ICOM (the International Council of Museums) will be organizing a museums tour through the southern Balkans this fall. The idea: "By visiting major cities and sites in the region the museum tour and conference will enable participants to compare the efforts made bymuseums in Tirana, Korce (Museum of Medieval Art), Ohrid (National Museum of Macedonia), Bitola (several different historical sites), Vergina (Tomb of Philipp II), Thessaloniki (Museum of Bycentine Culture and others) and Istanbul (private and public museums) to preserve, rebuild or establish collections and exhibitions". Deadline for registration is June 30, 2008. There is a registration fee, but a number of grants are available. Read the full announcement here.

Heath Lowry (Princeton) will be giving a talk ("Hasluck Revisited: The Fate of Muslim 'Sacred Spaces' in Today's Greece") in connection with his new book (it looks quite nice, photos by our Stephen Lewis) at Sabanci University this Monday (May 12), 2-3:30PM (more...). Later this week, and also in Istanbul, Gunhan Borekci (fellow at the RCAC) will give a talk entitled ”Sultan Ahmed I and His Imperial Mosque Complex in Istanbul: An Interpretation” as part of the mini-symposium "Imperial Patronage from Byzantine to Ottoman Times" (Friday, May 16, 4PM- at the "Koc Institute").