Saving the post-Byzantine legacy of Imbros and Tenedos

The European Center for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments (ECBCMM) completed one of its most important projects over the summer: the conservation of the ecclesiastical equipment of two churches of Imbros (Gokceada in Turkish), the birthplace of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and 42 portable icons from the Church of the Virgin Mary of Tenedos (Bozcaada in Turkish).

"It was the summer of 2020 and we were on the island (Imbros) under the difficult conditions of the lockdown to share the concerns of Metropolitan Kyrillos of Imbros and Tenedos about the state of the church relics and to evaluate the immediate priority projects," said Natalia Poulou, president of the center and professor of Byzantine archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

"We found significant damage to the wood-carved icon stands, pulpits and bishops' thrones both in the...