The world’s largest academic gathering devoted to the Byzantine Empire will take place in Vienna later this month. Bringing together more than 1,400 participants from over 50 countries, the congress will examine Byzantine history and culture within the empire’s borders and far beyond them.
The 25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies will be held at the University of Vienna from 24 to 29 August 2026. Organised under the motto “Byzantium beyond Byzantium,” the event will feature hundreds of presentations by scholars working in history, archaeology, literature, art history, manuscript studies and the natural sciences.
The congress is being organised by the Austrian Association for Byzantine Studies in cooperation with the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Vienna. It is being held under the honorary patronage of Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen.
First convened in Bucharest in 1924, the International Congress of Byzantine Studies takes place approximately every five years in a different city. Vienna previously hosted the congress in 1981 and has a long-established tradition of research into the Byzantine Empire and its neighbouring cultures.
Byzantium beyond its borders
The main building at the University of Vienna – photo by Ian Ehm (https://www.ianehm.com/)
The Byzantine Empire existed for more than a thousand years, from the fourth century until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Centred on the eastern Mediterranean, it connected communities across Europe, Asia and Africa while preserving and adapting the political traditions of the Roman Empire.
The congress’s theme reflects growing interest in viewing Byzantium as part of a globally connected medieval world. Presentations will examine the movement of people, texts, artistic forms and political ideas between Byzantium and regions extending from Western Europe to Africa and Asia.
Scholars will also consider how the empire survived repeated wars, epidemics, political upheavals and environmental changes. Other discussions will address migration, integration, religious and linguistic diversity, and relations among the communities living within and around the empire.
The congress theme draws inspiration from the concept of Byzance après Byzance, or “Byzantium after Byzantium,” developed by Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga in 1935. The Vienna congress broadens this approach by examining not only the survival of Byzantine culture after 1453 but also the empire’s interactions with neighbouring societies throughout the medieval period.
An early look at the research
The Proceedings of the Plenary Sessions at the 25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies have already been published as an open-access volume. Edited by Adrian C. Pirtea, Giulia Rossetto and Nikos Zagklas, the 542-page collection offers an advance look at many of the subjects that will be explored in Vienna.
Its 22 papers are organised into six sections covering biological perspectives on the Byzantine world, the reading of Byzantine literature, social diversity, Roman ideas beyond the empire, Byzantine connections with Central Europe, and later attempts to rediscover or reimagine Byzantium.
Several studies demonstrate how natural sciences are changing knowledge of everyday life in the empire. Bioarchaeological research uses human remains to investigate childhood, health, disease, diet and migration, shifting attention away from emperors and senior clergy towards the experiences of ordinary people. Other contributions examine animals, agricultural practices and the transportation of food in ceramic amphorae.
The geographic range extends well beyond Constantinople and the eastern Mediterranean. Individual papers explore Byzantine and Roman ideas in medieval Ethiopia, South Asia and China, as well as cultural connections reaching Scandinavia. The volume also considers Byzantine missionaries, princesses and works of art in Central Europe.
Other contributions follow Byzantine culture into later centuries. They investigate how Byzantine literature was read in the Ottoman Empire and early modern Europe, how nineteenth-century newspapers represented the empire, and how Byzantium has been reimagined in modern publications, literature and comics.
Austria’s own connections to Byzantium will receive particular attention. These include the Byzantine princesses Theodora Komnene and Theodora Angela, who married members of Austria’s ruling Babenberg dynasty during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
Byzantine exhibitions and public events
Reusing parchment: Magical recipes beneath a biblical text. Coptic, Egypt, parchment, sixth century. Photo courtesy The Papyrus Museum of the Austrian National Library
The congress will be accompanied by a programme intended to make Byzantine history accessible beyond the academic sessions.
The Papyrus Museum of the Austrian National Library is hosting Tracing Byzantium: Fragments of the Greek Middle Ages until 2 May 2027. Curated by Krystina Kubina and Giulia Rossetto of the University of Vienna, the exhibition considers how surviving manuscripts, documents and fragments allow researchers to reconstruct Byzantine society.
During congress week, the museum will also present a special display titled Under the Sign of Seals: History and Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean (from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages).
Additional exhibitions will present icons from the Metropolis collection at Vienna’s Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity and late Byzantine coins at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The coin exhibition will examine currency not only as a means of payment but also as an expression of political authority and connections among the states that emerged in the eastern Mediterranean after the Fourth Crusade of 1204.
The wider cultural programme includes historical music performed by the Baroque Arabesque ensemble, city tours and presentations of board games inspired by Byzantine themes. A “Market of Beautiful Things” will offer another informal way for visitors to engage with Byzantine culture.
Even the congress logo reflects Vienna’s connections with Byzantine history. Its design is adapted from the Vienna Dioscurides, an elaborately illustrated medical manuscript created in Constantinople in 512 for the aristocrat Anicia Juliana. The manuscript was acquired by Habsburg diplomat Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq in 1569 and brought to Vienna, where it remains one of the Austrian National Library’s most important holdings.
The congress will open at the University of Vienna on 24 August and continue until 29 August. Further information about the academic programme, exhibitions and public events is available through the International Congress of Byzantine Studies website.
Top Image: Byzantium in Vienna: The Babenberg Duke Leopold VI and his Byzantine wife Theodora on the Anker Clock, built in 1914 at Hoher Markt in Vienna. Photo courtesy University of Vienna
The world’s largest academic gathering devoted to the Byzantine Empire will take place in Vienna later this month. Bringing together more than 1,400 participants from over 50 countries, the congress will examine Byzantine history and culture within the empire’s borders and far beyond them.
The 25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies will be held at the University of Vienna from 24 to 29 August 2026. Organised under the motto “Byzantium beyond Byzantium,” the event will feature hundreds of presentations by scholars working in history, archaeology, literature, art history, manuscript studies and the natural sciences.
The congress is being organised by the Austrian Association for Byzantine Studies in cooperation with the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Vienna. It is being held under the honorary patronage of Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen.
First convened in Bucharest in 1924, the International Congress of Byzantine Studies takes place approximately every five years in a different city. Vienna previously hosted the congress in 1981 and has a long-established tradition of research into the Byzantine Empire and its neighbouring cultures.
Byzantium beyond its borders
The Byzantine Empire existed for more than a thousand years, from the fourth century until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Centred on the eastern Mediterranean, it connected communities across Europe, Asia and Africa while preserving and adapting the political traditions of the Roman Empire.
The congress’s theme reflects growing interest in viewing Byzantium as part of a globally connected medieval world. Presentations will examine the movement of people, texts, artistic forms and political ideas between Byzantium and regions extending from Western Europe to Africa and Asia.
Scholars will also consider how the empire survived repeated wars, epidemics, political upheavals and environmental changes. Other discussions will address migration, integration, religious and linguistic diversity, and relations among the communities living within and around the empire.
The congress theme draws inspiration from the concept of Byzance après Byzance, or “Byzantium after Byzantium,” developed by Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga in 1935. The Vienna congress broadens this approach by examining not only the survival of Byzantine culture after 1453 but also the empire’s interactions with neighbouring societies throughout the medieval period.
An early look at the research
The Proceedings of the Plenary Sessions at the 25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies have already been published as an open-access volume. Edited by Adrian C. Pirtea, Giulia Rossetto and Nikos Zagklas, the 542-page collection offers an advance look at many of the subjects that will be explored in Vienna.
Its 22 papers are organised into six sections covering biological perspectives on the Byzantine world, the reading of Byzantine literature, social diversity, Roman ideas beyond the empire, Byzantine connections with Central Europe, and later attempts to rediscover or reimagine Byzantium.
Several studies demonstrate how natural sciences are changing knowledge of everyday life in the empire. Bioarchaeological research uses human remains to investigate childhood, health, disease, diet and migration, shifting attention away from emperors and senior clergy towards the experiences of ordinary people. Other contributions examine animals, agricultural practices and the transportation of food in ceramic amphorae.
The geographic range extends well beyond Constantinople and the eastern Mediterranean. Individual papers explore Byzantine and Roman ideas in medieval Ethiopia, South Asia and China, as well as cultural connections reaching Scandinavia. The volume also considers Byzantine missionaries, princesses and works of art in Central Europe.
Other contributions follow Byzantine culture into later centuries. They investigate how Byzantine literature was read in the Ottoman Empire and early modern Europe, how nineteenth-century newspapers represented the empire, and how Byzantium has been reimagined in modern publications, literature and comics.
Austria’s own connections to Byzantium will receive particular attention. These include the Byzantine princesses Theodora Komnene and Theodora Angela, who married members of Austria’s ruling Babenberg dynasty during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
Byzantine exhibitions and public events
The congress will be accompanied by a programme intended to make Byzantine history accessible beyond the academic sessions.
The Papyrus Museum of the Austrian National Library is hosting Tracing Byzantium: Fragments of the Greek Middle Ages until 2 May 2027. Curated by Krystina Kubina and Giulia Rossetto of the University of Vienna, the exhibition considers how surviving manuscripts, documents and fragments allow researchers to reconstruct Byzantine society.
During congress week, the museum will also present a special display titled Under the Sign of Seals: History and Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean (from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages).
Additional exhibitions will present icons from the Metropolis collection at Vienna’s Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity and late Byzantine coins at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The coin exhibition will examine currency not only as a means of payment but also as an expression of political authority and connections among the states that emerged in the eastern Mediterranean after the Fourth Crusade of 1204.
The wider cultural programme includes historical music performed by the Baroque Arabesque ensemble, city tours and presentations of board games inspired by Byzantine themes. A “Market of Beautiful Things” will offer another informal way for visitors to engage with Byzantine culture.
One evening event will feature recreated clothing based on paintings from the medieval cathedral of Faras in Nubia, in what is now Sudan. The costumes of members of the royal family and clergy will demonstrate how Byzantine artistic and cultural influences reached Christian communities far beyond the empire’s political frontiers.
Even the congress logo reflects Vienna’s connections with Byzantine history. Its design is adapted from the Vienna Dioscurides, an elaborately illustrated medical manuscript created in Constantinople in 512 for the aristocrat Anicia Juliana. The manuscript was acquired by Habsburg diplomat Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq in 1569 and brought to Vienna, where it remains one of the Austrian National Library’s most important holdings.
The congress will open at the University of Vienna on 24 August and continue until 29 August. Further information about the academic programme, exhibitions and public events is available through the International Congress of Byzantine Studies website.
Top Image: Byzantium in Vienna: The Babenberg Duke Leopold VI and his Byzantine wife Theodora on the Anker Clock, built in 1914 at Hoher Markt in Vienna. Photo courtesy University of Vienna
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