Bio

Christos Karydis PhD, MA, ΜΑ, BA, DipCons

                                               Associate Professor, Preventive & Interventive Conservation of Organic Materials

Dr. Christos Karydis is an associate professor in the Ionian University- Department of Environment, Programm: Conservation of Antiquities & Works of Art. Director of the School of Iconography 'Fotis Kontoglou' established by the Holy Metropolis of Monemvasia & Sparta in 2017. Co-ordinator of the MSc program 'Preservation & Management of Cultural Heritage' in the Ionian University. He is also teaching in several postgraduate courses mainly in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (ARCHMAT, Natural and Chemical Methods for Diagnosis of Damage to Cultural Heritage Materials, etc), University of Ioanninon  and in the University of the Aegean. He was a visitor lecturer at the Aristotle University of Thessalonica (MSc Protection, Conservation & Restoration of Works of Art & Mechanisms). Academic responsible for three e-learning programs ‘Preventive conservation of works of art’, 'Athonian Art: icons, textiles, miniature art & sculpture' and 'Preservation of Libraries and Archive Materials' at the University of Athens. 

He specializes in the preventive & interventive conservation of organic materials (textiles, icons, easel paintings). His undergraduate and postgraduate teaching has included history of organic materials, interventive & preventive conservation of textiles, easel apintings, fibre identification analysis. He also contributes to the teaching of theory, practice and historiography of iconography and fresco techniques. He completed his postdoctoral researcher in preventive conservation and history of ecclesiastical textiles with the collaboration of the Ormylia Diagnostic Art Centre and the Getty Institute (Los Angeles). He was conferred with the Doctor of Philosophy award in 2009 at the University of Lincoln, UK (Funded by the Holy Synod of Greek Chrurch). His PhD thesis titled ‘The Orthodox Christian Sakkos. Repentance Garments dating to the 15^th- 20^th c. from the Holy Mountain of Athos. Collection Survey, Scientific Analysis & Preventive Conservation’. The thesis has been published by the British Archaeological Reports in Oxford. 

He received his Master of Arts in Preventive Conservation from University of Northumbria and an Master of Art in the Orthodox Theology from the Greek Open University. After his first degree in Conservation from De Montfort University, UK he trained in textile conservation at the Textile Conservation Centre- University of Southampton, UK (one year, A.G Leventis Foundation). Before studying conservation, he trained as a icon painter in Greece. He has been working in Churches and monasteries at Mount Athos, Jerusalem, Constantinople, Colombia, Spain, UK and Greece since 2002. He is an external adviser in monasteries at Mount Athos. He has participated in EU projects, Digital Documentation of treasures from Mount Athos with the National Research Centre- Institute of Byzantine Studies, the MED-COLOUR-TECH and BYZ-TEX-ATHOS project (funded by The Getty Foundation) on the protection of textiles from Mount Athos. Also he participated as a member of the program MoCaCu ‘Mobile Care for the Documentation, Characterisation and Conservation of Movable Cultural Heritage Artifacts from Remote Areas in Greece’, funded partly by the Swiss Confederation-Federal Office of Culture (FOC), which a selected number of ecclesiastical objects were selected to be preserved by interventive or preventive conservation by a mobile conservation team.

Additionally, he has published 4 monographs and more than 90 papers in scientific journals, international and national conferences etc. He is the author of the first book of preventive conservation of textiles written in Greek appeared in 2006 (Futura publications) and he is co-editor and author of the Science in Preventive Conservation published in 2013 (Time Heritage publications). Member of ICOM, ICOMOS, IIC etc.

Founder and head organizer of the International Meeting for Conservation & Documentation of Ecclesiastical Artefacts (IMCDEA)  http://imcdea20165.webnode.gr/

His fields of interest include: preventive conservation, textiles, icons, easel paintings and the relationship of art, theology and ideas.

Blog: www.christoskarydis.blogspot.gr

E: c.karydis@gmail.com   or  c.karydis@ionio.gr