Workshop: Working with Monastic Repositories:Navigating Access, Preservation, and Knowledge Production

Monastic repositories, which preserve a wealth of historical holdings rooted in centuries-old traditions, have long been recognized by scholars as rich resources for academic research. Researchers who engage with these collections, however, are frequently confronted with a range of practical, methodological, and ethical challenges related to access, preservation, cataloguing, and interpretation.

Organized within the framework of the Cluster of Excellence ‘EurAsian Transformations’ and its Work Package on the multilingual archival holdings of the Athonite monastery of Zograf, this workshop focuses on the concrete practices of working with monastic archives. It brings together scholars with direct experience in accessing, handling, cataloguing, digitizing, and editing monastic manuscript and archival collections across Eurasia. By emphasizing hands-on perspectives and comparative discussion, the workshop seeks to address shared challenges, exchange effective strategies, and reflect on how everyday archival practices shape research outcomes and scholarly knowledge production in multilingual and institutionally embedded monastic environments.

The workshop is organized within the framework of the Cluster of Excellence ‘EurAsian Transformations (Funded by FWE, grant-DOI: 10.55776/COE8) and in cooperation with the ERC-2020-STG ‘ORTHPOL’ (funded by the ERC under Horizon 2020. Grant agreement No. 950287) and the ERC-2024-CoG ‘OttomanCORE’ (funded by the ERC under Horizon Europe. Grant agreement No. 101170435)