The Xth SYMPOSIUM SYRIACUM and the VIIIth CONFERENCE ON ARAB CHRISTIAN STUDIES were held in Granada, Spain, from September 22nd-27th, 2008 under the title BEYOND THE FRONTIERS: Life, Art and Literature of the Syriac Speaking and of the Arabic Speaking Christian Communities. Both events were organised as a single forum by the ICSCO (International Centre for the Study of the Christian Orient) under the patronage of the Archbishop of Granada Msgr. Javier Martinez, in cooperation with the two Lebanese institutions, i.e. the CEDRAC (Université Saint-Joseph), Beyrouth, and the Université Saint–Esprit, Kaslik. The conferences are held once in four years bringing together scholars in Syriac and Christian Arabic Studies from various countries. This year more than 200 scholars from Russia, Western and Eastern Europe, USA and Canada, Japan, Australia, Syria and Lebanon met in Granada to present results of their research on Syriac grammar, Syriac and Arabic theology and historiography, the self-identity of Syriac and Arabic speaking Christian communities in the Middle East and in Europe. The projects of study and digitisation of the written heritage of Middle-Eastern Christians were also presented. The most important papers, as usual, introduced some new and unstudied Syriac manuscripts from Syria and China as well as a corpus of Syriac inscriptions from Urmia region. During the conferences two important and very interesting excursions were offered to participants: first, the city tour of Granada accompanied with the visit to Alhambra and the gardens of Generalife (the gala-dinner took place the same evening organised by the mayor of Granada in a historic Baroque palace in the vicinity of Alhambra), and second, a trip to Cordoba gave us an opportunity to visit the impressive Old Umayyad mosque (today, the Cathedral of Cordoba). . Here are the official programs of both events as PDF files: General photo of the participants Dr N.Smelova |