A virtual dive to archaeological sites beneath the waves

The multi-day multimedia event "Underwater Cultural Areas of Montenegro" was opened on Friday at Museum Square in the Old Town of Kotor.

On the plateau in front of the Baroque palace of Grgurin - today the Maritime Museum of Montenegro, a series of large bilingual panels in our and English languages ​​have been installed, which individually talk about some of the most attractive hydro-archaeological sites in the Montenegrin sea, dating from antiquity to the war events in the first half of the 20th century. century.

A unique map with locations and basic data for a total of 33 hydroarchaeological sites on the stretch from Prevlaka in the north to the mouth of Bojana in the south is presented.

"Geographical-maritime historical-archaeological factors indicate that the Montenegrin coast hides many remains and monumental values, of exceptional importance for underwater archaeological research. An overview of the underwater sites of our subsea indicates that we are at the very beginning of their research," said Balša Perović from the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Property of Montenegro, opening the exhibition.

He added that we are at an unacceptable disadvantage to the world, in which for fifty years this extremely attractive branch of archaeological science has been intensively developing, applying the most modern technical achievements for its needs.

"Numerous maritime museums and specialized museums of underwater archaeology, which exhibit preserved remains and replicas of ancient ships, as well as finds from underwater sites, show how great tourist interest is in this exhibition," said Perović.

He added that by valorizing sunken traces of seafaring as underwater cultural heritage of the Adriatic, and using them for the purposes of local tourism development through innovative strategies of their planning, maintenance and promotion, a unique opportunity would be provided for the formation of a special branch of sustainable tourism, in this case diving and educational.

The Director of the Maritime Museum of Montenegro, Maja Uskoković, pointed out that this exhibition, as well as diving in virtual reality, are only part of the multidisciplinary event "Underwater Cultural Areas of Montenegro", which will last until May 3 in Kotor and is organized by the Maritime Archeology Laboratory of the Kotor Maritime Faculty. , University of Montenegro.

"The panels and workshops that follow these days will be an occasion to discuss many open topics and problems. With this event, we showed the willingness of the Maritime Museum to open its doors to all institutions of the system in Montenegro, as we have been doing all these years. I want to announce that this year our Museum will have a rich program of activities, dominated by the sea and seafaring and where many nice surprises await us", said Uskoković.

Underwater archaeologist Darko Kovačević, head of the Maritime Archeology Laboratory, pointed out that the project "Underwater Cultural Areas of Montenegro" is the capitalization of certain technical and professional capacities that have meanwhile been developed at the Maritime Faculty in Kotor, through the implementation of the European project "WRECKS4ALL".

"Using new digital technologies, we managed to bring the underwater cultural heritage, which is hidden under the sea waves, closer to those who do not dive. So, with the help of this technology, today everyone can see the sunken ships and hear the interesting historical stories and cultural messages that they convey "Underwater cultural heritage is very cosmopolitan in itself, these are ships that belong to different countries and peoples," Kovačević said.

It is truly an immeasurable wealth of Montenegro, he adds, and states that it is hidden on the seabed, which until now was only accessible to divers, and thanks to the cooperation of the academic and museum sectors, today, with the help of the most modern VR technology, it is available to everyone.

With the help of virtual reality glasses, the visitors of the exhibition were able to "dive" for themselves on some of the wrecks from the Montenegrin undersea recorded and processed by photogrammetry methods, such as the Austro-Hungarian steamship "Tihany", the French destroyer "Dague", the British fighter plane "Spitfire mk". -IX", Austro-Hungarian torpedo boats 76T.

The event "Underwater Cultural Areas of Montenegro" continues on Saturday at the Maritime Museum with talks and meetings with some of our underwater researchers, while the opening of the model exhibition of the sunken ships "Tihany", "Brindisi" and the Austro-Hungarian cruiser "Zenta" is scheduled for Monday at the same meeting. ", and the premiere of the documentary film "Parobrod Tihany".