The Lab

Ormylia Foundation, established in 1982, is a non-profit institution based in Ormylia (Chalkidiki, Greece) and reflects the will of the Holy Monastery of Simonopetra and the Holy Convent of the Annunciation, to make a contribution for the benefit of mankind and culture in the tradition of Orthodox Monasticism.

Ormylia Foundation provides the community with two major commodities; preventive medicine (being) and the understanding of the spiritual / cultural tradition and heritage (well being). Over the last years, Ormylia Foundation has developed medical and social services and research, as well as projects and methods for the study, documentation, preservation, protection and promotion of cultural heritage. Moreover, Ormylia Foundation using this experience has established one of the major knowledge databases for the Byzantine iconography and the cultural heritage. The asset of this scientific knowledge leads to the development of training activities for scientists and for educational activities (children) while connecting the modern society with the spiritual tradition of the past.

The founding objectives of the Foundation, as provided by its Organization Act, are the following:

• To perform preventive medical actions and to promote medical research with the support of the State and various medical universities; to offer medical care to patients; to develop social welfare programs; to provide emotional, intellectual and material support to the local population, particularly to young people and those in need.
• To develop technological research for the study and documentation of cultural heritage with the support of the State and university departments; to improve technology and design devices for the continuous upgrading of laboratory infrastructure and the methodology used; to work towards the protection and documentation of art and cultural heritage; to provide authenticity certificates and to evaluate the state and pathology of the works in order to support and scientifically document necessary conservation works.

The infrastructure and research activity, which has been developed in the context of successful competing projects, qualifies the Foundation to provide excellent services in various fields of scientific research and industry

Providing advanced technology and research activities in the areas of documentation and restoration of the European cultural heritage, biomedical technology and the industry in general, is a strategic objective for Ormylia Foundation that has become practice.

In addition, Ormylia Foundation extends its research interest and activities in the social field targeting groups at risk of exclusion (elderly and children) with the use of  technological innovative actions that will ensure their social inclusion or/and rehabilitation.