The International Congress of Byzantine Studies is the world’s largest scholarly event devoted to the history and culture of the Byzantine Empire. It has taken place every five years for almost a century (the first Congress was held in Bucharest in 1924) and draws 1,500 scholars from around the world. Congress participants and those accompanying them will have the opportunity to explore different aspects of the Byzantine World through exhibitions in Venice and Padua that will be open to the public, and other related events.
Byzantine Studies explores every aspect of the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, which flourished from AD 330 to 1453. Its heart was the city of Constantinople, also known as Byzantium and today as Istanbul. Byzantine Studies covers a vast range of research areas: archaeology and art history; linguistics, philology, and literature in Greek and other languages; economic, social, religious, military, and environmental history; and the history of philosophical thought and spirituality.