CHeriDDOC Project Kicked off its 1st International Workshop among the Ancient ruins of Messene!

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CHeriDDOC Project Kicked off its 1st International Workshop among the Ancient ruins of Messene!

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26 students and 10 tutors from three European Universities came together for a week of hands-on digital cultural heritage documentation at one of Greece's most spectacular archaeological sites

Ancient Messene, Greece 21-28 July 2026

The Erasmus+ project CHeriDDOC (Cultural Heritage Digital Documentation) is thrilled to announce the successful launch of its 1st International Workshop, taking place from 22 to 28 July 2026 amid the breathtaking archaeological site of Ancient Messene in the Peloponnese. This landmark event brought together 26 students and 10 academic tutors from the project's three partner universities the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA, the University of Bamberg, and the University of Catania for an immersive week of learning, collaboration, and discovery at the crossroads of history and technology.

A Week Where Ancient Ruins Met Cutting-Edge Technology

For six days, one of Greece's best-preserved ancient cities became a living classroom. Surrounded by monumental theatres, sanctuaries, and athletic spaces that have stood for over two millennia, students and tutors rolled up their sleeves to apply state-of-the-art digital documentation tools and methodologies directly on site bridging cutting-edge innovation with millennia of cultural heritage.

Participants had the exciting opportunity to gain real, hands-on experience in digital cultural heritage documentation, working shoulder to shoulder with peers and experts from across Europe in a truly international and interdisciplinary environment. The workshop exemplified everything CHeriDDOC stands for: rigorous academic training fused with genuine cross-border collaboration.

Over the course of the week, the students studied the Ekklesiasterion (Odeon) as well as a number of architectural and sculptural elements of the Asclepieion complex, including a column base, an entablature, a capital and a bas-relief depicting a lion. As part of the activities, integrated surveying techniques (topographical surveying, terrestrial and drone-based photogrammetry, terrestrial laser scanning and mobile laser scanning / SLAM systems) were tested, and the data collected was processed and managed.

Uniting Minds Across Borders

This first workshop is a proud milestone in CHeriDDOC's mission to modernize heritage education for the digital age. By bringing together emerging talent and experienced educators from Greece, Germany, and Italy, the project is cultivating a new generation of heritage professionals equipped with the digital skills the sector urgently needs while forging lasting academic partnerships that will echo far beyond this single event.

About CHeriDDOC

CHeriDDOC (Cultural Heritage Digital Documentation) is an Erasmus+ funded project that aims to modernize heritage education by integrating digital documentation technologies into academic curricula and by developing a dedicated open-access digital learning platform. Through curriculum development, hands-on field training, international workshops, and student mobility, CHeriDDOC is building a shared European framework for digital documentation skills, bridging academia and industry, and advancing the sustainable preservation of cultural heritage for generations to come.

The project is proudly coordinated by a consortium of three leading universities:

- National Technical University of Athens (NTUA, Greece)  by Prof. Dr. Maria Pateraki und Prof. Dr. Andreas Georgopoulos

- University of Catania, Italy by Prof. Dr. Cettina Santagati

- University of Bamberg, Germany by Prof. Dr. Mona Hess

Eight students from Bamberg at the Altes Messene

Eight students and three lecturers from the Faculty of Humanities and Cultural Studies at the University of Bamberg attended the first workshop. The group of students from Bamberg was also interdisciplinary: Georg Schindele, Felix Franke and Ria Hohage from Digital Heritage Technologies; Emilia Arendt and Franziska Krämer from Heritage Conservation; and Justus Schmidt, Sophie Hiesmair and Estelle Fischer from Archaeological Sciences. The lecturers involved were Lea Puglisi (MA, MSc), Patrizia Hanika (MSc) and Prof. Dr Mona Hess from the Centre of Excellence for Heritage Sciences and Heritage Technologies (KDwt, Digital Heritage Technologies research group). 

CHeriDDoc Catania and CHEriDDoc Bamberg

The second edition of the international workshop will take place in 2027 and will be hosted by the University of Catania. Students and lecturers from the three partner universities will work on selected case studies in the Catania area, thereby consolidating the University of Catania’s role as a centre of excellence for research and education in the field of digital technologies for the documentation, conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage. Applications for the highly sought-after places will be invited again in April 2026 by the Chair of Digital Heritage Technologies. 

In the third round, the CHeriDDoc workshop will take place at Otto Friedrich University of Bamberg in the summer of 2028.

This first workshop is only the beginning; two further international workshops, an open-access digital learning platform, and a wealth of shared educational resources are still to come as CHeriDDOC continues its journey toward transforming cultural heritage education across Europe.

Learn more about CHeriDDoc

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Contact: info(at)cheriddoc.eu

Information about the Chair and the Master’s programme in Digital Heritage Technologies and the Centre of Excellence for Heritage Studies and Heritage Technologies

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Further information and images in the following press releases: 

• https://www.unictmagazine.unict.it/dalle-rovine-di-messene-al-futuro-del-patrimonio-digitale (Italian)
• https://otavoice.gr/aytodioikitika-nea/2026/07/stin-archaia-messini-ylopoiithike-to-1o-diethnes-workshop-psifiakis-tekmiriosis-tis-politistikis-klironomias/ (Greek)
• https://www.farenews.gr/archaia-messini-diethnes-workshop-psifiaki-tekmiriosi-cheriddoc/ (Greek)