Cappadocia in Context Summer Program



The program aims to explore ways of contextualizing the rich artistic and cultural heritage of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Cappadocia. Within its breathtaking volcanic landscape, Cappadocia preserves extensive rock-cut features from the Byzantine period, including more than a thousand rock-cut churches and chapels (one-third of which preserve significant elements of their painted decoration), as well as monasteries, houses, villages, towns, cemeteries, and fortresses. The region is unrivaled in terms of its material culture, but because it lacks a written history, the monuments of Cappadocia remain poorly known to most Byzantinists. The summer school will be conducted by the prominent Byzantine art historian Professor Robert Ousterhout in collaboration with ANAMED and GABAM. GABAM has supported the project since 2015 and provides funding for four international students.