The sifnificance of the Byzantine mission was so great that the brothers from Thessalonica were called the apostles of the Slavs, and in 1980 Pope John Paul II established them as co-patron saints of Europe. Symbolically called CM 863, and subtitled Saints Cyril and Methodius. History – Tradition – Veneration, it forms part of the celebrations of the 1150 th anniversary of the arrival of the Slavonic apostles in Moravia, held under the patronage of the UNESCO. Its concept arose from an impulse provided by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, to join the exhibitions opened in Brno and Olomouc in the spring of this year. The Moravian Museum organised an exhibition based on the history of the CyrilloMethodian mission (Cyril and Methodius, Their Era, Life and Work), whereas the Museum of Art in Olomouc, in collaboration with the Regional Museum in Olomouc, devoted their efforts to the Cyrillo-Methodian tradition in the material culture of the Czech Lands (Between East and West. Saints Cyril and Methodius in the Culture of the Czech Lands).
The exhibition organised in the unique Gothic spaces of the Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia takes over the display core of the two exhibitions, at the same time enriching them by the monuments of the Cyrillo-Methodian cult linked to Bohemia. Displaying more than 250 exhibits, it is divided into nine basic sections, accompanied by explanatory texts.
The introductory parts are devoted to historical circumstances and material culture of Great Moravia before the Cyrillo-Methodian mission, during its activity, and the waning of the mission. Likewise represented are the ecclesiasticalarchitecture of Great Moravia and Old Slavonic Cyrillo-Methodian literature. The main exhibits of the introductory part include unique archaeological finds from the collections of the Moravian Museum and from the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Brno. It is followed by the section devoted to reverence for
relics, with the precious reliquaries containing the relics of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. The theme of tradition is represented by works proving the Cyrillo-Methodian cult in the material culture of the Czech lands from the Middle Ages to the present time. This most numerous part of the exhibition includes, among others, a closer view of the nature of the Cyrillo-Methodian
cult in the seats of the Moravian and Bohemian metropolitans – in Olomouc and in Prague, likewise presenting important monuments linked to the pilgrimage traditions in Velehrad and Stará Boleslav. The last part of the exhibition illustrates the transformations of the Cyrillo-Methodian iconography and its historical relations in arts and crafts, book culture, period prints, numismatics, and folk craft. An inherent section of the exhibition comprises the viewing route designed for children, abundantly illustrated by M. Kubát.
