Anyone who’s visited the great Menil Collection in Houston knows that one of the awe-inspiring items are the Byzantine frescoes displayed in a nearby, 4,000-square-foot, special-built chapel. The story of how those frescoes got there from Cyprus (looters, chainsaws, a Munich warehouse and a very smart Domenique de Menil), the deal that was struck (15 years) and why they’re going back now (with an Orthodox priest attending) is related by Wade Goodwyn on NPR (or listen to it below).

The only question left unanswered by the story:  What will fill that handsome little chapel now?


All images from Kevin Keim/Charles Moore Foundation.