Report on the Ist Symposium of the Swiss Society for Byzantine Studies
From 8 to 10 May 2025, The Museum of Art and History in Geneva hosted the first Symposium of the Swiss Society for Byzantine Studies. Entitled Byzantium as a Hub in Space and Time, this interdisciplinary and international symposium, was opened in a festive atmosphere with the keynote lecture “Burckhardt for Byzantinists”, delivered by Prof. Paul Magdalino. Over the following two days, fourteen scholars and experts from Switzerland, or working within the Swiss academic context, presented papers on various topics in the field of Byzantine studies, including law, philosophy, history and art history, archaeology, literature, manuscript studies, theology (in a joint session with the Swiss Patristic Studies Group), as well as climate history.
Keynote Lecture by Prof. Paul Magdalino
The program was enriched by a visit to the Cabinets Janet Zakos and a presentation of selected artefacts from the Museum’s Byzantine collections, arranged and displayed specifically for the conference.The organizers would like to express their deepest gratitude to the Museum of Art and History for its generous and invaluable support in organizing and financing the event. Sincere thanks are also due to the other institutions whose patronage contributed to the success of the meeting, namely the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Swiss Society for Ancient Studies, the ERC project “This one there” at the University of Vienna (PI: Prof. Christophe Erismann), and the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Geneva.
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller and Maria Campagnolo-Pothitou
Maria Campagnolo-Pothitou and Gabriella Lini