Catholic Church of Greece

Catholic Church of Greece – Building a Digital Ark of Cultural Heritage Preserving centuries of religious and cultural heritage through digitization, AI, and open digital access The Catholic Church in Greece safeguards an extraordinary cultural heritage spanning from the 13th century to modern times. Rare manuscripts, historical documents, early printed books, icons, sculptures, works of art, and religious treasures are preserved across churches, parishes, monasteries, religious orders, and schools throughout Greece. Much of this invaluable material, however, has traditionally remained difficult for the wider public to access. Through an ambitious ongoing project, REPOX is helping create a comprehensive “Digital Ark”, bringing this distributed heritage together within a modern digital environment while respecting its unique spiritual, religious, and historical character. The Challenge The Catholic Church’s cultural collections are geographically dispersed across Greece and include materials of exceptional historical significance and, in many cases, considerable physical sensitivity. Access often requires physical presence, creating limitations for researchers, students, visitors, elderly people, people with disabilities, and international audiences. At the same time, frequent physical handling can pose risks to fragile manuscripts, documents, and other irreplaceable objects. The challenge is therefore twofold: to digitally preserve this heritage while opening it to the world. The REPOX Approach REPOX is contributing to the creation of an integrated digital repository designed to organize, preserve, manage, and showcase the cultural heritage of the Catholic Church in Greece. Advanced digitization technologies—including ultra-high-resolution imaging, specialized book scanning, 3D scanning, and photorealistic 3D documentation—are being used to create high-quality digital representations of selected cultural assets. These digital collections will be enriched with structured documentation and made accessible through a unified digital environment, transforming geographically dispersed collections into an interconnected cultural resource. Making Heritage Intelligent & Discoverable A defining aspect of the project is the integration of Artificial Intelligence into the digital repository. AI-powered services will support intelligent content search and recommendation capabilities, helping users discover relevant material based on their interests and explore connections across the collections. Rather than functioning solely as a digital archive, the platform is designed to become an active environment for research, education, religious engagement, cultural discovery, and exploration.