The Workshop of Byzantine Painting of the School of Social Theology and Christian Culture has been operating since 1980 as a proposal and vision of the late Professor Ioannis Fountoulis, with the famous Byzantine painter, Mr. Ioannis Vranos, as the first teacher of iconography. Today, those who are teaching are Associate professor Mr. Tryfon Tsompanis, and Laboratory Teaching Staff members of our School Mrs Paraskevi Papadimitriou and Mr. Ioannis Sarigiannidis.
Location: 4th floor, Faculty of Theology building – Office 414
Opening hours: 09.00-14.30, Monday to Thursday.
T: +30 2310 997059.
Director: Tryfon Tsompanis
T: +30 2310 991119
M: tsompanistp@past.auth.gr
Scientific stαff:
Paraskevi Papadimitriou
Τ: +30 2310 997059
Μ: parpapadim@past.auth.gr
Ioannis Sarigiannidis
Τ: +30 2310 997059
Μ: isarigiannidis@past.auth.gr
The Workshop of Byzantine Painting offers courses on an academic and applied interdisciplinary level. Byzantine painting is approached through Theology, Archaeology, Visual and Applied arts, Mathematics, Geometry, Chemistry, and Legal Science. At the same time, the Workshop operates in the mornings, from Monday to Thursday, as a free Workshop, offering free personalized courses to all students of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
In particular, the Workshop of Byzantine Painting is attended by undergraduates, postgraduates and doctoral candidates of the Faculty of Theology, as well as from the Faculties of: Law, Pedagogy, Sciences, and Fine Arts. Their countries of origin are Greece, Cyprus, Syria, Russia, Ukraine, France, Bulgaria, Moldavia, Poland, Uganda, and others.
Every year the Workshop of Byzantine Painting organizes, in cooperation with the KEDIVIM (Center for Training and Lifelong Learning), certified programs (with ECTS) for learning the technique of Byzantine Painting with an academic and applied character. Participation in these programs is open to all interested parties.
The titles of the offered Programs are the following:
- The Art of Religious Painting. Theory and Techniques A (for Beginners).
- The Art of Religious Painting. Theory and Techniques B (for Advanced students).
A 440-hour program in the Art of Mosaic has been approved for the next academic year (2023-2024), with recognition by the ASEP (Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection). These programs offer immediate job prospects. The Mosaic Program, in particular, opens up the possibility of working in decorating the Temples and Muslim mosques.
During the year, eminent artists are invited to present various topics related to Byzantine Art and apply new techniques.
The Workshop of Byzantine Painting, in cooperation with monasteries from Mount Athos and women’s monasteries in Macedonia, sends students for several days of practical training in the respective monastic Workshops of Byzantine Painting.
The Workshop of Byzantine Painting organizes Byzantine Painting and Mosaic Exhibitions and participates simultaneously in other Exhibitions when invited to take part.
Finally, as part of its extroverstion, the Workshop encourages students to work in various Workshops of Byzantine Painting in Thessaloniki.
Our ultimate goal is for the future graduates of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki to practice the art of Byzantine painting and mosaics, either as amateurs or professionals, and to spread, as multipliers, Byzantine art in their homelands around the world.
