Activities and products

Project “Egeria” promotes its aims and objectives through the following activities and products. All constitute the outcome of the collaborative effort primarily of all the project partners and also of the wider network of collaboration the project has launched.

• Scientific documentation of about 150 pilgrimage monuments in databases.

• Extension of the multilingual database that the European Centre for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments has created for the documentation of monuments of the Byzantine world.

• Studies about the documentation, restoration and conservation of immovable and movable pilgrimage monuments.

• Pilot projects on the restoration and conservation of pilgrimage monuments.

• Dissemination of the project “Egeria” to the greater area of the Mediterranean and the Balkans.

• Scientific edition on pilgrimage and pilgrimage monuments.

• Website of the “Egeria” project.

• The Antiope seminar series and the on-site educational missions.

• The international conference “Routes of Faith in the Medieval Mediterranean”.

The scientific documentation of about 150 pilgrimage monuments in databases

About 150 pilgrimage monuments have been documented in databases specifically designed for monument recording and management.

The project partners created lists of about 50 immovable (sites, buildings) and 100 movable (objects) pilgrimage monuments from all the participating countries and they provided the basic documentation for these. In the case of the immovable monuments, they also noted the needs for conservation and restoration as well as the enhancement of the sites with regard to visitors.

The criteria for the selection of the monuments were formed by the partners, who prioritized the historical, religious and artistic importance of the monuments. Among them there are instances of monuments that manifest the inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue that has flourished among various cultural and religious communities in the Mediterranean region throughout the centuries.

This website presents the monuments selected and documented by the project (under the sections Pilgrimage Monuments and Itineraries). A selection of the monuments is also presented in the scientific edition produced by the project.

Picture 10. Dimitris Zygomalas (EKBMM) monitors the progress made on the documentation of immovable monuments at the Steering Committee meeting in Palermo.

The extension of the multilingual database that the European Centre for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments has created for the documentation of monuments of the Byzantine world

The database created by E.K.B.M.M. for the documentation of monuments of the Byzantine world has been used for the documentation of the immovable pilgrimage monuments of the project “Egeria” and extended so as to include Italian and Arabic versions on top of the already existing Greek, English and French versions. The ultimate goal is to create a comprehensive transnational archive, which documents the monuments of the Byzantine world. Such an archive would be extremely useful to the international community both for the study and the management of cultural heritage.

Studies for the restoration and conservation of immovable and movable monuments

A number of restoration and conservation studies were presented and discussed at the seminars and workshops held in the course of the “Egeria” project. In the framework of these seminars, the partners of the project have been particularly concerned with and repeatedly discussed issues of international scientific standards and ethics in relation to the restoration and conservation of pilgrimage monuments. As a result, the following have been accomplished:

• A pilot-thesaurus of forty terms on architectural monuments.

• A document of guidance on the conservation of pilgrimage monuments.

• Conservation / restoration studies on pilgrimage monuments.

• Selection of three restoration / conservation studies for implementation as pilot projects.

Picture 11. Yiouli Doskari (Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens, Greece) presents her study on the conservation of an 18th century proskynetarion.

Selection of three restoration / conservation studies for implementation

The following restoration / conservation studies were chosen for implementation as pilot projects within the framework of “Egeria”:

• Southeast wing of the Holy Monastery of Arkadi - Restoration and conversion into guest spaces

  Location: Municipality of Arkadi, Prefecture of Rethymno, Crete, Greece

  Institution: Hellenic Ministry of Culture, 28th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Rethymno Office

• Monitoring of Santa Maria della Palomba Church

  Location: Matera, Italy

  Institution: Comune di Matera

• Conservation of the chapel Panaghia tou Oikonomou

  Location: Mt. Sinai, Egypt

  Institution: Mount Sinai Foundation (Athens)

All the above monuments are major historical monuments and modern pilgrimage and tourist destinations. The selected projects are a tangible proof of the interest of the “Egeria” partners in restoration and conservation issues, especially as these issues relate to heritage management, which, in turn, can contribute greatly to the development of cultural tourism.

Dissemination of the project “Egeria” to the greater area of the Mediterranean and the Balkans

The dissemination of the project “Egeria” to the greater area of the Mediterranean and the Balkans includes countries that were not among the partners of the project and is accomplished through the following activities and products:

(1) research for and cataloguing of pilgrimage monuments of countries that are not included in the project “Egeria”, within the wider area of Central-East and South-East Europe and Middle East,

(2) search for and creation of a list of the institutions, organizations or individuals that are responsible for or otherwise engaged in the use, study and management of monuments and archaeological sites relating to pilgrimage in the countries specified in (1),

(3) creation of a preliminary bibliography on pilgrimage and pilgrimage monuments,

(4) research for and cataloguing of pilgrimage destinations mentioned in written sources, but which are non-existent nowadays,

(5) writing and design of a pamphlet [on pilgrimage monuments?] that will be of interest to the religious communities, tourist industries, and heritage management professionals of both the countries that participate in the project “Egeria” and of those that do not within the wider region of the Mediterranean and the Balkans.

Scientific edition on pilgrimage and pilgrimage monuments

Project “Egeria” aspires to be of relevance to diverse groups among those who are interested in pilgrimage monuments. The scientific edition about these monuments, whose production takes place in the framework of the project, addresses both the scientific community and the wider public. The edition consists of texts on various aspects of pilgrimage and pilgrimage monuments written by distinguished scholars and a catalogue of immovable and movable monuments, which were selected among those documented by the “Egeria” project.

Website of the project “Egeria”

The current website presents briefly the Egeria project and the pilgrimage monuments that the project has documented. Moreover, the site uses a Geographical Information Systems application to propose itineraries for the potential visitor. These itineraries are based on the documented pilgrimage monuments and selected sights of cultural interest.

Picture 12. First presentation of the GIS map created for the project’s website to the Steering Committee meeting in Istanbul.

The Antiope seminar series and the on-site educational missions

The Antiope seminar and workshop series and the on-site educational missions that took place in the framework of “Egeria” promoted the development of shared tools of documentation based on information technologies and of a trans-national framework for the protection and management of cultural monuments and their surroundings. The seminars, workshops and educational missions were held by various project partners and coordinated by the lead partner.

Antiope I – Electronic System for the Documentation of Cultural Information Regarding Monuments of the Byzantine Era

The Antiope I seminar-workshop was organized by and was held at the Holy Sinai Monastery, St. Catherine’s, Egypt, on 30 September 2006. The aim of the seminar-workshop was to familiarize the members of the Egeria project with the structure and the content of the electronic system of E.K.B.M.M. for monument documentation. It was also to familiarize the researchers who would be involved in data collection with the content and format of the separate pieces of information that would be needed for the compilation of monument records in the framework of the Egeria project.

Antiope II - Conservation and Rehabilitation of Byzantine Monuments: Initial Challenges and Perspectives

The Antiope II seminar was organized by the Department of Antiquities of the Ministry of Communication and Works of Cyprus and was held in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 25 November 2006. Distinguished scholars from Cyprus, Greece and Italy presented selected conservation and restoration studies for movable and immovable monuments of the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine era. They examined the possibility of developing a set of common principles and standards for the restoration of monuments and their surroundings through the promotion and adoption of a single cross-border policy, further aiming at the coordinated protection, preservation and enhancement of the monuments.

Antiope III – Conservation and Rehabilitation of Medieval Monuments

The Antiope III seminar was organized by the Sicilian Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies “Bruno Lavagnini” and was held in Palermo, Itaqly, on 29 March 2007. It built on and developed further the objectives of Antiope II.

Antiope IV – Management of archaeological sites

The Antiope IV seminar was organized by the Center for Anatolian Civilizations - Koç University and was held in Istanbul, Turkey on 2 July 2007. It focused on issues of heritage management.

The educational missions

The educational missions consisted of on-site visits to selected monuments and on-site assessments and discussions of problems and issues relating mostly to the conservation / restoration of the monuments and their management. Various specialists generously offered their time and knowledge to the “Egeria” partners visiting the monuments and sites. These specialists promoted greatly the overall discussion and potentially extended the network of cooperation “Egeria” has launched.

International Symposium “Routes of Faith in the Medieval Mediterranean”

The international symposium of the project “Egeria” is entitled “Routes of Faith in the Medieval Mediterranean”. The symposium was organized by E.K.B.M.M. and was held in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 7-9 November 2007. Distinguished scholars from many countries participated and a wide audience attended. Thematically, the conference was organized along two axes: a) the archaeology, architecture, history, art history, anthropology and religious significance of pilgrimage and pilgrimage monuments and b) the management of such monuments and their successful and productive incorporation into modern realities.