"We are facing a cultural genocide, both in our material and intangible cultural heritage in relation to Byzantine monumental art. UNESCO is increasingly called upon to respond to emergencies caused by conflicts, resulting in the destruction of important cultural assets. The conflicts show a devaluation of the economy of the image, which is considered the backbone of Byzantine art, which means that the greatest loss is not the cultural good itself, but the absence of the transformative power of such a cultural good. the Byzantine cultural core has been significantly weakened, long before the destruction of the monuments. An example of the lack of this power is the recent Islamization of Hagia Sophia.
And as Europe invests heavily in the transfer of cultural heritage to large-scale digital databases, it seems that the inner transformative power of the cultural good, as in Byzantine monumental painting, has been lost, resulting in a vague space.
"Emerging technologies can help reveal the economy of the image if it reflects the essence of Byzantine monumental art and not its fossil."

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Dr. Katerina Karoussos