Istanbul Research Institute brought together the observations of young researchers who participated in the 24th International Congress of Byzantine Studies held in Venice and Padova, Italy last August, on its Blog page.
Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Istanbul Research Institute (IAE) presents six early topics for academicians, researchers and readers from all profiles in Turkey, who are interested in this field, at the 24th International Congress of Byzantine Studies, which brought together many Byzantine researchers from different countries of the world. In addition to the career researcher's impressions, he published an essay by a researcher documenting the architectural and artistic heritage of Byzantium with his photographs, and an account of the congress held in Moscow in 1991 and the last congress. Emir Alışık, Pırıl Us-Maclennan, Gizem Dörter, Elif Demirtiken, Canan Arıkan Caba, Sercan Sağlam, David Hendrix and Brigitte Pitarakis are among the names who contributed to the IAE Blog with their impressions.
The 24th International Byzantine Studies Congress, an important part of the program of which was prepared by the Turkey committee, was planned to be held in Istanbul in August 2021, but the organization could not be held in Turkey due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Emir Alışık, who continues his doctoral studies at the Department of Art History at Istanbul University and is the project manager in the Byzantine Studies Department of the Istanbul Research Institute, stated that the postponement of the congress, which is planned to be held in Istanbul in 2021, to 2022 and Venice, echoes in his opening speeches. He shared the traces of Istanbul and Byzantium in Istanbul and his observations about the congress being simultaneous with the 59th Venice Biennale.
Pırıl Us-MacLennan, who continues his doctorate in the Department of Literature at Ghent University, talked about his effort to find a way as an academician candidate despite all the negativities between languages, disciplines and places at the congress, which he called the "Byzantine Studies World Cup".
Gizem Dörter, a postdoctoral researcher at Boğaziçi University Byzantine Studies Research Center, takes the reader on a journey from Byzantine traces and contemporary exhibitions in Venice to the lamp-lit mosaics of St. Mark's Basilica. "11th. Presenting his research on Byzantine studies in the session titled "Borders and Border People from the 13th Century to the XNUMXth Century", Dörter added that participants from different countries had the opportunity to get their feedback on the subject.
Edinburgh University doctoral candidate and IAE 2022-2023 doctoral scholar Elif Demirtiken underlined that the relocation of the congress from Istanbul to Venice has created various problems for young researchers from Turkey, such as hesitations about the pandemic, economic crisis and visa problems.
Canan Arıkan Caba, who is doing her doctoral studies at the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Vienna, talked about how the congress in Venice, where the carbon footprint was reduced and she saw the core of a more democratic Byzantine congress in terms of participation, could be made more productive in the coming years. informed of the directions.
Continuing his post-doctoral research at Center National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) – CESCM, H. Sercan Sağlam touched upon the deep-rooted history of Byzantine studies in Turkey, while Byzantine historians came together for the first time with a comprehensive and large organization in an environment where the pandemic was controllable. He emphasized that this meeting is an important opportunity for
Contributing to the contemporary breakdown of Byzantine material culture with his Byzantine Legacy project, David Hendrix reveals the connection between Venice, which is called the “second Constantinople”, with Istanbul with his photographic essay.
Brigitte Pitarakis, researcher at the Center National de la Recherche Scientifique, takes readers 32 years ago to the 1991th International Congress of Byzantine Studies, held in Moscow in 18. Pitarakis talks about his experience with academics from Turkey at the congress held in Moscow during the coup, in which the last leader of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, was taken hostage, just before the collapse of the USSR.