Book and Manuscripts Conservation Studio St. John Thelogian Monastery, Patmos - Greece

During this 5-day course we will be dealing with all aspects of drawing, transferring, and painting an illumination on a prepared parchment folio. Following the traditional techniques of Byzantine illuminators and employing materials, inks and pigments as close to the original as possible, the participants can expect to become familiar with the process of preparing the parchment skins and painting an illumination. Several technical details pertaining to the facture of Byzantine illuminations will be discussed, alongside the aesthetics that rule their making, the particularities of the materials that affect their condition, and the requirements for their correct preservation.

The aim of this 5-day practical course is to demonstrate the characteristics of endbands in the context of Greek-style Bindings and make clear their structural and decorative role. An introductory lecture will explain their evolution in time and place, their classification and terminology and various examples shown and explained through photographs and real books from the library’s collection. Throughout the course at least 8 different types of endbands will be reproduced both simple and compound, with or without cores and with or without further decorative sewing, from the very simple to the more complicated, all encountered on Greek-style bindings from the 10th to the 17th century.

The similarities and differences with both the Western European endbands and those of other Eastern binding cultures such as the Arabic, Syriac and Georgian will be also discussed and explained.