The Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi of Mount Athos preserves one of the most important, quantitatively as well as qualitatively, collections of relics in Greece and worldwide. The Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi having a deep awareness of its historical debt but also with decades of experience in the preservation and maintenance of historical objects decided to implement a program for the management of building facilities, newer relics and collections. The project aims to record, document, highlight and display the uninterrupted functional use of the building facilities and their relics.
The printed books of I.M.M. Vatopediou from 1830 to the present amount to approximately 90,000 documents. A large part of the history of the last two centuries is captured in these books and they are a clear example of the printed book production industry and the great diffusion of knowledge. 1,000 of them are rare and great in terms of material. The digitization and documentation concerns approximately 900 antiquities. I. M. M. Vatopediou also has a rich building complex. The building facilities bear witness to their continuous use over the last two centuries. In these facilities, the old glamor and decoration of the premises are simultaneously captured, but also the functional renovation of some of them to harmonize them with the modern needs of hospitality, preserving, however, all the historical architectural and structural elements of the premises.
The digitization and 3D visualization of the spaces of the West wing virtually transports the digital visitor and guides him through the old glory, the modern functional use and the inseparable coexistence of both. It is a special and unique characteristic of these buildings to mutate, adapt and serve the different daily needs of each time period.
The folklore collection of I.M.M. Vatopediou has approximately 20,000 items. These objects reflect everyday life, simple or rich, and the multi-level function of the Monastery in each period of time.
The object of the project is the creation of a complete Digital Archive which concerns the provision of Digitization, Documentation, Digital Curation services and the creation of a Digital Repository which hosts the entire digitized archive of the West wing. Also, the actions of the project include:
- the digitization and 3D visualization of the spaces of the West wing
- the digitization of the folklore collection of the I.M.M of the plain and specifically 50 table clocks
For the implementation of the project, the following actions were carried out: – Digital Repository and Highlighting Applications
- Application of Digital Collection Management of Archival Material
- Create a digital archive collection
- Create a Digital Timeline
- Create digital reports
- Creating a Narrative Video (storytelling)
- Web Portal
- 3D rendering of West Wing Building – Clocks
- Virtual Tour with 360° Panoramas
- supply of equipment and use of logistics services (SaaS (Software as a Service) hosting method, with the system of the Digital Repository and the online Portal hosted in Cloud Computing infrastructures).
The project concerns the recording, documentation, highlighting and promotion of the uninterrupted functional use of the building facilities and relics of the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi. The benefits of such a program are tentatively summarized as follows:
- capture and digital presentation of the building facilities of the west wing, highlighting the glamor of the old and the functionality of the new,
- creating a common easy-to-use scientific tool for search and research.
- digital presentation, highlighting and projection of the building facilities and relics of the Monastery in a virtual and augmented reality regime.
- establishment of standards, specifications and manuals for holistic heritage management.
- the digitization and 3D visualization of the spaces of the West Wing
- the digitization of the folkloric collection of the I.M.M of the plain and specifically 50 table clocks
The project was implemented with the joint cooperation of the executives of I.M.M. VATOPEIDIOU with the contractor who was selected for sub-projects 1,2,3 and the implementation was based on the following steps:
- preparation of technical specifications (tender documents) for the selection of a contractor for sub-project 1 and award through existing legislation for sub-projects 2 and 3 to contractors
- creation of the I.M.M. project team Vatopediou for sub-project 4 (self-monitoring)
- selection of a contractor for the implementation of sub-project 1 (after the implementation of the full cycle of tender procedures) - creation of contractor and beneficiary project teams and adherence to existing adequacy procedures
- creating an internal and external communication mechanism
- creating a communication mechanism for project teams (regular and adhoc meetings) and following implementation procedures
- receipt and piloting of the individual deliverables and equipment that make up sub-project 1
- implementation of publicity actions (sub-project 2)
- The Beneficiary's and selected contractors' organizational and management procedures per sub-project
- The PRINCE II methodology for project management, which is a widely used project implementation methodology that describes fully and in detail the various roles and responsibilities for project management, which are adaptable to the size and complexity of each sub-project. It is designed to provide a common language of communication between all interested parties, so that agreement can be reached on various important issues, critical to the progress and success of the project. Project planning and scheduling using PRINCE2 is productbased, meaning that the plan focuses primarily on the creation of deliverables and not, in general, on scheduling, the project team, etc. The project is managed based on the Business Case, which describes the logic and reason for the existence of the deliverables-results of the project.
SUPERIOR 1:
Digital Repository and Highlighting Applications Digital Archival Collection Management Application Digital Archival Collections Digital Timeline Exhibition Creation Narrative Video (storytelling) Web Portal 3D Visualization of West Wing Building - Clocks 360 Virtual Tour Panoramas Equipment / Hardware Infrastructure
SUPERIOR 2:
Documents / files (electronic and physical) for publicity / publicity actions
MIRACLE 3:
Written reports and reports from the selected technical consultant
Digital Repository and Highlighting Applications Digital Archival Collection Management Application Digital Archival Collections Digital Timeline Exhibition Creation Narrative Video (storytelling) Web Portal 3D Visualization of West Wing Building - Clocks 360 Virtual Tour Panoramas Equipment / Hardware Infrastructure
SUPERIOR 2:
Documents / files (electronic and physical) for publicity / publicity actions
MIRACLE 3:
Written reports and reports from the selected technical consultant
The primary objective of the project is to record, document, highlight and display the uninterrupted functional use of the building facilities and their relics. Modeling and data management for the project will be done using open standards. In particular, the subsystems that supported the offered services and functions that make up the project and in particular for the format of the information followed open standards. In addition, the development of the applications and subsystems as well as the infrastructure software required in the context of the project was carried out using open source software. Also, in the context of interoperability, the use of open and documented standards was necessary. It was ensured that the system development environment is based on international standards and protocols, open, documented and published interface systems with third-party programs, open communication protocols and an open environment for data transfer and exchange with other systems. In particular, the possibility was deemed necessary:
- Cooperation with heterogeneous operating systems and data management systems,
- Communication of data exchange processes with third party systems (applications, web services) as well as the support of data access technologies (e.g. XML, SOAP, UDDI, WSDL),
- Using data from different storage areas (database) and supporting multiple protocols.
The Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi of Mount Athos preserves one of the most important, quantitatively as well as qualitatively, collections of relics in Greece and worldwide. The printed books of I.M.M. Vatopediou from 1830 to the present amount to approximately 90,000 documents. A large part of the history of the last two centuries is captured in these books and they are a clear example of the printed book production industry and the great diffusion of knowledge. 1,000 of them are rare and great in terms of material. The digitization and documentation concerns approximately 900 antiquities. Digitization and special photography digitally documents the object, is the basis for the display and dissemination of the object's information and contributes substantially to the preventive maintenance of the object since it greatly limits the contact of the interested parties with the physical object. The digital documentation of the objects captures and highlights all the technical as well as historical information related to the object and makes it searchable. I. M. M. Vatopediou has a rich building complex. The building facilities bear witness to their continuous use over the last two centuries. These facilities reflect at the same time the old glamor and decoration of the premises as well as the functional renovation of some of them to harmonize them with the modern needs of hospitality, preserving, however, all the historical architectural and structural elements of the premises. The digitization and 3D visualization of the spaces of the West wing virtually transports the digital visitor and guides him to the old glory, the modern functional use and the inseparable coexistence of both. It is a special and unique characteristic of these buildings to mutate, adapt and serve the different daily needs of each time period. The folklore collection of I.M.M. Vatopediou has approximately 20,000 items. The 70 table, wall and floor clocks are small but extremely important and rare material. Clocks are an integral part of the daily and ecclesiastical life of the Monastery. Their history is great and reflects the various contacts of the Monastery with the outside world and how these objects ended up in the Monastery. These objects reflect everyday life, simple or rich, and the multi-level function of the Monastery in each period of time. Their two-dimensional and three-dimensional photography captures the object digitally, is the basis for the promotion and dissemination of its information and highlights its high aesthetic and historical value. The digital documentation of folklore objects captures and highlights all the technical as well as historical information related to the object and makes it searchable.
The main sub-project 1: Digital actions to highlight the building facilities of the West Wing of IMM Vatopedi and its historical relics, includes the implementation of the following actions: Creation of a Digital Repository and Highlight Applications Application of Digital Management of the Collection of Archival Material Digital collections of archival material Digital Timeline Creation of an exhibition Narrative video (storytelling) Internet Portal 3D visualization of the West Wing Building - Clocks Virtual Tour with 360° Panoramas Equipment / Hardware Infrastructure All of the above was implemented based on state-of-the-art technologies with following functional characteristics: The modeling and management of the data is done using open standards. In particular, the subsystems that support the offered services and functions that make up the project and in particular for the format of the information follow open standards. In addition, the development of the applications and subsystems as well as the infrastructure software required in the context of the project, are done using open source software. Also, in the context of interoperability, the use of open and documented standards is necessary. It is ensured that the system development environment is based on international standards and protocols, open, documented and published interface systems with third-party programs, open communication protocols and an open environment in terms of data transfer and exchange with other systems. In particular, the possibility was deemed necessary:
- Cooperation with heterogeneous operating systems and data management systems,
- Communication of data exchange processes with third party systems (applications, web services) as well as the support of data access technologies (e.g. XML, SOAP, UDDI, WSDL),
- Using data from different storage areas (database) and supporting multiple protocols.
The project is fully compatible with the specific objectives and indicators of the EP. as mentioned in call 118. The object of the call is the development, organization, documentation, management and display of digital content related to cultural goods such as immovable and movable monuments, collections, documents, archives and cultural sites, dating from the year 1830 and then, in accordance with the provisions of Law 3028/2002 (Government Gazette A 153/28-06-2002), as well as the development and distribution of relevant electronic services to the public. The monumental cultural stock of the Country remains digitized to a limited extent. At the same time, the digitization of monumental collections and monuments takes on a central cultural importance: on the one hand, visiting museums and memorial sites has extended – and partly shifted – into cyberspace, on the other hand, the digitization of collections of historical and artistic value has created new possibilities for exploitation and view of the relevant documents. The action aims at integrating a significant amount of the country's cultural stock into this new reality. The implemented act of the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi moves purely towards these goals.
Expected benefits from the project are that a population of one million Greek and Foreign visitors to the digital platform / repository highlighting the relics of I.M.M. VATOPEIDIOU can get in touch and see the digital collections and archival material, in addition to the physical male visitors who visit the I.M.M. every year throughout the year anyway. Vatopediou. Through the created deliverables of the project, such as the digital repository, the digital chronology, the exhibition of the relics, the narrative video, the web portal, the 3D visualization of the West Wing Building and the clocks, the virtual tour with 360° Panoramas enable to contact a very large number with the largest archival repository created.
