The Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization Centre of Excellence of the World Academy of Art & Science
Rationals:
The main goal of this project is the coordinated action in the following fields: scientific research, public acknowledge, education and environment legislation on protecting and preserving natural and cultural sites on the ground (in situ), with particular scientific, educational and cultural significance, according to the European legislation and directives.
The project is structured on 3 annual stages, corresponding to the 3 geological and geographical regions of Dobrogea: South, Central and North.
The project is planned to start on December 1st, 2018, with a preparatory stage between May 1st – November 30th 2018, for signing partnership agreements and knowing the situation in situ of the representative sites protection in the 3 regions of Dobrogea.
Observations on Dobrogea
Dobrogea, a historic region, part of the Romanian, Bulgarian and Ukrainian territory, is representative for the region of Levant. Dwelt from the Neolithic period (Gumelnita and Hamangia cultures) during the VI-IV B.C. centuries, it will host the Greek colonies (poleis Histria, Callatis, Tomis) and the first state forms of the Getae. The territory of Dobrogea will belong successively to the Persian Empire (Darius), Macedonian Empire (Alexander the Great), Roman Empire (Moesia, Scytia Minor), to the Geto-Dacians, the Byzantine Empire, Bulgarian from Tara Romaneasca, and the Ottoman Empire.
Located at the intersection of the amber road (the North Sea – the Eastern Mediterranean) with the Silk Road (China – Western Europe), the end point of the Danubian limes, which connects it to Germany through the Central Europe, crossed by the Eastern migrations, frequented by Genoese merchants in the Middle Ages and battle field between Russia and Turkey, headqurters of the Danubian Commission at Sulina (Porto Franco), Dobrogea will be the host for many different cultures and civilizations during XIX and XX centuries.
Dobrogea used to be part of the expedition route of the Argonautes (Insula Șerpilor – The Island of the Snakes), it marked the life of the Latin poet Ovidius exiled by Rome, it was crossed by the Apostle Andrei at the beginning of the first millenium, and it has vestiges of the first 4 centuries of Christianity.
Dobrogea was also the place where the famous thinker and prophet Sari Saltuk Baba has lived, symbol of the unity of the Turkish culture in the XIII century from Central Asia to Europe. Dobrogea is mentioned in the travels of the Arab dervish originated in Maroc, Ibn Battuta, in XIV century.
Besides the majority Romanian population in the North and Bulgarian in the South, 16 ethnic minorities live in harmony, keeping their cultural and religious specific and beliefs, among which Turks (Anatolians, Seljuks from the Ottoman Empire), Lipovans (Russians come în the XVIII century after the schism of the Russian Orthodox Church), Tatars, Khokhols (from Ukarine), Germans (come after 1940 from the Tsarist territories), Macedo-Romanian (vlahi), Greeks, Armenians, Albanians, Gagauzes, Serbians, Jews, Roma people (gipsies).
The geological history of Dobrogea, where the Russian Platform (older than 1.6 billion years) extends, is covered by Proterozoic green shale (older than 600 billion years) and sedimentary rocks, by Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Neozoic, Quaternary and sedimentation currently deposited from the Danube alluvia.
On the territory of Dobrogea there are many geological, geomorphological, geographical, paleontological, paleobotanical, biological, archaeological, historical, architectural with actual or potential status of protected areas for their preservation and capitalization.
The preliminary work (until 30 November 2018) will be conducted in cooperation with the University of Constanta (Romania), Universities and research institutes from Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, Balkans and Caucasus, local administrations (Constanta, Tulcea, Varna, Danube Delta), Biosphere Administration, UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
On June 8th, 2023, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization is organizing an academic debate on the subject of “National natural and cultural heritage – a...
Towards the end of 2021, the international scientific publication known as the Geoconservation Research Journal (gcr.khuisf.ac.ir) published the second volume in the Paleontological Heritage and Geoconservation in UNESCO European Geoparks....
The first volume of the Paleontological heritage and its conservation in the UNESCO European Geoparks series was published online by the Geoconservation Research journal, with a print copy forthcoming....
The Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization was represented at the international conference on “Science evidence-based decision-making approaches for the implementation of the SDGs in the Black...
September 15 th, 2020 - September 16 th, 2020
Around the end of 2019, the Scientific Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization, Professor Dan Grigorescu was approached by the editor-in-chief of the Geoconservation...
Tackling the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic on higher education in the Black Sea region
March 9th – 10th 2020, Senate Hall of the “Ovidius” University of Constanța
Studied over the course of the “Conservation of Biodiversity” Masters’ programme at the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences of the “Ovidius” University in Constanța, in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization, GeoEcoMar and the Romanian Institute of Geology
Another hot and beautiful summer in Dobrogea has gone by, this one less animated than the previous by endless field discussions between biologists and geologists in search of holistic...
Between the 16th and 18th of April 2019, three activities associated with the project were undertaken at the “Ovidius” University of Constanța: the discussions and debates surrounding the potential creation of a UNESCO geopark in Dobrogea, with the input of several professors, researchers and students of the University (April 16th); a conference dedicated to presenting the project’s achievements in the past year and its objectives for the future (April 17th); and a symposium on “Researching multiculturality in Dobrogea – achievements and perspectives” (April 18th).
From the speech of Professor Dan Grigorescu, Scientific Director of the IASLCC, given at the public meeting on “Romania and the Convergences of the Future”, organized by the...
Marius Skolka, Department of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, “Ovidius” University, Constanța,
National Museum of Geology, Bucharest, November 29th 2018
It has been a summer full of interesting activities for this project that attempts a modern take on the values of Dobrogean heritage, and which analyses the way in which heritage sites can beneficially be used to support the inhabitants of the regions they are located in.
Exhibition at the National Geology Museum, Bucharest, July 11th, 2018
”Ovidius” University, Senate Hall, Constanța, June 22nd, 2018
”Institutes for advanced studies” are an investment in the future. Financed either by states, from private sources or sponsored by independent or combined ones, they all have preserved their independence and have started up from the same source: The Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, New Jersey, set up in 1930,…
”The Institute for Advanced Studies in Levantine Culture and Civilization” was founded by the Romanian Parliament through Bill no. 117 / 26 May 2017, published in the Official Gazette no. 404 / 30 May 2017. In 2011, professor Emil Constantinescu, elected President of the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin,…
