Cultural Elements and Heritage Management with the Support of New Technologies. The Case of Vathia, Inner Mani

Abstract

Inner Mani is located on the Tainaros peninsula in the Southern Peloponnese and is a remarkable area with special features. Its cultural heritage is of great importance and therefore its study and the conclusions that will be drawn from it can make a decisive contribution to the broader effort to save and promote a location facing desertion. By applying three different methodological approaches, ethnographic research, strategic SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis, and photogrammetric survey, we attempt on the one hand to recognize its special features and on the other to formulate proposals for its preservation and promotion. The project has a distinct partner, namely the new technologies which give us the possibility to match the cultural imprint of the place with the digital age. In this way, we lay the foundations for the preservation of memory not only on a historical level, but also on a conscious one. The ethnographic research contributed to the understanding of the idiosyncratic becoming of the indigenous inhabitants of Mani and corroborated the proposals regarding cultural management, as they emerged through the SWOT analysis. The study and three-dimension visualization of the fortified settlement of Vathia gave us the impetus to conclude that in cases where the circumstances render the preservation of cultural monuments impossible, their digitization with modern means can effectively support their rescue and set in motion the necessary mechanisms for the benefitting of the civilization. Generalizing our conclusions, we can claim that in the game of memory and oblivion, of the quest for identity and of the appropriate management of cultural resources, the collaboration of various scientific fields is of significant importance for the marriage of the past with the present and by extension for the future of our earthly planet.