Oxford University shines spotlight on Georgian medieval monuments

Several Georgian medieval monuments and the country’s architectural legacy in present-day Turkey is the focus of an international conference at Oxford - one of the world's most prestigious universities.

Starting tomorrow, the two-day Medieval Georgian Heritage in Turkey conference will seek to shed light on the history and studies of the many Georgian historical monuments found beyond the country's contemporary borders.

The scientific gathering will be hosted at Ertegun House at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom (UK) .

The 10th Century AD Georgian Oshki Church is now in North-Eastern Turkey's Erzurum province. Photo from ‎Nikoloz Aleksidze‎/Facebook.

Featuring leading Georgian and Turkish researchers, the event will involve talks and lectures on cultural heritage and state borders, and the history of the medieval South Caucasus.

Other topics will focus on individual Georgian monuments of the Middle Ages, now found in the territory of North-Eastern Turkey.

These talks will include the illustrative murals of the 10th Century AD Oshki Church in Turkey's Erzurum province, and frescoes of the Ishkhani Monastery in today's Artvin province.

Interior of the 10th Century Oshki Church. Photo from Nikoloz Aleksidze‎/Facebook.

Speakers at the conference will represent several offices and organisations including the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia, National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia, National Centre of Manuscripts of Georgia and the Pamukkale University of Turkey.

The event is being organised by the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research, National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia and the Ertegun House Graduate Scholarship Program in the Humanities.

The full program of the two-day event can be found on the official Ertegun Graduate Scholarship website here.