The field trips

Between 1966 and the early 2000s, Géza de Francovich, Fernanda de’ Maffei, and their students carried out a number of field trips to the Middle East, in collaboration with professors from the Universities of Padua and Urbino. The scope of their research were the territories and monuments formerly included in the Byzantine empire, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Armenia, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Tunisia. Their goal was to thoroughly explore those territories in order to gather photographic and graphic documentation on the various types of religious and military architecture, their sculpted and painted decoration, and their building techniques.

For over a century, travelers and art historians from Europe and the United States had focused their research on the Byzantine vestiges of those regions, but the work of the Sapienza team was based on broader methodological premises. First, their analysis targeted not only the material evidence, but the environment as a whole, considering the relationship of the buildings to their natural and anthropological setting. This aspect of these scholars’ research clearly appears from both their photographs and their written works. The second new element was the specific educational role of the trips, since the study of the monuments in their context offered an opportunity for critical, in-depth discussion between students and instructors.

The organization of the field trips was possible thanks to the financial support of the National Council of Research (CNR) and of the Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) and, at an institutional stage, was made easier after the establishment, in 1984, of the CNR National Coordination Group “History of Byzantine art and visual culture”. The group worked as a network of specialists from different Italian universities with common overall research goals. Along with the scholars of Sapienza, those from the Universities of Siena, Bologna, Padua and L’Aquila also joined the group. The outcomes of the research in the eastern Mediterranean were presented at international workshops and published within the series Milion, which was created specifically to host those works. The members of the field trips also delivered papers at the International Congresses of Byzantine Studies and at the Courses on the Art of Ravenna and Byzantium held yearly in Ravenna. The exhibition of photographs on Armenia, held in Rome and Venice (1968), as well as those on Turkey and Syria organized in Istanbul and Rome (2018-2019) disclosed the outstanding collection of visuals gathered during the field trips, and highlighted its high value for the scholars of Byzantium.

Since the early 1980s, scholars have wanted an archive of these photos. This photo archive, finally created in 1996, now constitutes the main collection of the Center for Documentation of Byzantine Art History (CDSAB) at Sapienza. The Center holds all of the archival documents related to the field trips, as well as negatives, printed photos, slides, maps, metrics and footprints produced over nearly half a century of travels. In the section of this website titled "Photographic archive", it is possible to browse some of the pictures, now digitized. The CDSAB can be accessed by following the procedure outlined in the "Contacts" page.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FIELD TRIPS AND MAJOR RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

1966

Beginning of the research program “Study and Survey of Medieval Armenian Monuments”, funded by the CNR and supported by the Committee for Conservation of Historical monuments of Soviet Armenia.
Trip to Soviet Armenia
Trip to Syria

1967

Trip to eastern Turkey (historical Armenian sites; regions of Van, Kars and Ani)
Trip to Libya and Tunisia

1968

Photographic exhibition Medieval Armenian Architecture, Rome, Museo del Palazzo di Venezia, June 10-30; Venice, Palazzo Ducale, July 26-August 10

1971

Trip to Soviet Armenia

1972

Trip to Turkey (Istanbul and Ephesus)
Trip to Israel and Egypt (Sinai)
Trip to Soviet Armenia

1973-75

Fernanda de’ Maffei is appointed interim chair of Byzantine Art History at Sapienza University

1975

Trip to Turkey (Lycia)

1976

Fernanda de’ Maffei is officially appointed chair of Byzantine Art History at Sapienza University, the first chair of this discipline ever established in Italy
Trip to Israel (Negev) and Egypt (Sinai)

1977

Trip to Turkey (Istanbul, Ionia, Phrygia and Pisidia)

1978

September 11-14, Rome: Fernanda de’ Maffei presents the preliminary results of the surveys at the First Italian National Congress of Art History
Trip to Syria, Jordan (Jerash), Turkey (Antioch)

1980

Trip to Israel and Egypt

1981

Trip to Turkey (Istanbul)

1982

Trip to Turkey (Istanbul and Bithynia)

1983

Trip to southeastern Turkey (Mesopotamia and Tur ‘Abdin)

1984

Establishment of the national research group "History of Byzantine Art and visual culture" at the CNR
Trip to southeastern Turkey (Mesopotamia and Tur ‘Abdin)

1985

Trip to central and southeastern Turkey (Mesopotamia, Tur ‘Abdin, Cappadocia)

1986

August 3-8, Washington, DC: the members of the research group present the results of their work in Turkey at the 17th International Congress of Byzantine Studies
December 4, Rome: Colloquium of the national research group "History of Byzantine Art and visual culture"

1987

Trip to Syria

1988

The first volume of the series Milion. Studi e ricerche d’arte bizantina, curated by Fernanda de’ Maffei, is published. It includes the proceedings of the 1986 Rome colloquium
Trip to Jordan and southeastern Turkey (Mesopotamia and Tur ‘Abdin)
Trip to Turkey (Phrygia)

1989

Trip to Turkey (Cilicia)

1990

Trip to Syria
November 22-23, Rome: International conference Secular Art in Byzantium

1991

August 8-15, Moscow: the members of the research group present the results of their work in Turkey at the 18th International Congress of Byzantine Studies

1992

Trip to Syria

1993

Trip to Greece

1994

Trip to central and southern Turkey (Cappadocia, Cilicia and Isauria)

1995

Rome: International conference Byzantine Art in Italy in the Palaiologan period

1996

Foundation of the Center for Documentation of Byzantine Art History – CDSAB
August 18-24, Copenhagen: the members of the research group present the results of their work in Turkey at the 19th International Congress of Byzantine Studies

1997

Trip to southern Turkey (Lycia and Cilicia) and Cyprus

1999

Trip to Tunisia

2000

Trip to Turkey (Cilicia and Isauria)

2001

August 19-25, Paris: the members of the research group present the results of their work in Turkey (Cilicia) at the 20th International Congress of Byzantine Studies

1999-2004

Trips to Istanbul; beginning of the research on the marble decoration of Hagia Sophia.