Between 16 and 19 November 2025, the Ancient Monuments of the Black Sea project hosted Dr Iulian Bîrzescu from the Vasile Pârvan Institute of Archaeology of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest. The visit took place within the framework of the scholarly exchange between the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Romanian Academy.
During his stay, Dr Bîrzescu familiarised himself with the research activities of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences and consulted the Institute’s library collections, focusing particularly on literature concerning Greek colonisation and intercultural contacts in the western Pontic region. On 18 November 2025, he delivered a lecture entitled “The Sacred Area of Histria in the Archaic Period: New Archaeological Researches”, presenting the latest results of investigations into the early phases of the sanctuary at Histria — one of the key Greek colonial centres on the Black Sea.
A recording of the lecture is available online.
The presentation generated considerable interest among the project participants and provided an excellent opportunity for stimulating discussion on the archaeology of the western Pontus and future research perspectives on Histria and its connections with the Greek world.