The “Study of the decay in the painted layers of post-Byzantine icons with the parallel application of chromatographic and micro-chemical techniques: identifying the mixing base and the by-products of its break-down” project took place in the context of the Academic and Technological Collaboration Programme 2005-2007 between Italy and Greece, which was in turn part of the COMPETITIVENESS Operational Programme.

The project sought to promote academic research in the field of art-work documentation and conservation, and related specifically to a physico-chemical study of the decay of the binding media in post-Byzantine icons held in the Greek National Gallery and the Byzantine and Christian Museum. The project was coordinated by the Antiquities and Art-Works Conservation Department at the Athens TEI; the academic collaborator in Italy was the Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry at the University of Pisa.