Positive stories: Underwater archaeological research in Kassos and more

Underwater archaeological research in Kassos

At the end of October 2023, the underwater archaeological survey in the marine area of Kassos was completed. Since 2019, the research team of the National Hellenic Research Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture carried out four research expeditions in areas of special interest, using archaeological and historical evidence, sources, testimonies and reports on the island of Kassos, from Homer’s Iliad to modern times.

During the research, a total of ten shipwrecks were discovered as well as important individual finds, dating back to prehistory (3000 BC), the Classical period (460 BC), the Hellenistic period (100 BC to 100 AD), the Roman period (200 BC to 300 AD), the Byzantine period (800 to 900 AD), and finds from the medieval and Ottoman periods.

The underwater research in Kassos was the subject of an original film production by AORI FILMS titled “Diving into the History of the Aegean”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGwqdEYr2WU&t=2s

More: https://www.culture.gov.gr/el/Information/SitePages/view.aspx?nID=4905 & https://kasosproject.com/

Two Greek museums nominated for the European Museum 2024 Award

The Archaeological Museum of Chania and the Salt Museum in Messolonghi are among the 50 European museums competing this year for the title of “European Museum 2024”. The European Museum of the Year Award was established in 1977 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to recognise excellence in the European museum community, while the European Museum Forum is the body that provides the legal and organisational framework for the annual European Museum of the Year Awards (EMYA) programme.

Discover the two museums through the virtual tour of their nomination videos:

Archaeological Museum of Chania https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5905NQXPHDM&list=PLYoXMVAC5xPIjTl_oqAWXseWCN6sdRQfz

Salt Museum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS4BaMoCpvs&list=PLYoXMVAC5xPIjTl_oqAWXseWCN6sdRQfz&index=21

National Observatory of Athens establishes significant collaborations with the European Space Agency and NASA

Several significant missions involving the participation of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) are scheduled by the European Space Agency (ESA), while NOA telescopes are the only ones chosen by ESA as a part NASA’s flagship Psyche mission, aiming to create a 300 million kilometer long communication “bridge” in space. What is more, two researchers from NOA’s Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing (IAASARS) Vassilis Amoiridis and Eleni Marinou joined the organizing committee of NASA’s MIRA working group, promotes collaboration between research groups in the fields of monitoring and modeling atmospheric composition.

Diving tourism in underwater wrecks

The Ministry of Culture will soon deliver to the public an organized Visitable Underwater Archaeological Sites, following the completion of the pilot phase which started in 2020, with the Peristera wreck in Alonissos. The Visit Organisation Study, which is being developed and implemented for the first time, concerns the four visitable underwater shipwrecks in Alonissos and the Western Pagasitikos, and in particular the organised Visitable Underwater Archaeological Sites of Peristera, Telegrafos, Kikinthos and Cape Glaros.