Panajiota Assimakopoulou-Atzaka, Christina Papakyriakou, Anastasia P. Pliota, Byzantium-Early Islam. Cultural heritage management: Shared experience beyond boundaries

We felt it was important to review this book, although its release date was in the end of 2008 (on the other hand, the official presentation of this volume will take in Thessaloniki February 20, 2012), because of the exceptional contribution achieved through the over three whole years of extraordinary cooperation within the context of a joint program with the European Commission. The final but not sole outcome of the Euromed Heritage III Programme entitled "Byzantium-Early Islam (BYZeIS), was the partnership consisted of Greece (Hellenic Society for the Protection of the Environment and the Cultural Heritage, project coordinator Vassillis Kodiordis; Centre for Byzantine Research; Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Cyprus (Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber); Israel (Israel Antiquities Authority, Conservation Department); Palestinian National Authority (Mosaic Centre Jericho); Turkey (Middle East Technical University). This project refers to a historical reality which chronologically corresponds to the twilight of Late Antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin, where the formative characteristics were rooted in the Greek- Roman and Early Byzantine tradition on the one hand, and in the cultural background of the people of Islam during the period of their expansion into the territories of the Roman and Early Byzantine Empire on the other. The century coinciding with the first Islamic dynasty of the Umayyad caliphs of Damascus (661-750) has been a very important period indeed. This project began to take shape in the nineties with the discovery in 1992 of a big octagonal church in an olive grove belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, between the Holy Cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem: this was the initial spark and a prime mover for the creative idea. After thirteen years the project was approved and funded by the European Commission and in 2008 the partners have recorded the final results of such incredible research and experience.