Postgraduate Training Course in Byzantine Archaeology and History, British School at Athens, June 13–26, 2021
This intensive two-week course will provide students with an interdisciplinary masterclass in Byzantine archaeology, art and history. Participants will gain wide-ranging insights into the role of material culture in Byzantine life and belief, together with the role that art, architecture and practice played in shaping experiences and medieval worldviews.
Students will benefit not only from visits to key sites and museums both in and outside Athens but also from unprecedented access to the BSA Archive’s ‘Byzantine Research Fund’ collection. This unique archive of architectural drawings, photographs and notebooks was created from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century by a small team of British architects, and records Byzantine monuments in Greece, Turkey, Italy, the Near East, Egypt, and Cyprus. Teaching will be delivered in the form of lectures and seminars both in the classroom or as part of site-visits in museums and sites. Field trips will include a tour of the Byzantine remains of the Acropolis in Athens and the Byzantine and Christian Museum, and also visits to the Monasteries of Dafni, Hosios Loukas, and the Byzantine towns of Mystras and Monemvasia.
The course is limited to 10 places. We welcome applications both from students studying for postgraduate degrees in Byzantine Studies, and from students with no prior background wishing to take this course as an intensive introduction to the subject.
The course fee of €800 includes accommodation in shared rooms at the BSA, where self-catering facilities are available, as well as 24-hour access to the superb library, entry to all sites and museums, and BSA membership for one month.
Our courses this year are being run with a ‘digital contingency’ plan: in the unfortunate event that we are unable to gather safely as a group in Athens, a shorter virtual version of our programmes will be offered to participants. If by April 2021 it becomes clear that it will not be possible to gather safely as a group, we will cancel the Byzantine Archaeology and History in its original form. In its place, we will run a five-day virtual version of the course.