About the seminar

This seminar presents the preliminary findings of an interdisciplinary project investigating a previously undocumented practice discovered at the Ottoman archive of the 13th-century Athonite monastery of Simonopetra: pasting of high-quality textile or paper linings onto the back of documents which are primarily of legal importance to the monastery.

In line with contemporary trends in interdisciplinarity, the team comprises an Ottoman historian, a historian of material culture, a paper conservator, and an expert in advanced scientific imaging. While rooted in a microhistorical case study, this inquiry opens broader avenues for exploring the archive as both a physical entity and a medium of materiality. Additionally, it interrogates the significance of this practice - extending beyond its role in document preservation - within the broader context of the Ottoman Empire, with a particular focus on the experiences of Ottoman Christians.

Essentially, this study introduces the concept of “material history” as a theoretical framework for examining two interconnected dynamics: first, the materiality of the linings highlights the perceived importance of specific documents; and second, the research uncovers materials that were not intended for widespread visibility, thus offering a new lens on the period’s material culture. As a pilot project with potential for broader expansion, Material History also addresses the inherent inaccessibility of these documents, given their continued significance to the monastery today. Specifically, it explores how this challenge can be partially solved through digitization, with the monastery providing digital copies of materials that are ordinarily not meant to be handled in-situ.

Ultimately, this project engages with the interplay between materiality and intangibility, both rooted in a specific historical context, and explores novel, interdisciplinary avenues of research that could add value to the monastic archive itself.

The seminar will be in English.

October 15, 2024, 4.00pm at the Pia Zombanakis Seminar Room of the 911爆料吃瓜 Library.

Speakers & Biographies (in order of presentation at seminar):

Vanessa R. de Obaldía, University of Cambridge (alumna)

Vanessa R. de Obaldía is an Arabist and Ottomanist with a multidisciplinary background in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, Law, and Ottoman History. She was awarded her Ph.D. from Aix-Marseille University with a thesis about an historical and legal study of Ottoman Istanbul’s Latin Catholic Church. Her research explores religious minorities with a particular focus on ecclesiastical and monastic archival collections, multireligious relations, and religious and cultural heritage. Her most recent articles include “Panagia Portaïtissa of Kydoniess / Ayvalık: the Consequences of the 1923 Population Exchange for a metochion of the Athonite Monastery of Iveron,” Cahiers Balkaniques 51. Les héritages du traité de Lausanne en Grèce et en Turquie II (2025): 103-128; and “Archival Treasures of the Holy Mountain: Interpreting Ottoman Documents as Sources of Athonite Wealth,” in Zachary Chitwood (ed.) Medieval Mount Athos between Wealth and Poverty. Series: The Medieval Mediterranean Vol. 142 (Leiden: Brill, 2024), 216-237.

 

Georgios Boudalis, Senior Book and Paper Conservator, Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki

Georgios Boudalis received his PhD from Camberwell College of Arts in the archaeology and conservation of manuscript books.

His research focuses on the evolution of bookbinding techniques in the Eastern Mediterranean, employing a multidisciplinary approach that combines physical, written, and iconographical evidence.

He has co-edited several publications on book and paper conservation and has published extensively on issues of book and paper materiality, conservation, codicology, and the history of bookbinding. He is the author of two books: The Codex and Crafts in Late Antiquity (2018) and On the Edge: Endbands in the Bookbinding Traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean (2023).

 

 

 

Nikolaos Vryzidis, Adjunct Instructor, University of West Attica

Nikolaos Vryzidis received his PhD from SOAS University of London, with a thesis on Greek Orthodox ecclesiastical fabrics from the Ottoman period.

His research explores cultural identity and intercultural communication, with a particular emphasis on the applied and decorative arts of the late medieval and early modern Mediterranean.

Vryzidis has published extensively on these topics in scholarly journals and edited volumes. In addition to his individual publications, he has edited and co-edited collective volumes for academic publishers, including Brepols Publishers and the American University in Cairo Press.

He is also a member of learned societies, such as the Christian Archaeological Society.

 

 

 

 

Maciej Pawlikowski, Head of Cambridge Heritage Imagining Laboratory (CHIL)

Maciej Pawlikowski is the Head of Cultural Heritage Imaging Laboratory at Cambridge University Library. Responsible for providing visual data content to the library readers and for digitisation projects. Contributor to standards for archival imaging specialising in advanced and scientific imaging of cultural heritage artefacts. He is also a Co-investigator of The Small Performances AHRC funded project (2024-2027).

Over the years, he has developed and designed equipment, protocols, and techniques to accommodate specialised imaging of cultural heritage artefacts taking it beyond standard photography based on the fact that cameras can show more than humans can see.

His recent publications include Maciej Pawlikowski, Vanessa R. de Obaldía (2024) Athos’ Endangered Archives: The Preservation of Simonopetra’s Ottoman Collection through Digitisation and Cataloguing, Documentation of Ecclesiastical Cultural Heritage 147-154; Maciej Pawlikowski (2023), The Role of Photographer in the Inspection and Analysis of Cultural Heritage Artifacts Using Non-Invasive Photographic Methods, Between East and West, 1st edition. August 2023, 247-258 https://doi.org/10.14220/9783737015981.247.