The Holy Monastery of Toplou at the center of an award-winning meeting of tradition, theology and digital innovationtranslated

The "Living Tradition and Cultural Innovation in Crete" initiative received four distinctions at the Education Leaders Awards 2026, with the central program "Iconography 2.0 - Cultural Project of Tradition and Innovation | NextGenerationTradition", which took place at the Holy Monastery of Kyrias Akrotiriani and Agios Ioannou theologios Toplos, on Sunday, August 24, 2025. As part of the program, the Holy Monastery of Toplou was for a week a meeting place for theology, ecclesiastical art, culture and new technologies. In the focus was the pictorial composition "Great, Lord" by Ioannou Kornaros, which includes 61 theological representations and was approached through theological interpretation, scientific suggestions and modern digital applications.

Members of the Faculty of Theology of EKPA, researchers, artists and young creators participated in the educational program. The program included applications of artificial intelligence, 3D scanning and printing, augmented and virtual reality, digital storytelling and audio-visual documentation.

The action was completed with a digital projection on the historic walls of the Monastery, combined with...