Object

The Russian religious artefacts (icons and ecclesiastical furnishings), held in museums, church or monastery collections in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean, constitute a body of valuable monuments hitherto largely neglected by historians and historians of art. These objects acquire various interrelated religious/ideological, political and aesthetic meanings, value and uses. Their transfer and reception constitutes a significant component of the wider process of transformation of the artistic language and visual culture in the region, and its transition from medieval to modern idioms. It is at the same time a process reflecting the changing cultural and political relations between Russia and the Orthodox communities in the Ottoman Empire and its successor states in the Balkans over a long period of time (16th- early 20th century).

Objectives

RICONTRANS aims to:

Map the phenomenon of this transfer and reception in its long history by identifying preserved objects in the region;
Follow the paths and identify the mediums of this transfer;
Analyze the moving factors of this process;
Study and classify these objects according to their iconographic and artistic particularities;
Inquire into the aesthetic, ideological, political and social factors which shaped the context of the reception of Russian religious art objects in various social and cultural environments;
Investigate the influence of these transferred artefacts on the visual culture of the host societies.

The Innovative Character of RICONTRANS

RICONTRANS studies for the first time a large and neglected body of art objects, paying attention not only to masterpieces, but also to mass produced artefacts.
It analyses them not only as objects of art or piety, but also as important historical sources for the relations between Russia and Southeastern Europe between the 16th to the early 20th century.
RICONTRANS applies an innovative research approach for the transnational study of art objects and their circulation in large regions of Europe.
The Project launches inter-sectoral collaboration between museums, universities and research institutions, consolidating an international and interdisciplinary network of leading scholars as well as training a new generation of scholars in the field.
Through exhibitions and various open activities, it will draw public attention to thus so far neglected art objects, highlighting the political, social and cultural contexts of their transfer.
Through its genuine interdisciplinary character, RICONTRANS endorses and cultivates a contemporary conception of art history.