Faras Gallery at the National Museum in Warsaw
 |
|
| Established | 1972 |
|---|---|
| Location | Aleje Jerozolimskie, Warsaw, Poland |
| Type | Gallery |
| Collections | Early Christian art, Archaeology |
The Professor Kazimierz Michałowski Faras Gallery at the National Museum in Warsaw is a permanent gallery at the National Museum in Warsaw, presenting Nubian early Christian art. The Gallery features a unique collection of wall paintings and architectural elements from the Faras Cathedral, discovered by an archeological mission led by Professor Kazimierz Michałowski.
Most of the artworks shown in the Faras Gallery found their way there thanks to the archaeologists participating in the international effort to save the remains of old Nile basin cultures, known as the Nubian Campaign. The Nubian Campaign took place between 1961 and 1964 and was initiated by UNESCO. During the excavations the archaeologists discovered well-preserved ruins of places of worship, layered one over another, within the area of the city Faras (ancient Pachoras), next to the Sudanian-Egyptian border. The buildings originated from between the 7th and 14th centuries, and were decorated with wall paintings depicting Christian religious themes.
In order to remove the wall paintings from the cathedral walls and move them to specially prepared screens, it was necessary to secure and reinforce the surface to prevent cracking. To do this, the faces of paintings were covered with sheets of japanese tissue paper and impregnated with a thick mix of wax-rosin. Upper parts of the paintings were secured by pressing stripes of canvas into them. Next, fragments of plaster with the paintings attached to them were cut off from walls using knives and saws. The removed paintings were then moved onto wooden screens. It was necessary to remove excess plaster from the backs of paintings and to reinforce the paintings with gypsum. The artworks were wrapped in cotton blankets and transported to museums in Warsaw and Khartoum. There they underwent a complex restoration process and were prepared for exhibition. The protective layers were then removed, original plaster was removed from the reverse sides of paintings, and a thin (ok. 2–3 mm) layer was moved to an artificial background.
...
Wikipedia