Manuscript condition assessment

On 3rd of March, the fifteenth visit by the survey team (which lasted for two months instead of the usual one) finished the condition survey of the 3,307 bound manuscripts in the old library of the monastery. This completes the most detailed survey of its sort for a whole collection of this size, and it has involved the participation of 35 people from nine different countries.

A team of six conservators started work in the library on Monday 9th January in what is to be the final session of the survey of the bound manuscripts. The team is led by Dr George Boudalis, who, with Marco Di Bella (third visit), Cédric Lelièvre (second visit) and Maria Argyrou, will be staying for 8 weeks. They will be working with Maria Kalligerou and Michael Gullick during January, and with Andrew Honey and Silvia Sotgiu in February. Prof Nicholas Pickwoad will join the team in the last week of February.

The visit is proposed for the period Monday 9 May (arriving Sunday 8 May) to Friday 3 June (leaving Saturday 4 June). We are bringing a team of 6 conservators for this visit, led by Michael Gullick, with Guy de Witte (second visit), and, for the first time, Andrew Megaw (who works in the conservation studio at Trinity College, Dublin), Maria Kalligerou and Maria Argyrou, who are both regular team members, and Esra Göknil Iâ??Anson, who until recently worked at the British Library. The purpose of the visit is to continue the condition assessment of the bound manuscripts.

The team of six conservators finished their work in the monastery on Saturday 12th February. Further details on their progress will be published soon.

The visit proposed for the period 17 January-12 February has now been confirmed by Father Symeon.
There will be a team of 6 conservators for this visit, led by George Boudalis, with Marco Di Bella (second visit), and, for the first time, Cédric Lelievre (who works in a conservation studio in Arles, France), Clare Prince (private conservator in London), Gillian Boal (Hans Rausing Conservator at the University of California, Berkeley) and Sara Mazzarino, (private conservator, Rome). All have confirmed that they are available at this time.

The visit proposed for the period 30 August - 25 September has been confirmed by Father Symeon. As we are now making only three survey visits each year, there will be a team of 6 conservators for this visit, led by Andrew Honey (from the Bodleian Library, Oxford, his third visit), Nikolas Sarris (his sixth visit), Konstantinos Hatziantoniou (his second visit) and, for the first time, Nicole Gilroy (also from the Bodleian Library), Monika Gast (an independent conservator from Germany), and Caroline Scharfenberg (an independent conservator from Scotland).