By Catherine Curan

Molly Greene, a professor of History and Hellenic Studies at Princeton, led an intensive interdisciplinary workshop for Princeton University students and their Greek counterparts at the Meteora monasteries in Greece last June, under the aegis of the Diocesan Academy of Theological and Historical Studies of the Holy Meteora. The workshop was supported by a David A. Gardner ’69 Magic Grant from the Humanities Council and the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies.

Meteora, a complex of monasteries built atop natural rock formations in northern Greece, is a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its vibrant monastic community and collections of art, material culture, and manuscripts. From June 4-11, a cohort of undergraduates and graduate students from Princeton and graduate students from Greek universities visited several monasteries at Meteora. The students studied icons, texts, and visual and material culture and gave presentations of their work. Greene led the workshop in collaboration with Nikolaos Vryzidis, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of History and Archeology at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece. Charlie Barber, a professor of Art & Archeology at Princeton, served as an expert instructor in Byzantine and post-Byzantine art.