The Byzantine Institute of America is an organization founded for the preservation of

Byzantine art Byzantine art comprises the body of Christian Greek artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of Rome and lasted u ...

and architecture.

History

Working with the Turkish government and President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, its greatest notable success is the preservation of the mosaics in

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

starting in June 1931. The institute is located in the

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and garden of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, M ...

, in Washington, D.C. The institute's founder was the scholar and archaeologist

Thomas Whittemore Thomas Whittemore (January 2, 1871 – June 8, 1950) was an American scholar and archaeologist who founded the Byzantine Institute of America. His close personal relationship with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and the first president of the ...

Whittemore-major posing in front of the Hagia Sophia

External links

* Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, in Washington, DC. http://www.doaks.org

Guide to the Byzantine Institute and Dumbarton Oaks fieldwork records and papers

Notes on the work of the Byzantine Institute in Istanbul 1957-1959
Byzantine art, Institute Arts organizations based in Washington, D.C. {{US-arts-org-stub