Over the past few weeks, Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition was dismantled, and we've begun wrapping up work on the exhibition: thanking our generous sponsors, lenders, and catalogue authors, preparing reports on the exhibition, tidying files, and reinstalling Met objects in our permanent galleries. The exhibition was a tremendous success. It was enhanced by great programming—from a family festival with mosaic making and music performances to themed exhibition tours given by fellows and interns involved in the exhibition to symposia featuring prominent scholars who engage regularly in the questions addressed by the exhibition—and by this wide-ranging blog, carefully tended by Annie Labatt and Betsy Williams.
As I think back over the past year and a half, there are a few moments that stand out: the relief of finishing the exhibition catalogue, the excitement of the first loans arriving in the galleries, and the thrill of the first walkthrough with all of the objects in their cases, labels in place, and lights set. I would like to join Helen in thanking the exhibition sponsors, lenders, and those here at the Met (and they really are too numerous to name) for their generosity and professionalism in bringing Byzantium and Islam to fruition. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work on this exhibition.