The rare fragment of the mosaic, which depicts in a medal the Apostle Andreas and dates between the years 525-550 AD, was repatriated to Cyprus, as broadcast by APE-MPE.
According to the correspondent of APE-MPE Aristides Viketos, the Archdiocese of Cyprus has stated that this is a "Byzantine work of the highest importance and is one of the few specimens that escaped the iconoclasm".
The mosaic comes from the arch of the sanctuary of the church of Panagia Kanakaria in Lythragomi, in occupied Famagusta.
The mosaic decoration of its arch was removed after the Turkish invasion of 1974. The removal was organized by the Turkish archaeologist Aydin Dikmen.
Between 1983 and 2015, most of the fragments of the mosaic decoration were located and repatriated.
The mosaic was located in 2014 by art historian Maria Pafiti. The last buyer of the mosaic acquired it as part of a larger collection of works of art in 2010. He asked Ms. Pafiti to prepare an exhibition for all the pieces. Ms. Pafiti informed the holder about the origin of the mosaic and after a long period of negotiation, he finally agreed to hand it over to the Church of Cyprus, without legal disputes and for only a token amount. The President of Medochemie Dr. Andreas Pittas and Cypriot businessman Rois Pogiatzis, based in New York, covered the amount of compensation and restoration of the mosaic. The legal supervision of the process was the lawyer Michalis Korelis.
On Monday afternoon, at the Grand Synod of the Holy Archdiocese of Cyprus, the repatriation ceremony of the fragment of the mosaic of the Apostle Andreas will take place.
After the presentation of the mosaic, Archbishop Chrysostom II will award the Order of the Apostle Paul, the highest honor of the Holy Archdiocese of Cyprus, to Andreas Pittas, Roi Pogiatzis and Maria Pafitis, who contributed to the return of Cypriot.
Source: KYPE