News - Research at the Historical Archive of the Piraeus

Photograph from the Meletopoulos Collection showing the upper ends of the ‘Sirangiou’ shipsheds / © Historical Archive of the Piraeus

Author: Ioannis Triantfillidis

In the spring of 2007 the Zea Harbour Project initiated a long term archival research project in collections and archives related to Piraeus and its harbours. The project is headed by staff archaeologist Ioannis Triantafillidis.

The objective is to identify visual material and documents related to both the ancient and modern harbours and fortifications currently under study by the Zea Harbour Project. Invaluable materials regarding archaeological remains and topography may be hidden in pictures, post cards, paintings, engravings and others forms of art and documentation.

The Historical Archive of Piraeus has presented us with some unexpected surprises! In the collection of I. Meletopoulos were found a group of pictures associated with the Zea shipsheds. Four pictures depict the shipshed remains from the Sirangiou basement at some point before they were ‘roofed’ by a seven story concrete building.

In one of the pictures Meletopoulos himself is present and appears to be inspecting the shipshed remains along with another man. The pictures were commissioned by him some time before the building was erected, so we can date them some time before 1958 - perhaps he was somehow involved in preserving these shipsheds? Furthermore, we found one picture depicting a submerged archaeological structure in the sea and another depicting a column drum on the shore line.

Last but not least a series of glass negatives were found dating back to the end of 19th century with themes from Pashalimani and Mikrolimano.

We would like to express our gratitude to Mrs. Anagnostopoulou and Mrs. Bafouni, the archivists of the Historical Archive of the Piraeus who are always very helpful and supportive of our research, and to the municipality of Piraeus for granting us the permit to study and record the archival material.