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Digital materials, recollections of eyewitnesses and exhibits presenting the history of shipping through the centuries will be displayed at the first shipping museum in Greece, which is planned to be built in Kardamila on the island of Chios.

The museum will be housed in two adjacent buildings, namely the building of the historic elementary school "Karadio" and a former kindergarten. The transformation of the buildings into a museum with a total area of ​​900 square metres aims at reviving the village of Kardamila.

The permanent exhibition on the ground floor of the school will be transformed by the creation of a kind of inner shell, inspired by the materials and the shape of a ship. Furthermore, the forms of the structure and the materials will be directly related with the iron ships that were the basis of the development of shipping in Kardamila. A multipurpose room that will house guest exhibitions, a kiosk selling a variety of goods, cafes, warehouses, offices, a library and bathrooms will also be built.

The connection between the two buildings and the appropriate interior design will create a modern museum, accessible to people with disabilities.

"Lifting and folding surfaces will create different levels of movement, ramps, exhibition areas that will be able to present in the existing building the entire variety of themes and chronological sections of the museum scenario", stresses architect and museum scientist Elena Zervoudaki who together with museum organiser Eleana Vlahou are the authors of the study.

"The location of the functional units enables the museum to host one or several cultural events at a time as a platform for a variety of events arranged in all internal and external spaces", adds Elena Zervoudaki.

The exhibition area will cover five horizontal thematic units. The first will be associated with ships and voyages, the second with cargos, the third with the shipping companies, the fourth with society and family, and the fifth with the modern shipping in Kardamila. In addition, there will be four vertical time units. The first will cover the period from the 10th century BC to the 18th century, the second to the 19th century, the third will present the period from 1900 to 1945 and the fourth will relate to the modern era.

A special route for children and adolescents on "Become a captain" will be arranged in the exhibition as well. Selected interesting moments will offer something like a "thread" that parents and children will be able to follow together in order for them to see the museum through games and discoveries. Digital materials and the recollections of eyewitnesses that the audience will be able to supplement with their own memories, thus creating a museum of active participation, will complement the exhibits. "We want to preserve our traditions because the old people depart this world and we lose their recollections of eyewitnesses," states Fotini - Xila Fafaliou, head of the non-profit organisation "Seafaring in Kardamila".

The study was funded by the Municipality of Chios and the organisation "Seafaring in Kardamila". The building of the museum will cost about 3.5 million euro and the municipality will try to include the funding in the National Strategic Reference Framework.