Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, students will:
1. recognize the Byzantine Heritage Monuments,
2. describe the stations and the destinations of Pilgrimage tourism,
3. be able to understand the reasons and to assimilate the ways of recognizing and highlighting the monuments and the places of the Religious and Pilgrimage Tourism,
4. know the Byzantine and Christian Museum/Museum of Byzantine Culture, the Museums of Ecclesiastical Art/Arts and the byzantine /ecclesiastical collections in other museums.
Course Content (Syllabus)
In 13 units the course examines the most important Christian pilgrimage centers in Greece, Asia Minor and the Eastern Mediterranean, which preserve religious monuments of a valuable Early Christian and Byzantine Heritage. These centers are popular destinations for both Cultural and Religious Tourism as they not only convey a priceless cultural and artistic tradition but also are places of holy pilgrimage, worship and prayer. Through references to their historical and religious geography, the course studies the most important monuments (architecture, painting, sculpture) in the context of the artistic and cultural tradition they belong to. A special mention will be made of the various museums and collections of Byzantine and Christian religious art, where visitors can admire Byzantine and Post-byzantine religious artworks as well as ceremonial and ritualistic objects of Christian worship.
1. Holy Land – Egypt (Sinai Monastery)
2. Constantinople (I)
3. Constantinople (II) - Asia Minor - Pontus - Cappadocia
4. Thrace – Eastern Macedonia (Philippi)
5. Thessaloniki
6. Visit of the Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki
7. Mount Athos
8. Central Macedonia (Veroia)
9. Western Macedonia (Kastoria - Prespes)
10. Thessaly (Meteora) – Epirus – Ionian Islands
11. Central Greece – Attica (Athens)
12. Peloponnese (Mystras - Monemvasia)
13. Aegean Islands - Crete - Cyprus
Keywords
Byzantine Heritage, Religious Tourism, Pilgrimage Tourism, Christian Pilgrimage Sites, Museums