I just received the following junk email, and found myself quite enchanted by the weird and wonderful world it opens up:

Serious mistakes. Happily the new Government of the Empire is animated
by an enlightened and liberal spirit, and at the request of His
Excellency Sir Gerard
Lowther, H.B.M. Ambassador to the Sublime Porte, permission was granted
to the Byzantine Research and Publication

Fund to have the church examined as thoroughly as its condition
allowed, and to make
all the plans, drawings, and photographs required in the interests of a
scientific knowledge of its architectural character. The Byzantine
Research and Publication Fund was fortunate in having as its

president, Edwin Freshfield, LL.D., so long distinguished for his
devotion to Byzantine archaeology, and it is mainly due to
his generosity that the means necessary for carrying on the study

of the church were provided. The society was, moreover, most happy in
being able to secure the services of an architect in Mr. W. S. George,
who already possessed considerable experience in the investigation of
Byzantine
buildings at Salonica and elsewhere. Fortunately, also, the building
was at the same time placed under repair, in view of its conversion
into a museum of arms,
thus affording exceptional facilities for the erection of scaffolding
and the removal of plaster and other obstructio

Don’t you feel that is one of those magical texts that one dare not read in full, for it might change the entire texture of the world?