Detailed analysis of eleven Byzantine and post-Byzantine ecclesiastical monuments affected by the earthquake using “individual” simulation models of the research program National Technical University of Athenswhich will facilitate the selection of appropriate methods for their seismic amplification, as well as the complete fixation of their existing state and damage received after the earthquake in the city of St. Arkalochori Crete in autumn 2021 recently approved Ministry of Culture.

We are talking about the monastery of Agarathos, dating back to the 10th-11th centuries AD, the one-nave cruciform church of the Archangel Michael in Arkalohori, built in the 13th century, the cemetery church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Archontiko, which was painted in 1352 (and received the biggest blow from earthquake), for the two-nave Church of the Virgin in Gumeri, which was built in the late 19th or early 20th century on top of a building from the 15th century, as well as for other church monuments, selected based on their historicity, the degree of damage and their exploitation before the earthquake.

Conversation with “K”, scientific director of the research program, professor of anti-seismic structures at NTUA Konstantinos Spirakos, stressed that work on the monuments, which all this time received the necessary “primary” care, will begin immediately, as they suffered wall peeling, collapses in places, disorganized masonry or damage due to previous , inappropriate interventions. The program will be completed in twelve months with the goal of reopening most of the monuments that were in operation before the earthquake.

Their architectural, topographic, geometric and historical documentation will be prepared, special instrumental checks will be carried out, as well as digital modeling, which will allow a full interpretation of the seismic behavior of the monuments and indicate the necessary interventions.

“The methodology that we will follow,” says Konstantinos Spirakos, “is the most modern in existence. For each monument, an exact copy is designed on the computer and exposed to conditions that mimic the real earthquake in Arkalochori. That is, we will repeat with the help of our models exactly what happened, finally getting a very good idea of ​​where exactly the damage to the monuments occurs and why they occurred where they occurred. The use of such technology is not common in Greece. This requires knowledge of the subject and the deployment of very advanced and powerful computational tools.”