The event brought together nearly 1,500 participants, including approximately 1,150 speakers presenting papers. The congress proved a major success for Polish Byzantinists, who delivered 34 presentations and chaired 10 congress sessions. Prof. Robert Wiśniewski (University of Warsaw) became the first Pole in history to join the governing bodies of the AIEB, which was established in 1948. The Polish delegation also took an active part in the AIEB General Assembly (Prof. Robert Wiśniewski, Dr Andrzej Kompa).
Lodz University Press at the Congress
The congress also featured a Byzantine studies book fair in which Lodz University Press participated for the third time, having previously exhibited in Belgrade in 2016 and Venice in 2022. As the only publisher representing Poland, as well as the whole of Central and Eastern Europe, it showcased several dozen volumes from the Byzantina Lodziensia and Series Ceranea series, together with recent issues of the journal Studia Ceranea.
Representatives of the Lodz Byzantine Studies Community
Representatives of the Lodz Byzantine studies community were also among the members of the Polish delegation. Seven researchers affiliated with the Waldemar Ceran Research Centre for the History and Culture of the Mediterranean Area and South-East Europe Ceraneum, the Department of Byzantine History, University of Lodz, the Institute of East European Studies, University of Lodz, and the University of Lodz Doctoral School of Humanities participated in the congress:
- Prof. Zofia Brzozowska – paper: “Was the Primary Version of George the Monkʼs Chronicle Preserved Only in the Church Slavonic Translation? Some Remarks Concerning the So-Called ‘Letovnik’”;
- Prof. Paweł Filipczak – organiser and chair of the session “The City of Antioch as a Center of Byzantine Power, Economy and Culture in the Middle East and Beyond”;
- mgr Patryk Grancow – paper: “Selected Molluscs as a Food and a Medicine in Early Byzantine Medical Texts”;
- Dr Andrzej Kompa – paper: “Romani People in Romanía: a Forgotten Byzantine Share of Gypsy History”;
- mgr Maksymilian Mikuła – paper: “The Palaiologan Romances Libistros and Rhodamne, Kallimachos and Chrysorrhoe, and Belthandros and Chrysantza as Sources for the Study of the Byzantine Aristocracy”;
- Prof. Teresa Wolińska – paper: “A Difficult Pontificate. Gregory I, Patriarch of Antioch (571–593) Facing Accusations, Natural Calamities and Big Politics”;
- Dr Jan Mikołaj Wolski – paper: “Byzantine Heresiology in a Bulgarian Mirror”.
The participation of a sizeable delegation from the University of Lodz in the 25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies confirms the strong international standing of the Lodz centre for Byzantine studies. The tradition of Byzantine research, built over many years, is now continued by the Department of Byzantine History and the interdisciplinary Ceraneum Centre, bringing together scholars from various University of Lodz units.
International research cooperation, the presence of Lodz researchers at the most important events in the field, and the publishing series and journal Studia Ceranea developed in Lodz all contribute to maintaining the University of Lodz as a recognised centre for research on Byzantium and its heritage.
To say that the 25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies in Vienna (24–29 August 2026) was a success for the Lodz, and more broadly Polish, Byzantine studies community would be a considerable understatement
– concludes one of the congress participants, Dr Andrzej Kompa.
