What is a Port museum

What is a
port museum

The port ecomuseum (hereafter called Port Museum) is a kind of ecomuseum project based on the central role of the coastal and maritime local hosting community which is its “primary and sensitive” heritage.

The whole project cycle appears as a participatory process of recognition, maintenance, and management of the maritime and coastal local cultural heritage, enabling the sustainable social, environmental, and economic growth.

What is a
port museum

The port museum model, based on a genuinely bottom-up approach, is typically promoted, and dynamically supported by coastal and riparian Mediterranean communities. The Port Museum is thus a cultural institution, structured in places, itineraries and systems, ensuring, in a given coastal area and with the involvement of the local community, the research, conservation and enhancement of the environmental, historical and cultural assets representing the environment and life styles that followed each other, settled and followed its development. 

Coastal Communities

Maritime Cultural Heritage

Culture of Sea and Fishermen

Objectives of a Port museum

1Sustainable development of the local coastal community

Port Museum promote the sustainable development of the local community, the cultural, scientific and educational institutions, economic activities, bodies and associations; Its support and implement educational, training, research and cooperation projects, and educational workshops in order to facilitate  the active participation of the local population.

2Social development

The Port Museum implements traditional knowledge through modern technologies, aiming not only at keeping local traditions alive, but also at developing their potential, thus promoting broader knowledge and diffusion of trades and skills,  environmental education and respect for the landscape, in particular the sea and the coast; Also it's been established on a community-based participatory system characterised by organisational capacity, entrepreneurial responsibility and institutional cooperation

3Protection and valorisation of the coastal environment

Support the conservation and valorization of traditional living environments, which are typical  of a coastal area and of a marine environment/landscape, in order to bear witness to the tangible and intangible culture,  the living and working habits of local populations, the religious, cultural, and recreational traditions.

4Economic growth

Port Museum has a catalyst role at the development of new economic initiatives with the enhancement of the existing human and environmental resources in the area. The latter is being implemented by organizing tourist and cultural itineraries aimed at promoting the knowledge of the coastal territory and its culture, creating opportunities for the better distribution of local products, bolstering education, and establishing sport and leisure activities at local territories.

5Promoting the Network of Mediterranean Port Museums

Promoting a network of Mediterranean Port Museums to pursue social exchanges and dialogue between generations and among the people of the neighboring Mediterranean countries, having as a main aim the revitalization of technical knowledge and traditional manual skills while ensuring the correct relationship between consumption and renewal of available resources.