Issues of spatial planning and material culture of pilgrimages in Byzantine and Medieval Cyprus and pilgrimage currents in the Eastern Mediterranean (11th–16th centuries)

In this presentation, given in Greek, Ourania Perdiki of the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus introduces SPAMAP CY, a three-year postdoctoral project launched in December 2018 to study the spatial organisation and material culture of pilgrimages in Byzantine and Medieval Cyprus and the island's place in Eastern Mediterranean pilgrimage networks from the 11th to the 16th century. Funded through the Research Promotion Foundation and coordinated by Athanasios Vionis, the project brings together researchers from the University of Cyprus, including Michalis Olympios and GIS specialist Niki Kyriakou, alongside officers from the Department of Antiquities and the Deputy Ministry of Tourism.

Perdiki explains why the study begins in the 11th century, a period marked by the growth of sea travel to the Holy Land with Cyprus as a regular stopping point, the foundation of major Cypriot monasteries supported by Byzantine imperial donations, and the start of the Crusades. The project examines Orthodox, Latin and Muslim pilgrimage across the Middle Byzantine, Lusignan and Venetian periods. It groups Cypriot shrines into four categories: those associated with a miraculous icon or saintly relics, those linked to a saint's tomb or place of martyrdom, sites connected with a holy person's residence, and sacred springs.

The talk outlines the project's six work packages. The team is building a digital database in Microsoft Access to catalogue monuments, archaeological sites and portable pilgrimage souvenirs, drawing on fieldwork and archival research; for monuments in the occupied north that are not easily accessible, the project relies on records held by the Department of Antiquities. Thirty-two pilgrimage sites had been identified at the time of the talk. Subsequent phases combine the study of saints' lives, miracle accounts and travel literature with spatial analysis in GIS, mapping the distribution, accessibility, visibility and connectivity of mountain and coastal shrines and producing thematic maps that can also serve religious tourism.