The library of Holy Trinity at Chalki

This site is devoted to the history of the library of Holy Trinity monastery on the island of Chalki (now known as Heybeliada, in the Sea of Marmara close to Constantinople).  The current researches on this library are a first step within a larger programme on Greek libraries in the Ottoman Empire. Set up in the 16th century by patriarch Metrophanes III, this library, which then counted some 200 Greek manuscripts, has aroused much interest and acquisitive desire on the part of western travellers throughout its history. Its main nucleus is now kept in the library of the Oecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, whereas several manuscripts have over the centuries been removed and can be identified in various European or American libraries.

Manuscripts of the Chalki Holy Trinity

This page will be supplied in step with the advancement of the project and will offer descriptions of manuscripts proposed by the various collaborators in the project.
At the project’s conclusion these descriptions will be assembled in two distinct catalogues:
The first will concern the manuscripts still kept in Istanbul (Oecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Holy Trinity or Hagia Trias- Αγία Τριάς collection).
The second concerns those manuscripts which are currently dispersed in various institutions:
British Library (London), Lambeth Palace Library (London), Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris), Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana (Città del Vaticano), Princeton University Library, Bodleian Library (Oxford), Ethnikê Bibliothêkê tês Ellados (Athêna), Monê Ibêron (Mount Athos), Monê Xerapotamou (Mount Athos), etc.