Rousanou Holy Monastery Manuscripts

The Library in co-operation with the Historical and Paleographical Archive of the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece undertook the project of Digitization, Administration, and Cataloging of the Rousanou Holy Monastery Manuscript Collection.

The project aimed to promote Rousanou Holy Monastery’s cultural heritage artifacts and make them available to the academic community.

The collection consists of 39 codices which were written from the 13th to 19th century and mostly contains Liturgical Books – Menaion, Octoechos, Synaxarion – Doctrines, and Speeches by Holy Fathers. The photo shoot was taken by the head of the Historical and Palaeographic Archive of National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation, Mr. Agamemnon Tselikas.

The cataloging was based on the Roussanou Monastery manuscripts’ descriptive catalog, created by the Ionian University professor Dimitrios Sofianos, while the polytonic writing system of the publication was maintained. The users can download and print digital items in low or medium resolution.

In addition, a major technical innovation has been implemented in the repository; digital objects are displayed through the IIIF protocol (International Image Interoperability Framework) and the Library is one of the few institutions in Greece that owns one.

The collection is available in the European Digital Library Europeana through the portal SearchCulture.gr, the national aggregator of digital cultural content, developed by the National Documentation Centre.

The codes digitization project is a valuable tool for the global academic community, as it enables remote study without damaging the primary material, provides access to high-quality analysis, while further research and study is provoked.