On the occasion of the 24th International Congress of Byzantine Studies, plans have been made to offer Veneto citizens a new online service. The history of the Veneto region has been shaped by an imperial drive that in the Middle Ages projected its influence across the Mediterranean. This aspect has not been adequately appreciated, since many Byzantine antiquities in the Veneto have been either added to disparate collections or set up as trophies on building façades. While on display for everyone to see, they are rarely examined carefully or acknowledged in terms of their identity-defining, historical, and artistic value.
In an effort to provide an innovative service that overcomes these limits, we have selected a range of monuments and objects, chiefly located in Venice and Padua, with the aim of linking them for the first time as a “museum without borders”, offering an original itinerary across some of the most significant moments in Veneto history.This task is being pursued by highly specialised staff from the Universities of Padua, who will create an interactive service: an easily accessible online itinerary, inclusive for visually impaired or deaf people, and developed with the average tourist in mind (yet offering in-depth information for more curious users). Its aim is to make visitors familiar with the Byzantine antiquities strewn across the area and to provide accessible historical information in English. The prototype of the web app will be available to congress participants. The web app will be developed in the coming months depending on the funding the project receives. We thank you for any feedback you would like to leave. They will be used to improve and develop the service.