Thomas Whittemore

Thomas Whittemore (January 2, 1871 – June 8, 1950) was an American scholar and archaeologist who founded the Byzantine Institute of America.

[5] The list of sponsors of the new venture, according to renowned architectural historian William L. MacDonald, "reads like a who's who of art, aristocracy, and money.

"[6] In 1931, Whittemore traveled with the institute to Istanbul with the permission of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to oversee the removal of plaster covering the Byzantine mosaics in Hagia Sophia.

[8] He also accepted a presidential appointment to represent the United States at the Byzantine Conference in Sofia in September of that year.

In 1942, the New York Times noted his return to Istanbul for his "ninth year in uncovering Byzantine mosaics in the St. Sophia Museum".