This service, that had the Ephor of Antiquities M. Michailidis as its first Director, was created in 1977 by the newly established Ministry of Culture to which it administratively belongs. At the same time the Direction of Reconstruction of Byzantine and post-Byzantine Monuments (DRBP) was created, while the restoration of portable icons, wall-paintings, mosaics, manuscripts and historic documents was undertaken by the Direction of the Restoration οf Antiquities. The objective of the DRBF is the study, protection, preservation and publication of the Byzantine and Postbyzantine monuments of the country: churches, monasteries, fortresses, castles, mansions and settlements that date before 1830, as well as portable works of art, artistic heirlooms and objects of historic significance in general. It also takes the necessary steps -in collaboration with the Church- so that the architectural physiognomy of the Christian monuments under reconstruction to be preserved in the best possible way since their rescue and study is of national importance.