people who have to sign the papers," he said.

A spokeswoman for the RA said that while the pieces had been signed off by the Egyptian Prime Minister, they were awaiting a signature from the Culture Minister. She added that they were "due to arrive in the next few days"; the Russian objects were expected to arrive by the end of the week.

Professor Adrian Locke, another co-curator, said: "This has been one of the most complicated and difficult exhibitions we have had to put together in recent years."