Cooperation Agreement with the Institute for Old Slavic Culture – Prilep

On 8 September, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the Institute of Art Studies and the Institute for Old Slavic Culture – Prilep, North Macedonia, by the Directors, Prof. Joanna Spassova-Dikova, PhD, and Aleksandar Vasileski, PhD. 

The Institute for Old Slavic Culture – Prilep is a public scientific institution founded in 1979, which began its activities in 1980, with a main focus on the study of the cultural and historical heritage of Macedonia and the Balkans in the broader context of Slavic, Byzantine, and European cultural history. The Institute develops interdisciplinary research in the fields of medieval and historical archaeology, art history, Byzantine studies, linguistics, ethnology, folklore studies, and cultural and social anthropology. The interdisciplinary approach allows for the comparison of different types of sources and methods in the study of historical and cultural processes. The Institute’s scientific output includes specialised monographic publications dedicated to monuments of ecclesiastical art from the Pelagonian region and to the medieval manuscript heritage, as well as the peer-reviewed journal ‘Balcanoslavica’. The Institute also organises international conferences and scientific symposia dedicated to issues of archaeology, medieval history and culture, socio-cultural processes, and the place of the Balkans in the European civilisational context. 

The agreement aims to formalise and expand the fruitful contacts between colleagues from the two institutions over the years, regulating the cooperation of both parties in activities related to the study, preservation, and presentation of cultural and historical heritage and the exchange of knowledge in the field of the humanities.