MUCH LAGOS
Maritime & Underwater Cultural Heritage of Lagos, Portugal
Ponta da Piedade vista do ar
Photo: Francisco Castelo / Câmara Municipal de Lagos
The MUCH Lagos Project is dedicated to advancing research in Lagos, focusing on underwater archaeology, maritime studies, history and seascapes. Our goal is to drive positive change through rigorous research and science communication, bringing this common heritage closer to the communities.
About us
The project
MUCH Lagos – Maritime & Underwater Cultural Heritage of Lagos, will seek to
understand how Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH) can reveal the evolution of a
seascape. To do this, we will follow the archaeological evidences. In parallel we
want to understand and put into practice how UCH can be worked as an engine for
social, economic and cultural development. This project is aligned to the
guidelines and principles of the UNESCO 2001 Convention for the Protection of
Underwater Cultural Heritage, since it pleads for the in situ
preservation and the public access to the UCH, as well as the 2030 UNESCO
Sustainable Development Goals. The project started in the summer of 2024, after being aprooved by CNANS, the National Centre of Nautical and Underwater Archaeology of Património Cultural, Instituto Público (PCIP), the tutelage and organisation responsible for the national cultural heritage.
Objectives
We want to focus on research, conservation, protection, promotion, and valorization of UCH. We do not want to just work for the community, we want to work with the community, putting them on the side of UCH and making them its primary protector and promoter. But we do not want to do this just for divers, so we will select some of the most interesting known archaeological sites and make them visitable for non-divers. To do this, we will use the tools that technology currently allows, such as the ROV combined with virtual reality headsets, photogrammetric recordings, and video animations, but also textured 3D models that are manoeuvrable and printed to make UCH available to the blind community.
Team
Principal Investigators: Gonçalo C. Lopes (PhD) and Joana Baço (MA)
Archaeology team: Andreia Avelino, Brígida Baptista, Cristóvão Fonseca, Felizardo Pinto, Joana Torres, Mariana Mateus and Pedro Caleja.
Diving Safety Officer, Skipper and Technician: Christiane Kelkel
Conservation and Restoration: Raquel Cunha
Dissemination: Gonçalo C. Lopes, Joana Baço and Luís Rodrigues (Centro de Ciência Viva de Lagos)
*We'd like to give a big, warm thank you to all the little fish, seaweed, octopus, coral and anemones that appear in our photos. They really make our work even more beautiful, and we're so happy to have them as part of our team!
Scientific Articles, Reports & Media
- MUCH LAGOS - A Scientific Project involving Maritime Communities. Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology - Fall 2024 Newsletter. Available here.
- MUCH LAGOS - Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage and the evolution of seascape. KAIRÓS, nº 15, 2025. Available here.
- Scientific field report 2024-2025.
- MUCH Lagos: The Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage of Lagos, The Portugal News. Available here.
MUCH Lagos : le patrimoine culturel maritime et sous-marin de Lagos, Vivre Le Portugal Magazine. Available here.
Would you like to collaborate with us?
As a project open to the community, we want to welcome as many contributions as possible. If you'd like to share stories about Lagos, find out more about what we're doing in the project or have some kind of knowledge that you think could help us, please write to us via e-mail. Thank you!
Contact us
MUCH LAGOS - Maritime & Underwater Cultural Heritage of Lagos
Lagos, 8600
muchlagosproject@gmail.com
