Byzantium and the Art of Binding - STUDITE

The Byzantine and Christian Museum, Athens
The Athens Byzantine and Christian Museum (BCM) is a national museum with one of Greece’s
largest collections of Byzantine and post-Byzantine artefacts. The museum has over 25,000 artefacts
in its possession covering the early Christian, Byzantine, Medieval, post-Byzantine and later periods.
The BCM plays a central role in the acquisition, preservation, conservation, documentation and
study of Byzantine and post-Byzantine cultural heritage. It is also interested in linking the heritage
of Christian art with modern artistic production. The artefacts date from between the third and
twentieth centuries AD, and their provenance encompasses the entire Greek world, as well as regions
in which Hellenism flourished. The size and range of the collections and value of the exhibits makes
the Museum a veritable treasury of Byzantine and post-Byzantine art and culture. It has collaborated
since 2002 with the Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation
on the research project on “The Book in Byzantium: Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Bookbinding”.
hUNGArY
Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library, Central Library, 1088 Budapest, Szabó Ervin tér 1.
(24 September–7 October 2012)
The Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library, established in 1904, provides the services of the public
library network for the inhabitants of Budapest. The Central Library meets the requirements of a
city public library, takes part in national and international research works and serves as a national
resource library in sociology and provides a space for self-study regardless of age and field of interest.
Information technology is widely used on the premises.
FrANce
Centre de Conservation du Livre, Enclos Saint Césaire, Impasse des Mourgues, 13200 Arles (11–25
October 2012 and 12–26 March 2013)
tUrkeY
Sakip Sabanci Museum, Sakıp Sabancı Cad. No: 42, Emirgan 34467, İstanbul
(October–November 2012)
Sakip Sabanci Museum in Istanbul
The Sakıp Sabancı Museum Collection of the Arts of the Book and Calligraphy consists of
illuminated Korans, prayer books, calligraphic compositions, albums and panels written by wellknown
calligraphers, illuminated official documents bearing the imperial cipher of the Ottoman
sultans, as well as calligrapher’s tools, dating from the end of the fourteenth century to the twentieth
century. Sakıp Sabancı (d. 2004) started collecting primarily calligraphic works and illuminated
Korans in the 1970s. From 1989 onwards the collection was exhibited in major museums abroad.
The keen interest attracted by these exhibitions cemented Sakıp Sabancı and his family’s resolve
to further enlarge the collection and encouraged the idea of founding a museum. Today, the Sakıp
Sabancı Museum exhibits the Arts of the Book and Calligraphy Collection using current technical
innovations, and with this innovative stand aims to inform the younger generation about this
traditional art.
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