Exhibition at the Byzantine and Christian Museum
‘The Art of Bookbinding: From Byzantium to Contemporary Artistic Creation’

On Wednesday, 19 September 2012 at 8 p.m. the Byzantine and Christian Museum inaugurated the exhibition ‘The Art of Bookbinding: From Byzantium to Contemporary Artistic Creation’, organised by the National Hellenic Research Foundation in collaboration with the Byzantine and Christian Museum and the Hellenic Bookbinding Society.
The curators of the exhibition are Dr. Anastasia Lazaridou and Dr. Niki Tsironi, aided by the consultants Konstantinos Staikos, Babis Leggas, and the special academic associate Dr. Zissis Melissakis.

The exhibition features excellent specimens of Byzantine and post-Byzantine bookbinding. Dating from the 11th to the 19th century, the specimens have been drawn from the Museum’s collection of manuscripts and incunabula and from the Greek Library of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation.
Through codices and printed books the exhibition highlights, particularly with the help of audiovisual matter, the evolution of the art of bookbinding from the early Christian period to the present. Bookbinding is thus shown to be a source for the history, politics, economy, and artistic trends of every era. Veronique Magnes is the artistic editor of the audiovisual material.
The exhibition stems from the European programme ‘Studite’, which involves six European countries and which is concerned with the study of Byzantine and post-Byzantine bookbinding. It is hoped that this programme will contribute to the development of interdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue. The STUDITE project, co-funded by the Culture programme of the European Commission, highlights the technical and artistic contributions of Greek and Byzantine manuscripts to the history of the book. Byzantine binding influenced the culture of the book in both the Orient and the West. STUDITE therefore aims to preserve and enhance this shared heritage to foster better historical understanding and intercultural dialogue through different actions.
To achieve its objectives, the STUDITE project conducted various activities such as the organisation of workshops and interdisciplinary missions as well as the development of a common European protocol for the study and description of Byzantine bindings. Besides the NHRF, project partners and associates are renowned institutions and organisations from France, Romania, Hungary, Italy, United Kingdom and Turkey.
More information on the STUDITE project at: www.studite.org

In exploring current readings of the tradition of the book as an art form, the exhibition at the Byzantine Museum has included contemporary artistic creations. Dimitris Xonoglou’s installation approaches the book as an object of figurative use. Venia Dimitrakopoulou’s creations are inspired by the Japanese tradition of bookbinding. The six collector’s copies of the book Cassia he Hymnographer are each illustrated by an artist—Markos Kampanis, Christos Markidis, Christos Bokoros, Kostas Papatriantafyllopoulos, Fotini Stefanidou, and Panos Fidakis.

The educational programme accompanying the exhibition enables the visitor to touch the tools and material used in the art of bookbinding. Addressed to adults and schoolchildren in the 5th and 6th grades (contact tel. no. 213213 9507), the programme also features a documentary, directed by Akis Hatziantoniou.

The exhibition will held in the recently renovated exhibition area in the Mansion of the Duchess of Plaissance and will run from 19 September 2012 through 13 January 2013.

Relevant Documents

• Invitation
  
  

Photographs