NAVS - PROMOTION, DOCUMENTATION AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT OF THE GREEK SHIPBUILDING LEGACY AND NAVAL HISTORY - THE BATTLES OF NAVARINO AND SALAMIS

Shipping, shipbuilding and seamanship are the pillars of Greek history that is closely intertwined with the sea. Over time, many and varied ships and boats were designed and built for different purposes and uses. These vessels constitute a large part of the maritime tradition of our country.

The NAVS project aims to showcase and enhance this type of maritime heritage through the use of new cutting-edge technologies.

Specifically, in the context of the project, historical and traditional shipbuilding will be digitally recorded and captured with a faithful and detailed three-dimensional display. The digitized material with the appropriate documentation will be the basis for the Digital Repository of Greek Historical / Traditional Boats. The 3D material will be used to build 3D shipbuilding models as well as virtual interactive experiences. The project thus aims to utilize the maritime cultural stock of our country in a range of applications, and at the same time to assist in the research on shipbuilding art and tradition.

Three exhibitions for the public are also planned as part of the project. Both of them have an anniversary character and concern two important historical moments of the naval history of Greece: the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC. and the Battle of Navarino in 1827. The aim of the anniversary exhibitions is to showcase the role of the ships in these historical events.  The third exhibition focuses on the promotion of shipbuilding art in general through the presentation of historical and traditional boats.

For the implementation of the proposed actions, the experience, expertise and know-how of the involved partners will be utilized in the areas of historical and economic documentation, development and reconstruction of digital geometric ship models, development of virtual environments and multimedia applications. The exhibition material of the two anniversary exhibitions will remain available to the public with the development of virtual museums.

The project launched in June 2020 and it is co‐financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH – CREATE – INNOVATE (project code: Τ1EDK-05103).