RICONTRANS Project

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https://dspace.ims.forth.gr/handle/123456789/10

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 45
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    Religious Art and Soft Power: transfer and reception of Russian Art in the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean (late 16th- early 20th cc)
    (Institute for Mediterranean Studies - F.O.R.T.H., 2026) Boycheva, Yuliana
    This monograph considers Russian icons and liturgical objects not as static artefacts of devotion, but as mobile objects whose meanings were constantly reshaped through circulation, mediation and reception within various Orthodox settings. It examines icons and liturgical objects from Russia that have been preserved in the Balkans and the Mediterranean, considering them as mobile artefacts embedded in networks of transfer, mediation and reception. Rather than considering these objects solely as devotional objects or works of religious art, the study foregrounds their trajectories, the agents of their transfer, and the visual knowledge they convey. By tracing the routes of their mobility and the processes of artistic transmission and local recontextualisation alongside them, the study conceptualises the transfer and reception of these objects as interconnected stages in their social life.
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    Russian Religious Art at the Benaki Museum. Collecting Practices, Art, and Technology
    (Benaki Museum, 2026) Drandaki, Anastasia
    The publication Russian Religious Art at the Benaki Museum: Collecting Practices, Art, and Technology (Athens 2026) summarises the findings of the study conducted by the Benaki Museum research team on the works of Russian religious art in the collection, as part of the European ERC RICONTRANS programme. It includes the technical data collected from the study and the systematic conservation of two major groups of objects: portable painted icons and metal icons, many of which feature additional decoration with gilding and enamel. The paths these objects followed until their museification and the ongoing changes in how they have been received by the Greek academic community and the general public are examined in relation to shifting historical conditions, as well as the appreciation and tensions surrounding the response of the Greek Orthodox world to works of religious art imported from Muscovy. Russian icons and ecclesiastical objects that arrived at the Benaki Museum via the eventful journeys of refugees from Asia Minor following the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 are explored as a special case study. The aim was to provide, alongside the art historical and technical analysis of the artworks, a historical interpretation of the obscurity into which the Russian works in the Benaki Museum and most Greek collections had fallen, until their recovery and study within the framework of ERC RICONTRANS. (DRAFT OF THE CATALOGUE)
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    Orthodox Hegemony and Art. Transfer of Russian Religious Art to the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean (late 16th-early 20th centuries)
    (Institute for Mediterranean Studies - F.O.R.T.H., 2026) Boycheva, Yuliana
    The volume comprises eighteen studies authored by project members and external scholars, originally presented and discussed at the final RICONTRANS conference which was held at the Institute for Mediterranean Studies-FORTH premises in Rethymno in January 2025. Together, these papers encapsulate the project’s principal research directions and offer critical reflections on their outcomes. The contributions are organized around six broad thematic axes: 1) Alms Collection Missions as a books, and vestments — objects essential for the worship life of the monasteries. These cult objects Channel for Art Mobility and Exchanges in the Orthodox World; 2) Russian Miraculous Icons in the Balkan Context - Transfer, Veneration, Transformations; 3) The Dissemination of Russian Icons in the Balkans; 4) Artefacts and Written Evidence - Russian or Ukrainian? Defining the Origins of Art Objects, Visual Models and Professional Skills transferred to the Balkans; 5) Supporting Orthodoxy in the Balkans: Russian Donations to Churches and Monasteries in the Balkans during the 19th Century; 6) Sacred Objects out of Ritual Context - Russian Icons in Museum Collections
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    Etudes on Russian Orthodox Art in Bulgaria
    (Institute for Mediterranean Studies - F.O.R.T.H., 2026) Gergova, Ivanka
    The texts that follow in this book are the result of the work of the Bulgarian team of the international RICONTRANS1 project in the period 2020-2025. The team included Professor Ivanka Gergova from the Institute of Art Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Associate Professor Angel Nikolov from the Faculty of History at Sofia University Saint Kliment Ohridski, Rumyana D echeva, restorer from the Centre for Slavo-Byzantine Studies “Professor Ivan Dujčev” at Sofia University, and Simeon Tonchev, at the time a PhD candidate at the Institute of Art Studies. Later, the Bulgarian team was joined by our colleague, art historian Natalia Komashko, a long-time research fellow at the Andrey Rublev Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art in Moscow.
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    An Illuminated Apocalypse of the Old Believer Community of Kazashko Village, Bulgaria
    (Institute for Mediterranean Studies - F.O.R.T.H., 2025) Decheva, Rumyana
    This study deals with the research and conservation of an illuminated manuscript that began in 1989 and, after a long hiatus, was completed in 2024. Work methods used in the past and today are compared, alongside discussion of conservation equipment and materials, which have advanced considerably. Today, new non-destructive methods of analysis are available to those working with such valuable and fragile objects of written cultural heritage. The importance of interdisciplinary teamwork in research and conservation is highlighted. Eight appendices provide additional information, diagrams and analysis results to facilitate searching in the digitized manuscript and enable new research and interpretations.