The Manuscripta Ottomanica montis Athonis (MOmA) project, led by Dr. Richard Wittmann at the Orient-Institut Istanbul (Max Weber Foundation), is an interdisciplinary, long-term research initiative dedicated to the systematic study of Ottoman manuscripts preserved in the monasteries of Mount Athos. These archives, spanning the 14^th to 20^th centuries, represent a unique and virtually unexplored corpus of sources essential for understanding the history of the Eastern Mediterranean and Christian-Muslim coexistence under Ottoman rule.

For the first time, this project will grant scholars comprehensive access to these documents under an agreement between the Orient-Institut Istanbul (Max Weber Foundation) and the monasteries of the Monastic Republic of Mount Athos. The project will create high-resolution digital reproductions and a scientific catalog, applying state-of-the-art digital humanities methods such as computer-assisted transcription and translation.

The work is carried out in close collaboration with monastic and ecclesiastical partners, and leading international academic and nonprofit institutions, including some of the foremost research universities in the United States, Greece, Germany and Turkey. Designed to continue over at least a decade, MOmA will open this unparalleled body of sources to global research, advancing studies in Ottoman law, social history, Byzantine and Slavic studies, and interfaith relations.