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Timeline

Milestones in the history of the National Archive of Monuments from 1977 to the present day

This section presents milestones in the history of the National Archive of Monuments from 1977 to the present day. The National Archive of Monuments was built gradually, with smaller and larger steps, mistakes and successes, gathering and preserving the physical semi-active Archive of the Archaeological Service and organising the transition of the recording and documentation of monuments to the digital age with visionary works of a nationwide scale.

1977

The Directorate of Monuments and Publications Archives (DMPA) was established. Presidential Decree 941/1977, which was the first statute on the Organisation of the Ministry of Culture and Science after the dictatorship, established the Directorate of Monuments and Publications Archives (DMPA), tasked with “collecting and archiving, for the purpose of scientific research, all information concerning monuments of prehistoric and classical antiquities as well as Byzantine and post-Byzantine monuments, keeping the archive of the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Restoration, and compiling a general index of the foregoing”, as well as the publication of texts on antiquities and monuments.

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The Directorate was initially housed in offices at 10, Karitsi Square, and its first director was Evangelia Deilaki. The chief concern of the legislature was, on one hand, the storage and protection of the “inactive” Archive of the Service, which served a dual administrative and scientific purpose, and, on the other, the creation of an index of immovable monuments.

The mission of the newly established Service was to collect and classify the scattered archives, since, as noted in an internal memorandum penned by Deilaki, “due to the specific object… there are no time limits concerning the value of the Archive, which is useful for the history of monuments from the time of establishment of the Archaeological Service to the present day.

 

Useful information can arise from the Archive, not only for the Service in terms of its property, old expropriations, interventions, and the conservation or destruction of antiquities, but also for science and archaeological research”. During the initial period, the primary recording and indexing work focused on taking an inventory of contemporary monuments in Athens, Piraeus and other important residential areas throughout Greece.

 

The accelerator for the creation of a central register of monuments at the Ministry of Culture was indeed the turning point, placing emphasis on contemporary monuments. This was because, firstly, the Ministry owned important urban properties in the historical centre of Athens that had to be registered in order to protect them from trespassing and use them to house its Services and for wider cultural purposes.

 

Secondly, this was because the post-dictatorship era coincided with a renewed interest, both at the European and at the national level, in protecting architectural heritage, with the celebration of 1975 as the Architectural Heritage Year and, subsequently, the signing of the Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage (Granada, 1985) of the Council of Europe.

In this context, the DMPA organised the aforementioned recording of contemporary buildings and complexes, “regardless of aesthetic value”, as noted in the memorandum penned by Deilaki and Theotokatos, with about 15,000 inventory sheets and photographic documentation.

As regards antiquities, certain preliminary indexing and cartographic identification tasks were completed in order to produce up-to-date archaeological maps for the entirety of Greece.

 

1993

The hard-copy Permanent List of Designated Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Greece was published. The first attempts to establish a central digital archive of monuments named ‘POLEMON’ were made.

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In the 1990s, under the directorship of Pantos Pantos, the DMPA was radically reorganised.

“Preliminary steps”, as he called them, were taken and the foundations were laid for creating a National Archive of Monuments.

The hard-copy version of the Permanent List of Designated Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Greece was published for the first time in 1993.

Its 120 volumes included all the administrative acts of the Ministry of Culture published in the Government Gazette designating/classifying monuments, as well as acts on the delimitation of protection zones A and B ́ in archaeological sites outside city plans or the boundaries of legally existing residential areas.

Similarly, the Permanent List of designated mobile cultural goods of Greece was prepared, which included post-Byzantine and contemporary (after 1830) classified mobile monuments.

This made classifications accessible for the first time in a single codified corpus, serving as a highly useful tool for the Ministry’s Services responsible for the protection of monuments.

During the same period, between 1993 and 1997, the first information system named ‘POLEMON’ was designed to establish a central, unified and integrated system for recording, documenting, managing and promoting mobile monuments.

In the context of ‘POLEMON’, the core of the terminology Thesauruses of the National Archive of Monuments was also created.

The task of recording the immovable and mobile monuments of Greece was carried out by the Ephorates of Antiquities and Museums. As is well known, the collection and recording of antiquities were linked from the outset with the organised effort of the newly established Greek state to protect its “heritage”, the creation of the Archaeological Service, and the establishment of the first museums.

Records and archives were organised on a decentralized basis in direct connection with archaeological field research and protection work in general. The organisational structure of the Archaeological Service, the simultaneous operation of a separate Directorate of Restoration and Ecclesiastical Architecture until 1965, as well as the successive national upheavals and consequent lack of resources were some of the reasons for the absence of a central archive of monuments.

 

As pointed out by Pantos Pantos, the Director Emeritus and founder of the National Archive of Monuments, the fact that monuments dated up to 1453 AD are protected ipso jure contributed to the absence of a central archive of monuments in Greece. As such, their entry in an official register was not considered imperative, in contrast to the systematic (as far as possible) indexing of ancient mobile cultural goods, aiming at combating antiquities smuggling and preventing their illicit trafficking.

 

Pantos Pantos correlated the establishment of the National Archive of Monuments to the extension of protection during the inter-war period to “historical, artistic monuments” dated prior to 1830 and to “churches”, as well as to the designation of

“listed archaeological and historical sites”. As he notes, “the list resolved a priori any dispute about the inclusion or not of a monument or work in the protective provisions of law.

The utility of the list was obvious, especially in cases of criminal proceedings”.

This was preceded by the recording of Byzantine and medieval artworks situated in monasteries, churches and other public, municipal and community institutions which came into the possession of the Greek state. After World War II, Law 1469/1950 ‘On the Protection of a Special Category of Buildings and Works of Art Dated after 1830’ (Government Gazette, Series I, Issue 169/7.8.1950) enacted the protection of contemporary monuments in Greece.

The process of classification was expanded to include mobile (“paintings, sculptures, architectural works and works of advanced craft or noteworthy folk art”) and immovable monuments (“artistic and historical monuments and buildings”), as well as historical sites and areas of natural beauty that required special protection by the state.

Publication in the Government Gazette served as a tool for protection.

1996

The DMPA was relocated to the building at 11, Asomaton Street next to the ancient Kerameikos area.

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The problem of the permanent housing of the Service and the Archive at suitable premises was partially solved in late 1996, when, following various ups and downs, the after various adventures the DMNAM was relocated from its offices at Karytsi Square to the building at 11, Agion Asomaton Street. The new offices and large spaces enabled the development of new programmes and activities.

The property, along with others in the same and adjacent building blocks, had initially been expropriated in the 1970s to expand the excavation of the ancient Kerameikos area.

However, the times and priorities changed, and many of the buildings destined for demolition, including the one on Asomaton Street, were considered listed buildings and were preserved.

In 1993, in the inspection report of the Directorate of Cultural Buildings and Restoration of Contemporary Monuments, the building was described as a four-storey with a basement on the elevation and a recessed 5th storey, possessing a characteristic polygonal floor with irregular spaces and a very interesting frontage with neoclassical morphological elements, without symmetrical window frames.

Emphasis was also placed on its mixed construction, i.e. load-bearing masonry made of stones and reinforced concrete in the stairwell and flooring. Subsequently, following a unanimous opinion issued by the Central Council of Contemporary Monuments, a Ministerial Decision was issued, classifying the building at 11, Agion Asomaton Street as a work of art, as it is one of the first multi-storey buildings in Greece, with noteworthy neoclassical elements in its elevation (Government Gazette, Series II, Issue 254/8-4-1994).

The building was originally retrofitted for museum use, but the plan to establish a “Mothers’ Museum” did not go ahead and the building was thus granted to the DMPA. In addition to offices, part of the Archive of the Archaeological Service was also transferred to the building.

 

Since its establishment in 1834, the Archaeological Service, which initially functioned as the Office of Antiquities at the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education, created a rich archive of documents, drawings and photographs, which are valuable artifacts not only for archaeological but also for historical research.

Research into and scientific utilisation of this rich material remained a desideratum of archaeologists in Greece for decades since it remains inaccessible to scholars for many years due to the successive changes and relocations of the Archaeological Service. To discuss just the “relocations” in modern times, in 1958 the Archaeological Service, made subordinate to the Ministry of the Presidency of the Government, was transferred to the annexes of the Byzantine Museum (where the War Museum is currently housed).

In 1971, following the establishment of the Ministry of Culture, it was transferred to 12, Aristeidou Street, while its old archive was transferred to the basement of the National Archaeological Museum.

In a memorandum dated 1978, Evangelia Deilaki refers to its poor storage conditions in the basement of the National Archaeological Museum, in an inadequate room sharing an entrance with the vessel warehouse, making work on and processing of the archive impossible. In 1981, the inactive archive of the Directorate General of Antiquities and Restoration of the Ministry of the Presidency was handed over for safekeeping to the Archaeological Society and the National Archaeological Museum.

According to the delivery and acceptance report, 273 or 277 cartons and envelopes were ceded “for storage on consignment”.

In 1988, the DMPA carried out the first inspection of the inactive archive of the Archaeological Service, which was kept in the basements and corridors of the National Archaeological Museum.

Of the 273/277 original boxes, 160 were found and matched inside three wooden closets. The autopsy report notes that the boxes were preserved in poor condition and, in certain cases, were completely destroyed, their indications erased and their materials scattered.

Although the building at 11, Asomaton Street was not suitable for the housing and storage of sensitive archives, the year 1997 can be considered as the starting point of fulfilling the long-standing request for the settlement of the inactive archive of the Archaeological Service. It was then that the first phase of classification of the inactive archive of the Ministry of Culture and its supervised entities (after 1971), which had been placed in boxes by the Directorate during the transfer of the headquarters of the Ministry from Aristeidou Street to Bouboulinas Street, was completed, and the archive was kept in the basement of 11, Asomaton Street.

In 1999, at least six gradual transfers of the boxes forming part of the archive from the basement of the National Archaeological Museum to the Asomaton Street building took place. The historical archive of the years 1834-1945 consists of heaps of loose documents whose order and sequence had been disrupted. It was received and recorded in this condition, rendering the reconstitution of its original order and the archival sequences impossible. The part of the archive of the Archaeological Service not handed over (lists of provincial museums, excavation logs, etc.) remains at the National Archaeological Museum to this day.

1998

The Permanent List of Designated Archaeological Sites and Monuments of Greece was digitised.

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The Permanent List, in digital form, consisted of more than 11,500 entries concerning arrangements for the protection of approximately 19,000 monuments and archaeological sites.

The new digital list, which continued to be updated until 2015 and effectively met the needs of the Services in their task of protecting monuments, included the regulations of the then Ministry of Physical Planning and Public Works, as well as the Ministries with territorial jurisdiction (Ministry of Macedonia-Thrace, Ministry of the Aegean) over contemporary monuments.

The experience gained by the Service in collecting and organising information was subsequently utilised to design and organise the major project of the Archaeological Cadastre.

2000

The electronic recording of the Historical Archive began and the first local database was created.

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The electronic recording of the historical archive of the Archaeological Service began in early 2000.

The archival material, which began to be gradually gathered from 1997 onwards, dictated the need for archiving and recording in order to become manageable and ultimately accessible. The first important steps took place with the creation of a local database by A. Alexandri. During these early stages of recording, the DMPA participated in a consortium in 1999-2000 entitled ‘European Network of Cultural Heritage Laboratories (AREA I: Archives of European Archaeology)’.

The theme of the laboratory was ‘Archaeology and national identity’.

Material from the historical archive was leveraged to author and publish a study on the role of archaeology in shaping modern Greece.

Subsequently, in 2008, within the framework of the project ‘Digitisation and Digital Documentation of Collections and Monuments of the Ministry of Culture’, selected artifacts, mainly documents, photographs, drawings and topographical maps from the 19th century were electronically recorded in the database and digitised.

2002

The National Archive of Monuments was enacted in law.

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The new millennium saw a major legislative landmark, Law 3028 ‘On the Protection of Antiquities and the Cultural Heritage in General’ (Government Gazette, Series I, Issue 153/28.6.2002), with Article 4 establishing the National Archive of Monuments:

“Monuments shall be recorded, documented and registered in the National Archive of Monuments, which shall be kept at the Ministry of Culture… The findings of inspections on the condition of each immovable monuments, carried out by the competent Service of the Ministry of Culture, shall be entered into the National Archive of Monuments no later than every three years”.

2008

The project ‘Digitisation and Digital Documentation of Collections and Monuments of the Ministry of Culture’ was completed.

The Historical Archive of Antiquities and Restorations was permanent housed at 22, Psaromiligou Street.

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The completion of the project ‘Digitisation and Digital Documentation of Collections and Monuments of the Ministry of Culture’ saw the creation of the infrastructure necessary to implement the Digital National Archive of Monuments using new technologies. At the same time, the conditions were created for organising the Archive of the Archaeological Service and fulfilling its mission by acquiring permanent and suitable premises and opening to researchers and the public.

 

The project ‘Digitisation and Digital Documentation of Collections and Monuments of the Ministry of Culture’, which was completed in 2008, was the continuation of ‘POLEMON’. It provided the main thrust, which is maintained to this day in terms of the monument-centric nature of the National Archive of Monuments, the automatic issuance of a unique registration number, as well as its decentralised structure and operation through a network of independent stations established at local Services and museums of the Ministry of Culture, which are coordinated by the DMNAM.

Another innovation was the preparation of bilingual terminology thesauruses, containing over 20,000 terms, to support the recording and documentation task. This is a scientific project which was launched in the 1990s with ‘POLYDEUCES’ and then evolved through successive projects and in particular the ‘Enrichment of the Digital Collections of Mobile Monuments of the Ministry of Culture’.

Its value transcends the limits of the National Archive of Monuments, serving as a valuable tool for the Greek and international archaeological community.

 

In 2008, the Historical Archive of Antiquities and Restorations was permanently housed at its new premises at 22, Psaromiligou Street. Since the time it moved to the building at Asomaton Street, the DMNAM was searching for a suitable space for the proper housing and storage of its archives. The property Psaromiligou Street, which formerly housed the Stergiadis printing house, had been identified and had also been expropriated for archaeological purposes in the 1970s.

After the eviction of the printing press from the building, the Service of Cultural Buildings and Contemporary Monuments prepared a study according to the specifications provided by the DMNAM so as to meet the requirements for archival operation, with reception areas for scholars, an archive area, a photography laboratory, etc. The building was restored between 2001 and 2008. At that time, the transfer of the archival boxes from their various storage locations began and continued for several years, followed by a laborious effort to classify them at their new “home”.

The completion of this special building according to the specifications laid down by the Service itself and the transfer of the entire invaluable archive turned a page for the

preservation and study of its content. Numerous colleagues of all specialisations, both permanent employees and contract staff, worked hard to ensure that the archives were salvaged and properly housed in order to be handed over to future generations.

2009

Launch of the collaboration with Europeana.

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Through the first European programs, as well as the collaboration with the National Documentation Centre, small sections of the collections of Ephorates of Antiquities and museums of the Ministry of Culture were digitised and the material and metadata were provided to the digital library of Europeana.

From 2006 to 2011, under the directorship of Metaxia Tsipopoulou, participation in international programmes enabled cooperation and exchange of know-how with organisations enjoying extensive experience in digital documentation and management.

The Services of the Ministry of Culture and Sports gradually became familiarised with the procedures of electronic documentation and digitisation, establishing common practices and adopting international specifications and standards for digitisation and electronic documentation. At the same time, cooperation with European networks was further cultivated aiming to promote small digital collections from the Greek cultural reserve on Europeana.

europeana.eu

 

2013

The Digital Collections of Mobile Monuments project was included in the NSRF.

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In the early 2010s, within a climate of deep crisis, it became clear that the Ministry was at risk of missing the opportunity for the digital transformation of the National Archive of Monuments.

In order to address the problem, the Directorate for the Management of the National Archive of Monuments was tasked with implementing two major NSRF-funded digital projects, the ‘Digital Collections of Mobile Monuments of the Ministry of Culture’ and the ‘Archaeological Cadastre’, through which the National Archive of Monuments entered a new era.

Under the successive leaderships of Elena Kountouri, Vaso Papageorgiou and Evgenia Gerousi, the Directorate accomplished an unprecedented, challenging and difficult task from both a scientific and a managerial point of view.

The new information system was designed by archaeologist and IT engineer Alexandra Alexandri in collaboration with Directorate employees on the basis of the principles of the previous project and the experience gained in the interim from its implementation and application.

2015

The first phase of the Archaeological Cadastre project and the Management Information System of the Historical Archive of Antiquities and Restorations was completed.

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In 2015 the first stage of the major effort to create the Digital National Archive of Monuments was completed.

With the project “The Management of the Cultural Heritage of Greece through the Archive of the Antiquities Services: Digitisation and Exploitation of Historical Artifacts”, a total of 14,634 historical artifacts of the 19th and 20th centuries were digitised and documented, both in the context of the Historical Archive of Antiquities and Restorations and the Regional Services of Delphi, the Cyclades and Rhodes.

In the context of the same project, the electronic database entries were transferred to a new information system.

The new information system of the Historical Archive of Antiquities and Restorations was presented to the public during a colloquium entitled ‘FROM MANUSCRIPTS TO DIGITAL RECORDING. The information system for the documentation, management and promotion of archival material of the Antiquities Services”, on the occasion of the celebration of International Archives Day on 9 June 2015.

In 2015, in the context of the completion of the first phase of the Archaeological Cadastre project, the recording and geospatial identification of the monuments, archaeological sites and protection zones located in the regional units of Attica and Boeotia took place.

2021

The ‘Digital Collections of Mobile Monuments’ Management Information System was handed over to the Services of the Ministry of Culture.

The ‘Archaeological Cadastre’ Management Information System was completed and the Portal was opened to the public.

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The completion of the two digital projects, which are major components of the National Archive of Monuments, significantly upgraded the level of promotion of cultural heritage in a way that highlights the exceptional wealth and the timelessness of Greece’s cultural heritage.

At the same time, it supports archaeological research, as well as other scientific research in new directions, such as the impact of climate change on cultural heritage. Furthermore, it supplies the National Aggregator for Digital Cultural Content (EKT), as well as international aggregators, such as Europeana, with metadata on Greece’s cultural reserve. Finally, the interactive functions of the web portals became available for use by the educational community.

The ‘Enrichment of the Digital Collections of Mobile Monuments of the Ministry of Culture’ project created a new Management Information System for recording, documenting and managing the cultural reserve of Greece and was enriched with more than 680,000 new artifacts and continues to be enriched.

At the same time, the network of the National Archive of Monuments was expanded and upgraded in general. According to the decentralised plan, all the mobile monument protection authorities of the Central, Regional and Special Regional Services of the Ministry of Culture acquired graduated access to this system, which enables full real-time supervision of the conservation status and location of monuments, together with their full scientific documentation.

This provided the Services of the Ministry of Culture with an absolutely vital tool tailored to their needs to ensure the effective protection of cultural heritage from natural and man-made factors, especially against loss, theft and antiquities smuggling.

At the same time, access was offered for the first time to the public to a significant sample of Greece’s archaeological wealth which is either on exhibit at museums throughout the country or kept in archaeological warehouses, thus enhancing the possibility of citizens lacking physical access to equally enjoy cultural heritage.

Through the ‘Archaeological Cadastre’ project the National Archive of Monuments was expanded to include immovable monuments. To this end, a comprehensive Management Information System was created to systematically record, document, digitise and manage archaeological, administrative and geospatial data concerning Greece’s cultural heritage and the Ministry of Culture’s immovable property.

At present, the Archaeological Cadastre includes over 18,000 monuments, 3,800 archaeological and historical sites and 845 protection zones, thus contributing to the oversight and comprehensive protection of cultural heritage, supporting spatial planning, providing valid information on investments in areas with monuments, archaeological and historical sites, aiding the rational management and exploitation of State property, and promoting the digital transformation of Public Administration.

 

2022

The Archaeological Cadastre won an award at the Digital Governance Awards.

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The Directorate for the Management of the National Archive of Monuments won an accolade at the 2021 Digital Governance Awards for the ‘Archaeological Cadastre’ project, with an award in the ‘Best Applied Idea’ category in the ‘Education and Culture’ thematic section.

The Award was presented by Lina Mendoni, Minister of Culture and Sports, to the team responsible for the project.

The Digital Governance Awards were presented for the first time to public sector bodies or civil servants and officials who designed or implemented pioneering applications between 2020 and 2021 aiming at the digital transformation of public administration and improving Greece’s administrative environment.

2022

The web portal of the Historical Archive of Antiquities and Restorations was opened to the public.

Recording and documentation work at Tatoi commenced.

2024

The digital infrastructure and services provided by the National Archive of Monuments were upgraded, as the information systems of the National Archive of Monuments were transferred to the government cloud.

2024

The first detailed lists of the exhibits of the Archaeological Museums of Epirus were published in the series entitled ‘The Exhibitions of Certified Museums’.

2024

The task of upgrading the Archaeological Cadastre commenced.