The Archive | karoussosarchives

ABOUT

Karoussos Archives is a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring and reintegrating the world's significant Byzantine art heritage while ensuring its continued wonder and creativity for future generations.

As an informal management body, it supports Byzantine monuments on a non-profit basis, forming synergies with organizations and businesses and allowing monuments to be viable and integrated into modern society.

It attempts to re-establish the Byzantine cultural asset and reintegrate it into the modern context using the rich archival material of late post-Byzantine painters Dionysius and Iannis Karoussos. Using cutting-edge methods ensures the flawless transfer of Byzantine content to the digital age, with the goal of redefining Byzantine art and its implicit connection with sustainable development.

THE HISTORY

The Karoussos Archives include the work of the late fresco painters, Dionysios and Giannis Karoussos, who represented two important avant-garde artistic periods in Orthodox ecclesiastical art:
i. The movement of the Nazarene (Pre-Raphaelite) painters, which was a reaction to neoclassicism and the conventional art education of the academic system; and
ii. The revival of modern post-Byzantine art, distinguished by its enriched post-Palaeologian character.

The Archive preserves over 200 original working sheets (anthivola) from important frescoes in Orthodox churches, including the Athens Cathedral, Agios Panteleimonas in Athens, Agios Andreas in Patras, and many others.
Tens of thousands of photographs and slides were taken during the artistic work from the scaffolding levels, depicting details located up to 43 metres above ground level.

These images are particularly valuable because they capture details of frescoes that would otherwise be impossible to study, given the height and scale of the churches. Furthermore, they illuminate the levels of artwork in general.

Dionysis Karousos began the collection in the early 1900s. The collection contains a large number of engravings and lithographs from the late nineteenth century, as well as rare anthivola from the painter’s last Nazarene period.

After the mid-twentieth century, the collection was expanded to include the unique repository of Yannis Karousos’ meta-anthivola (large worksheets on rice paper used as blueprints). Many of these worksheets were redesigned to solve architectural problems such as distortion and perspective.

The collection includes architectural drawings and the iconographic cycle of the churches. This part of the archive is important because it sheds light on the long history of modern church construction in the twentieth century, where the use of concrete in the construction of the dome was particularly innovative.

The libraries of both painters complement the Archive's collection. They include rare publications that were used as sources for their artwork.

ACCESS TO THE ARCHIVES

Access to the archive is at the discretion of the Karousos Archives Committee. Due to the fragile nature of the archive materials, the number of individuals admitted for research may be limited. Written requests must be submitted at least thirty days before the commencement of any proposed study. Those wishing to consult archival materials should first contact the Karousos Archives by email.

COPYRIGHT POLICY

Users of the Archive may request reproductions of photographs only for academic research purposes. Worksheet reproduction (anthivola) is not permitted. Professionals interested in obtaining access to this type of Archival material for fresco commissions should contact the Director.
Any resulting publication, whether as a book, thesis, article, or other digital or audiovisual media owned by the Archive, should include appropriate acknowledgment and copyright permission.
Before being sent to the publisher, any material ready for publication will be shown to the Archives in its digitized form. Karoussos Archives reserves the right to delete or amend any reference, without prejudice to any legal right governed by the respective intellectual property laws.