International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

STUDYING AND COMMUNICATING BYZANTIUM – PART 1
Chairs: 
Aphrodite Papayianni, Markéta Kulhánková 
Karsten Fledelius
, 
Communicating Byzantium
Sarah J. Teetor
, 
The Construction of Byzantium Through Objects: Challenges and Potential in Exhibitions
Aphrodite Papayianni
, 
The Representation of the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 
in High School History Textbooks in Greece, 1850−2010
Anna Linden Weller
, 
Rhomaioi and Barbaroi in Science Fiction: Byzantine Modes of Writing the Alien
Markéta Kulhánková
, 
Translating Byzantine Literature into Czech: Development, Approaches, Trends

---

88
Karsten Fledelius 
University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Media,
Cognition and Communication, Copenhagen, Denmark; 
[e-mail]
Communicating Byzantium
Communicating Byzantium to a wider public and to a wider world is particularly important 
outside what could be called the “Byzantine World”, i.e. the countries and peoples influenced through 
the ages by Christian Orthodox religion and culture where Byzantium can be considered as an integrate 
part of national heritage and history. Serbia and Russia are countries where knowledge of Byzantine 
tradition is important for understanding their identity. Denmark and England are outside that sphere. 
Therefore in both countries scholars have found it important to promote interest in Byzantium for two 
reasons, to become aware of the significance of Byzantine Civilisation outside the “Byzantine World” 
(e.g. the sphere of Western Christianity), and to understand the significance of Byzantine Heritage for 
the understanding of the countries and peoples inside the “Byzantine World”.
In Denmark, in connection with the 2010 celebration of Istanbul as Cultural Capital of Europe, 
an exhibition was created of “Golden Realm of Europe – Byzantium 330-1453”, combined with 
a comprehensive book “Heritage of Byzantium” (both in Danish, the target group being Danish 
speakers). A condensed version of the 36 posters from the exhibition has been travelling ever since 
in churches and libraries all over Denmark. The posters are covering not only the periode 330-1453, 
but also the afterlife of Byzantium both in the East and the West up to the present day. The idea is 
to demonstrate the relevance of Byzantium to both parts of Europe. So far the project has been very 
successful and has been combined with lectures all over the country. The aim is to make Scandinavians 
aware of the importance of Byzantium even to-day for not only the whole of Europe, but for the entire 
world. The next project is to produce a digitalised version of the poster series for the Internet.