This Christmas season, New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, commonly known as “the Met,” is displaying one of the oldest Madonna and Christ Child icons in existence along with other pieces of early Christian art in its “Africa & Byzantium” exhibit. Credit: Photo courtesy of The MetNot all the pieces on display at the Met’s “Africa & Byzantium” exhibit are overtly religious or Christian. Icon with the Virgin and Child, saints, angels, and the hand of God, one of the oldest icons of the Blessed Virgin and Christ Child in existence, sixth century. Credit: Photo courtesy of The MetAccording to the Met, the depiction of the Virgin and Child is one of the oldest surviving icons in the world. “Africa & Byzantium builds upon the long legacy of the Met’s award-winning Byzantine exhibitions,” Achi said in the November press release.

Source: The North Africa Journal December 16, 2023 13:40 UTC