Ph.D. candidate solving history's mystery abroad

Every day doctoral student Charles Stewart spends hours writing and researching in the library- but not at the Herman B Wells Library or anywhere on campus. Stewart has been studying at the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute in Nicosia, Cyprus, since Sept. 5, and he will spend the next nine months doing the same. When he is not pouring through volumes of Greek, Russian, French and German texts, he drives around the churches of the Mediterranean island to count domes and analyze frescoes.\nStewart is in Cyprus working on his doctoral thesis in art history, balancing library and field research. Thanks to "generous" grants from the U.S.-Cyprus Fulbright Fellowship, the CAARI Anita Cecil O'Donovan Fellowship and the Medieval Academy of America, Stewart said he hopes to answer some questions that have previously been left unanswered.\nStewart said in an e-mail interview that Arabs invaded Cyprus, colonized the island and destroyed churches between 650 and 700 A.D. Cyprus was divided between the Christian Byzantine Empire of Constantinople and the Arab Caliphate of Damascus. The Cypriots were then forced to pay taxes to both governments. The churches were rebuilt after the Byzantines reconquered the island around 965 A.D.\n"The domed churches that I study were built sometime in this period -- the question is when," Stewart said. "They were radically different than the churches before the Arab invasions -- they have three to five domes. Beforehand, churches had wooden roofs. Why?"\nTo answer this question and others, Stewart studies the overall ground plans of the churches and the surviving fresco designs for clues. \nStewart said there are still feelings of tension between the Greek Orthodox and Muslim communities, but there are serious efforts to unite them. He has a general knowledge of Modern Greek and is learning Turkish, the two languages spoken on the island. \nDespite tension between the Greek and Turkish communities, the island has a booming economy that Stewart said surprised him.\n"As an offshore banking and trading center, it has attracted lots of investments from the former Soviet Union companies and members from the Arab world. In southern Cyprus, many street signs are written in Greek, Russian and English," Stewart said. \n"We meet people from all over the world here, from Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs to the typical German and French tourists. It is a small island nation with a cosmopolitan feel."\nWhen Stewart returns to America, he said he plans to publish a few of his articles and apply for several post-doctoral positions. He would also like to teach medieval art history at a university. \nAlthough he has been working in Cyprus for less than a month, Stewart said he has already learned a valuable lesson from his travels.\n"Living abroad for more than a couple months helps a person realize the uniqueness -- good and bad -- of American culture. It also helps one to realize that the eyes of the world are upon us and that we influence so many things (good or bad) regarding culture, economy and politics"