The twentieth-century wars between the Balkan powers forcefully divided the region of Thrace into frontier zones, dislocating communities, and aiming to produce ethnically and culturally ‘homogenous’ modern states (Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey). The traumatic experiences profoundly impacted later historiography and seriously affected cultural heritage. This session introduces a multidisciplinary, collaborative initiative—known as BRIA—with scholars and students originating from the three countries. The goal is to overcome borders and the resulting limitations that still shape Byzantine studies. In this Thematic Session, team members, building upon their experience of travelling across the three countries, will contextualize aspects of the Thracian territory, such as rupestrian sites, riverine and coastal landscapes, settlements, and communities (past and present). Through this panel, we wish to instigate discussion on several topics, such as a new holistic methodology for understanding the Byzantine environment and rock-cut architecture, and a research model applicable to other regions. We aspire to offer fresh perspectives on comprehending the Byzantine world and to chart a course toward a more collaborative, inclusive, and sustainable future for our field of study.
The twentieth-century wars between the Balkan powers forcefully divided the region of Thrace into frontier zones, dislocating communities, and aiming to produce ethnically and culturally ‘homogenous’ modern states (Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey). The traumatic experiences profoundly impacted later historiography and seriously affected cultural heritage. This paper introduces a multidisciplinary, collaborative initiative—known as BRIA—with scholars and…
The paper focuses on the ambivalent character of Thrace as an intermediate hinterland of Constantinople and a severely contested borderland between the Byzantine and Bulgarian empires since the 9th c. onwards. We chose the coastal area for our survey for several reasons, as the fact that the sea communications generate much faster and clear-cut reflections…
During the civil wars of the fourteenth century, the hinterland of Thrace became a contested landscape where cities, castles, and monasteries played a decisive role in the power struggle. The involvement of urban centres such as Adrianople (Edirne) and Didymoteichon reveals how local communities and commanders shifted allegiance between rival rulers. In this context, the…
The historical-geographical region of Thrace served as a significant mediator of cultural and architectural interaction due to its position between Asia Minor and the Balkans, particularly during the late medieval period, a time characterized by frequent changes in political authority and shifts in power. The region, alongside its Byzantine heritage, played an important role in…
Aside from the urban centers and the impressive and sophisticated examples of civil and religious architecture, the studies of the rock-cut sites remain scarce and represent isolated efforts to understand the Byzantine heritage of Thrace. This paper proposes a comparative analysis between the two sites. Different levels of analysis will be proposed: the topographic description…
As outcomes of an alternative mode of architectural expression, rock-cut spaces assume a wide range of functions and meanings in distant geographies and cultural contexts, constituting a weighty sum of surviving material evidence from Byzantium as well. In scholarship, the term “rock-cut architecture” is rather loosely applied to an ontologically diverse group of material. In…
While the methodological particularities of Byzantine Studies have been increasingly acknowledged in recent scholarship, the research models that underpin scholarly practice remain underexplored. Across the humanities—and especially in Byzantine studies—there is growing recognition that inherited research models often fall short of supporting the collaborative, interdisciplinary, and context-sensitive work the field demands. The BRIA Project, launched…