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17
Museum of Crete), and the
Passion of Christ
from
the Velimezis Collection.
St Francis in Ecstasy
became part of the exhibition
once it was acquired by TheA.G. Leventis Founda-
tion for the A.G. Leventis Gallery, which opens in
Nicosia in 2013. I had a very fruitful collaboration
with the Director and Head Curator of The Leven-
tis Municipal Museum of Nicosia, Dr Loukia Had-
jigavriel. I became truly acquainted with her mu-
seum, but also with her as a person, and I thank her
deeply for her trust inme. I also thankmy dear friend
and colleague, Dr Demetra Papanikola-Bakirtzis,
who will continue the work of Dr Hadjigavriel. All
of the staff members at The LeventisMunicipalMu-
seum of Nicosia helped me in every possible way
whenever I needed it, but special thanks must go
to Demetra Theodotou and Soulla Christodoulou.
From the Benaki Museum, I received help in ad-
ministrativematters fromMaraVerykokou, assistant
curator of the Byzantine Collection, and the Byzan-
tinist Panorea Benatou, and I thank both of them.
This exhibition catalogue owes a lot to my collabo-
ration with Mary Constantoudaki-Kitromilides and
Nano Chatzidakis, Professors in Byzantine Art, and
with the Curator of the Prado Museum, Dr Leticia
Ruiz Gomez, and I want to thank all three of them
for their support. Mary Constantoudaki-Kitromi-
lides also contributed one of the introductory es-
says of the catalogue and undertook the laborious
preparation of the relevant bibliography under a
very tight deadline. I am extremely grateful for her
help and support. Dr John Davis translated the texts
from Greek to English, and Mr Pedro Olalla trans-
lated the texts fromSpanish to Greek – I thank them
both. MrsAnna Karapanou edited and proofread the
texts under enormous pressure, and I’m grateful to
her.Appios Communication Ltdwas responsible for
the artistic and textual layout of this catalogue, and
I thank them for their beautiful work. Last but not
least, my thanks go to a dear friend, MrsMaria Rota,
who tirelessly offered her services at all stages in the
borrowing of the icon from Syros.
St Francis in Ecstasy
Domenikos Theotokopoulos, The Dormition of the Virgin, Syros - before 1567