The Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies in Venice bids farewell, with sincere sorrow, to Maria Konstantoudaki – Kitromilides, Emeritus Professor of Byzantine Archaeology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Maria Konstantoudaki was originated from Crete. She pursued her studies at the Department of History and Archaeology of the Faculty of Philosophy at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens as a State Scholarship Foundation scholar. She then continued her postgraduate research at the Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies in Venice (1973-1976) as a scholar of the Academy of Athens.

Her doctoral dissertation focused on the life and work of the eminent painter Michael Damaskinòs (1530/35–1592/93). A highly accomplished researcher, she discovered previously unpublished archival material concerning Domenico Theotokópoulos (El Greco) in the Venetian State Archives. She furthered her studies at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the Department of History of Art at Harvard University. Her research was particularly dedicated to Cretan painting during the Venetian period.

Beyond her extensive scholarly contributions to Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Archaeology, Maria Konstantoudaki was a long-serving Professor of Art History at the Department of History and Archaeology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (1982-2017) and Director of the Museum of Archaeology and History of Art at the same university (2012-2017).

Her dedication to the Hellenic Institute in Venice, where she had first embarked on her research as a young scholar, remained unwavering throughout her career. In recent years, she had been collaborating with fellow researchers on the documentation of the Greek community in Livorno.

The Hellenic Institute will honour her memory, not only through the enduring legacy of her work but also through the grace and dignity she brought to her scholarship and her presence. We join her loved ones in mourning her loss, particularly her husband, the distinguished academic Paschalis Kitromilides, and their son.