Dr Ida Koncani Uhač, museum advisor and Head of the Department of Professional and Museum Affairs of the Archaeological Museum of Istria, and Marko Uhač of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Conservation Department in Pula, gave the lecture “Technology of Raising, Maintenance, Conservation and Presentation of Archaeological Ships” at the 3rd Conference on the Preservation and Interpretation of Croatian Maritime Heritage, held from 2 to 4 October 2026 in Rovinj-Rovigno.
The lecture presented experiences related to the research, raising, protection, conservation and presentation of exceptionally valuable archaeological ship remains from Istria, among them the Roman sewn ships Pula 1 and Pula 2 and the prehistoric sewn ship Zambratija. The ships Pula 1 and Pula 2 were discovered in 2013 during archaeological excavations in Flacius Street on the Pula waterfront, after which their remains were sent for conservation to the specialised laboratory ARC-Nucléart in Grenoble, France.
A special place is held by the Zambratija ship, the oldest known example of a sewn ship in the Mediterranean, dated between the end of the 12th and the end of the 10th century BC. After many years of research and its raising from the sea in 2023, its wooden parts were also transported in 2025 to ARC-Nucléart in Grenoble, where they are undergoing a demanding process of stabilisation and conservation.
The experience gained with the ships Pula 1, Pula 2 and Zambratija represents an important contribution to the development of methods for protecting underwater archaeological heritage, as well as to creating the conditions for its future museum presentation in Pula.
Photos: ISLAND MEDIA, owner Alessio Sponza
