CfP: « Patrimoine méditerranéen : voyages, circulation d’objets et héritage antique (XVIIIe – début XXe s.) »
“Mediterranean Heritage: Travel, Circulation of Objects and Classical Antiquity (18th – Early 20th Century)”
Organizers: Alessia Zambon (DyPaC Laboratory, UVSQ – Université Paris-Saclay) and Irini Apostolou (Department of French Language and Literature, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens).
Location and dates: Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, June 10–11, 2027
Theoretical Framework
From the dawn of the Enlightenment to the institutionalization of archaeology in the early 20th century, the Mediterranean basin – from the Italian and Iberian peninsulas to Asia Minor, the Levant, and North Africa – served as the primary terrain for scholarly and aesthetic exploration. The eastward expansion of the Grand Tour radically transformed Europe’s engagement with its past, positioning the traveler (diplomats, military officers, architects, artists, and scholars) at the heart of a rediscovery process. Long before systematic excavations by French and foreign archaeological schools, these actors laid the documentary foundations of modern archaeology through the firsthand examination (autopsia) of ancient sites.
This conference builds on an initiative launched a decade ago, which culminated in the publication of Du Pillage à la conscience patrimoniale en Grèce et dans l’Empire ottoman (XVIIIe-XIXe s.) (Apostolou & Zambon, 2022). The success of this volume, now out of print and available in open access (https://books.openedition.org/ausonius/22456), highlights the ongoing relevance of these issues. Expanding on its groundwork, this conference shifts the focus: without overlooking the predatory nature of antiquity’s appropriation, it aims to investigate the complex interventions of travelers across acquisition, documentation, and preservation. The inquiry will focus equally on the actors themselves, material remains, and the archives or publications tied to their study.
Paper proposals should address one or more of the following five themes:
Theme 1: Documenting the Ephemeral and Preserving through the Image
Framed by Visual Studies, this theme examines the role of travelers in generating a
“paper memory.” Through sketchbooks, architectural drawings, squeezes, and early photography, they captured monuments and inscriptions that have since vanished due to conflict, erosion, or urbanization. This axis will also address the inherent ambiguity of these endeavors, which recorded through images the very monuments their collecting practices o ften weakened. The image is approached here not merely as an illustration, but as a tool for virtual preservation and an autonomous vehicle of knowledge. Papers may explore the complementarities, hierarchies, and tensions between text and image in travel narratives, while analyzing how visual choices (framing, staging of ruins) negotiated between documentary accuracy and the construction of Neoclassical or Orientalist imaginaries.
Theme 2: From Field to Print: Mediation and Reception
This theme addresses the formation of archaeological knowledge. Discoveries made in situ fueled publications (travel accounts, scholarly folios) that sustained the networks of the Republic of Letters and shaped European taste. As members of scholarly elites or figures destined for high academic posts, these travelers consolidated knowledge of antiquity through correspondence, institutional ties, and publications. This circulation will be traced through editorial impact, translations, and these works’ broader influence on archaeology and art history. By comparing original manuscripts (raw archives, field notes, travel diaries) with published works, this approach examines the materiality, layering, and making of archaeological discourse, asking how these working papers shifted from working tools to prime heritage assets.
Theme 3: Collections, Provenance, and Traceability
Provenance research stands today as a central societal and scientific priority for heritage institutions. This theme explores the intersecting trajectories of objects and ideas through two complementary angles:
Findspots and the Biography of Objects: The critical study of manuscripts and archival records allows scholars to reconstruct original archaeological and geographic contexts, tracing the “biographical itineraries” of artifacts now held in public and private European collections.
Circulation and Cultural Transfer: By catalyzing the exchange of knowledge and the formation of antiquities collections, travelers acted as cultural intermediaries. Mapping the paths of these objects and their collectors across the Mediterranean provides insight into intellectual currents and cross-cultural exchanges between East and West.
Theme 4: Heritage Awareness and In Situ Interventions
This axis evaluates early forms of heritage awareness. Moving beyond artifact removal, to what extent did travelers contribute to the physical preservation of remains? In some cases, they alerted local authorities to degradation and initiated early consolidation or anastylosis eZorts. Yet their in situ activities generated friction. Papers may examine negotiations and interactions with local populations, Western reactions to early antiquities laws, and the traveler’s dual role as both looter and protector. To move beyond a purely Eurocentric framework, this theme pays particular attention to what has been termed “indigenous archaeology,” spotlighting the agency of local communities and authorities (Greek, Ottoman, Levantine, North African). Far from passive witnesses, local actors adopted varied strategies toward Western interest: economic collaboration, direct resistance to spoliation, indifference, or the development of their own heritage consciousness regarding classical remains.
Theme 5: Classical Heritage and Digital Humanities: Interoperability, Modeling, and Computational Valorization
This final theme explores digital tools and methods applied to the study, mapping, and virtual reunification of Mediterranean antiquities dispersed across Europe. It seeks to highlight methodological case studies demonstrating how computational approaches facilitate the virtual reconstruction and enhancement of scattered collections, restore artifact provenance, and link textual and visual archives (travel logs, inventories, drawings) to physical objects. Presentations will address data interoperability, the application of Semantic Web standards (such as Omeka S architectures and geographic gazetteers), 3D modeling as a research and preservation tool, and the integration of AI. Contributors are encouraged to examine how open-access platforms and digital corpora can serve as mediation tools (virtual exhibitions, interactive storytelling, immersive environments), making complex datasets accessible to broader audiences.
To address these questions, the conference adopts an interdisciplinary approach, linking the material history of collections, the critical analysis of textual and visual sources, and recent computational methods (data engineering, AI applied to corpora, and the Semantic Web).
Practical Information and Submission Guidelines
The conference will take place over two days, on June 10 and 11, 2027, at the Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, co-organized with the Department of French Language and Literature of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. An edited volume of selected, unpublished papers will be published following the conference.
Proposals should include a 150-word abstract and a short CV. They must be submitted by December 15, 2026, to both organizers: alessia.zambon@uvsq.fr
and irapo@frl.uoa.gr
Scientific Committee
• Irini Apostolou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
• Alain Duplouy (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)
• Edhem Eldem (Vienna Center for Advanced Studies, University of Vienna)
• Davide Gherdevich (UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay)
• Frédéric Hitzel (EHESS)
• Vincent Jolivet (École nationale des chartes – PSL)
• Alain Schnapp (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)
• Chahan Vidal-Gorène (École nationale des chartes – PSL)
• Alessia Zambon (UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay)