The RICONTRANS project studied the Russian religious artefacts held in museums, church or monastery collections in the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean. These piety objects come incessantly to the region for a long period of time through official gifts (acts of personal devotion of the tsars, offerings sent by the Russian State and Church authorities, objects acquired through officially sanctioned alms collection missions) or as unofficial and private donations, as well as by pilgrimage and trade.
Applying a cultural transfer approach, the project mapped the phenomenon of the dissemination of Russian religious art across its longue durée by identifying preserved artefacts in the region, tracing the routes and mechanisms of their transfer, and analysing the dynamics and driving forces—religious, political, and ideological—that shaped this process across different historical phases.
Particular emphasis was placed on the study and classification of these objects according to their iconographic and artistic characteristics, as well as on the investigation of the aesthetic, ideological, political, and social contexts that informed their reception in diverse cultural and religious environments. The project further examined the impact of these artefacts on the visual culture of the host societies.
The research combined extensive archival and bibliographical investigation in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, and Russia. Additionally, field research was conducted in locations selected for their historical relevance to the political, ideological, and artistic dimensions of the transfer of Russian religious art. These locations included major monastic centres, important urban environments, regions formerly under Russian control, areas with strong commercial connections to Russia, and zones characterized by confessional diversity.
The data collected through these missions was systematically integrated into an open-access database, designed to support the reconstruction of the spatial and temporal dynamics of the phenomenon and to enable the creation of a comprehensive map of Russian religious art in the Balkans.
The project was led by the Institute for Mediterranean Studies / FORTH (Rethymno) in collaboration with the Benaki Museum (Athens), the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade, and the National Museum of the Union in Alba Iulia, together with a network of independent researchers based in Bulgaria, Greece, and France. This collaborative framework supported a cross-border effort to document and analyse the transfer and reception of Russian religious art in Southeastern Europe.
By bringing to light previously unknown or neglected artefacts, the project contributed not only to scholarly research but also to the protection and preservation of cultural heritage. It raised public awareness, engaged cultural institutions and state authorities, and supported efforts to counter the illicit circulation of cultural objects.
Through these actions, the RICONTRANS project enhanced both academic knowledge and societal impact, fostering heritage awareness, supporting preservation policies, and contributing to the safeguarding of a significant yet understudied corpus of cultural heritage.
