Du 14 au 16 octobre se tiendra à Istanbul le colloque “Around the Holy Trinity of Halki: Greek Libraries in Constantinople at the time of Patriarch Metrophanes III (16th c.)”, organisé dans le cadre du projet ANR i-stamboul, en partenariat avec le Research Center for Anatolian Civilization de l’Université Koç (Koç University-Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Center for Late Antique and Byzantine Studies) et l’Institut français d’études anatoliennes. Le colloque est placé sous l’égide du Patriarcat œcuménique et sera ouvert par sa Sainteté Bartholomée.
The conference “Around the Holy Trinity of Halki: Greek Libraries in Constantinople at the time of Patriarch Metrophanes III (16th c.)”, to be held in Istanbul on 14-16 October 2015, will be devoted to the constitution or reconstitution of Greek libraries in Constantinople and its region in the first two centuries after the fall of Byzantium. It will focus on the emblematic case of the library established in the 16th century by the future patriarch Metrophanes III in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity on the island of Halki and marks the completion of the i-Stamboul project dedicated to this library. The conference will highlight the cultural, material and religious context that allowed at this time the foundation or the reconstruction of new monasteries in the region of Constantinople, and in particular in the Princes Islands, and the constitution of libraries inside these monasteries. Beyond the economic and social issues, it will consider the availability of books and the permanence of Greek culture in the Ottoman capital, as well as representations and imagination of libraries and books. This monastic library, which is intimately related to the patriarchal institution, is also a fertile ground for studying the cultural and religious activity of the Great Church in Constantinople at this time, its relations with the Ottoman rule, but also, more broadly, through the diplomacy of books, the history of religious and cultural exchanges between the Ottoman Empire and Europe.
The event will be held successively at the Theological School of Halki (Heybeliada), the historical site of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, at the Research Center for Anatolian Civilization of Koç University and at the French Institute for Anatolian Studies in Istanbul.
The conference is part of a larger program on Greek Libraries in the Ottoman Empire, led by the Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes in Paris, which addresses the questions of the cultural heritage of Byzantium after 1453. The scientific aim is to give a better understanding of the fate and role of Greek libraries inside the Ottoman Empire and, as a matter of consequence, to contribute to the emergence of new issues and methodologies in the field of the history of Greek books and libraries. A first workshop entitled “The Greek libraries in the Ottoman Empire (16th-20th c.): New Perspectives” was held at the University of Crete on 26-27 May 2015. It focused on the history of libraries and the circulation of Greek books in the Ottoman Empire, opening on the more recent period, spanning the 16th to early 20th century.