Publication of the volume The Wandering Throne of Solomon: Objects and Tales of Kingship in the Medieval Mediterranean (Leiden: Brill, 2015), by Dr. Allegra Iafrate, winner of the 2014 Prix Marc de Montalembert. The book represents the outcome of the research project Le Trône errant du roi Salomon : étude d’un symbole culturel partagé en Méditerranée médiévale, directly supported by the Prix and dedicated to the circulation of objects and literary traditions related to Solomon from the X to the XIII centuries, particularly among Jews, Christians and Muslims in the Medieval Mediterranean. http://www.brill.com/products/book/wandering-throne-solomon

At the Foundation in Rhodes, the Seminar on “The Filming of Social Research Interviews“, 18-19 novembre 2015, was convened by the Rhodes Project SCE and co-organized by the History and Social Sciences Lab of the Department of Primary Education of the University of Aegean. Key note speaker was Mr Vassilis Loules (documentary director). The seminar begun with a theoretical approach on the nature of historical documentary in contrast with other genres of filming followed by an analysis of the convergence as well as diversion points between documentary and social research.  Two concrete exercises were carried out by the participants and discussed. The seminar ended with practical issues regarding film recording. The seminar was attended by 18 university students, local amateur film makers, lecturers of the University of Aegean and members of Rhodes Project SCE.

From 12 to 16 October, 2015 at the Foundation in Rhodes a seminar on “The Bible, archeology and history” was led by PP. Jean Baptiste Humbert, archeologist, and Jean Michel de Tarragon, specialist of the Bible and historian of religions, from the Ecole Biblique de Jérusalem. The subject of the seminar was mainly on the lights that recent archeological investigations shed on the history told by the Bible and its roots in the historical Middle East. A group of twenty two persons of different nationalities and religious orientations participated.

The call for applications for the Prix Marc de Montalembert 2016 is published on the INHA’s website.

Annual opening of the Foundation in Rhodes on the day of Saint Marc and presentation of the 2015 Marc de Montalembert grant to Judith Bouchier-Végis by Mr Hadzidiakos  Mayor of Rhodes.

The 2015 Marc de Montalembert grant is awarded to Judith Bouchier-Végis, France, for her project “Feminine identities (or portraits of women) from Italy, Greece and Bulgaria through folk songs and their stories : from the origins until today, and their impact on modern music ”. The aim of the project is to meet women who song in the three countries, to record the encounters and the songs, and share their stories and their songs with the aim to compose a sound travel book.

At the seat of the Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA), in Paris, the 2015 Prix Marc de  Montalembert was presented by Mr. Philippe Morel, professor of modern art history and director of Centre d’Histoire de l’Art de la Renaissance at Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, to Joana BARRETO, docteur en histoire de l’art moderne of Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, for her research entitled « Naples, carrefour artistique entre Occident, Afrique et Orient » at the time of the Aragon during the XVth century. On this occasion Dr Allegra IAFRATE, art historian from Italy and winner of the 2014 Prix Marc de Montalembert delivered a lecture entitled “ Concerning the throne and other salomonic objects : notes on a shared tradition in the Medieval Mediterranean ” and presenting the results of her research on “The Wandering Throne of Solomon : a study of a  shared cultural symbol in the Medieval Mediterranean”. These results have been submitted to a publisher for publication.

The winner of the 2015 Marc de Montalembert Prize is Joana BARRETO, from France, PhD in art history of Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, for her research entitled “Naples, carrefour artistique entre Occident, Afrique et Orient“. The Prize will make possible the further development of a research project on cultural and artistic exchanges in the Mediterranean world. It bears more specifically on the period when the Aragon reigned on the Kingdom of Naples during the XV century.