La Navigation du Savoir

This project managed by the University of Malta is financed through the programme EUROMED HERITAGE II of the European Commission. Since July 2003, UNESCO has been charged with the scientific coordination.

If today the Mediterranean appears as a place of troubled cultural, political and social tensions, it also is since Antiquity the privileged vector of the exchange of knowledge, values and goods which are sources of cross-fertilization between civilisations. This project aims at the creation of a network of historic arsenals in the Mediterranean. The first institutional partners of the project are the arsenals of La Valletta (leader), Tunis, Algiers, Cyprus, Pisa, Villefranche-sur-mer and Barcelona.

These arsenals, today in danger of abandonment, have concentrated from Antiquity through the Middle Ages and to the Renaissance, both in the North and South, the whole scientific and technical knowledge of their time (astronomy, mathematics, geography, ship building, medicine, …). They have also been places of “forced” ecumenism because the galley slaves, many of whom were war prisoners, had there their own places of worship.

Arsenals are today faced with difficulties and subject to challenges: redeployment of their space, tourist development, protection of the environment, maintenance of gigantic buildings (shipyards, warehouses, quarantine areas, galley slave hospitals …) and the preservation of specific technological know-how linked to the port and maritime activities. Located on the coastline, dependent on authorities with divergent objectives (port authorities, town, ministry of maritime affairs or transport …), they arouse exploitative interests (real estate promoters, hotel chains, diverse tourist enterprises) but little historic and cultural interest. The networking of project actors will enable the development and enhancement of this common heritage and will increase the national capacities especially in the fields of training, management, cultural tourism, with immediate repercussions on the increase of employment.

Associated with war, their mutation into devices of dialogue among cultures and peace is also a true challenge especially because the maritime heritage is unknown by the general public. The enhancement of the arsenals and their alteration into places of culture comes within the framework of a cultural heritage conservation policy as instruments of stability and tolerance in the Mediterranean region.

The objectives of the project aim:

a) To establish inventories of the maritime heritage of towns involved in the project and develop comprehension of the historical exchanges of commerce and knowledge;

b) to preserve and promote the know-how linked with the protection of material and immaterial maritime heritage;

c) to impart training in underwater archaeology and traditional shipbuilding carpentry;

d) to promote cultural tourism.

CO-ORDINATOR

University of Malta
Administration Building, Room 222, MSD 06 Msida, MALTA
Joseph Mifsud

UNESCO
7 Place de Fontenoy, 75007 Paris, FRANCE
Aimery de Vérac

PARTNER

Ministère algérien de la Communication et de la Culture
Direction du Patrimoine culturel
Algiers, ALGERIA
Rachida Zadem

University of Cyprus
75 Kallipoleos str., P.O. Box 537, 1678 Nicosia, CYPRUS
Yiorgos Chrysanthou

Association pur la Sauvegarde du Patrimoine Maritime de Villefranche-sur-Mer
Pavillon Beaudouin-Les voutes de la Darse, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, FRANCE
Dominique Taillez

GRAN - Groupe de Recherche en Archéologie Navale
Bibliothéque du service historique de la Marine, Passage de la Corderie,
BP 45, 83800 Toulon Naval, FRANCE
Max Guérout

Musée National de la Marine
Palais de Chaillot, 17 Place du Trocédéro, 75016 Paris, FRANCE
Jean Noel Gard

CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
BioMarCell, UMR 7009 CNRS/UPMC, Station Zoologique
06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, FRANCE
Christian Sardet

Comune di Pisa
piazza XX Settembre, 56125 Pisa, ITALY
Giovanni Viale

Consorzio Pisa Ricerche, Centro Meta
corso Italia 116, 56125 Pisa, ITALY
Roberto Gagliardi

Consorci de les Drassanes de Barcelona
av. de les Drassanes s/n, 08001 Barcelona, SPAIN
Elvira Mata i Enrich

INSTM - Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer
TUNISIA
Ridha Marbet

Ministère tunisien de la Culture
Unité de promotion des sources de la mémoire & de l'identité nationale
rue du 2 mars 1934, La Kaasboh - 1002 Tunis, TUNISIA
Ridha Tlili

WST - World Ship Trust
202 Lambeth Road, SE17 7JW, London UK
William Collier