Athens abounds, to be sure, with art and architecture from the classical age, but you'll also experience it as a vibrant, modern space. The city consists of layers of memory, traces left by the Romans, Byzantines, medieval French and Spanish knights, and Ottomans, as well as by modern Greeks.  Today’s Athens is a world center of culture, with museums of stunning quality, including the new Akropolis Museum.  Its restaurant scene runs the gamut from "European fusion" to down-home family tavernas.  And as the central hub for air and ground transportation, Athens offers endless opportunities to travel both locally and throughout the country, at very modest prices.   Best of all, despite the city’s size and the frenetic pace of life, you'll find Athenians just as devoted as their ancient ancestors to the ideal of philoxenia ("hospitality, friendliness to strangers"). 

Program Description

Rutgers’ Program in Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies (http://chaps.rutgers.edu/), in collaboration with CYA Athens/DIKEMES, offers a five week summer program in cultural heritage preservation.  Using the historic city of Athens and beyond as a laboratory for exploring the challenges and rewards of conservation and preservation within the urban framework of a modern global city and within iconic cultural landscapes that make Greece one of the most popular cultural destinations in the world.
The course is taught on site at some of Western civilization’s greatest surviving monuments, ranging from the Parthenon in Athens to the great ruins of Mycenae and Tiryns, the early Christian and Byzantine churches of Thessaloniki, and the Venetian and Ottoman remains of the romantic seaside resort of Nafplio. Led by Professor Ann Brysbaert, a Principle Investigator of the 5-year project: ‘Cross-Craft Interaction at Tiryns, Greece’(part of ‘Tracing Networks in the Mediterranean and Beyond’ interdisciplinary project, funded by a Leverhulme Programme award), the seminar will be joined by resident experts on particular aspects of conservation and history throughout the course.


Information at a Glance

• Academics

• Program Itinerary

• Accommodations and Meals

• Program Costs

• Scholarships

• Travel Brochure

For more information about this program, please contact the Rutgers Study Abroad office.