Ethnological Museum of Bandar-e Kong: a Collection of Living Maritime Cultural Heritage and Oral History
Dublin Core
Title
Ethnological Museum of Bandar-e Kong: a Collection of Living Maritime Cultural Heritage and Oral History
Description
Bandar-e Kong is a port-town located in the Iranian coasts of the Persian Gulf, which flourished in the 17th
century CE with the presence of the Portuguese. Since then, Bandar-e Kong has been a departure point for
Iranian ships sailing the triangle trade to India, Africa, and the Persian Gulf. The topic of this paper fits best
within the Session: Collections-Based Research because this paper aims to introduce Bandar-e Kong’s living
maritime heritage through the Ethnological Museum’s collections.
The Ethnological Museum collections were donated by the town residents. It was founded in 2011 by retired
captains and mariners of Bandar-e Kong, sailors themselves to Africa and India. These sailors turned curators
preserve the UNESCO’s intangible heritage of Traditional Skills of Building and Sailing Iranian Lenj Boats in
the Persian Gulf. In 2020 the authors were funded by the Municipality of Kong to document the objects curated
at this museum.
Our holistic approach recorded all vessels and related tools. All objects underwent morphological analysis, and
each sailor-curator was interviewed to amass oral histories on the construction and use of the objects. These
details together ultimately produced an oral history of the port-town of Bandar-e Kong during August and
September of 2020.
century CE with the presence of the Portuguese. Since then, Bandar-e Kong has been a departure point for
Iranian ships sailing the triangle trade to India, Africa, and the Persian Gulf. The topic of this paper fits best
within the Session: Collections-Based Research because this paper aims to introduce Bandar-e Kong’s living
maritime heritage through the Ethnological Museum’s collections.
The Ethnological Museum collections were donated by the town residents. It was founded in 2011 by retired
captains and mariners of Bandar-e Kong, sailors themselves to Africa and India. These sailors turned curators
preserve the UNESCO’s intangible heritage of Traditional Skills of Building and Sailing Iranian Lenj Boats in
the Persian Gulf. In 2020 the authors were funded by the Municipality of Kong to document the objects curated
at this museum.
Our holistic approach recorded all vessels and related tools. All objects underwent morphological analysis, and
each sailor-curator was interviewed to amass oral histories on the construction and use of the objects. These
details together ultimately produced an oral history of the port-town of Bandar-e Kong during August and
September of 2020.
Creator
Shadi Kalantar
Zeinab Hadi
Publisher
The Museum of Underwater Archaeology
Date
2023
Language
English
Bibliographic Citation
Kalantar, Shadi and Zeinab Hadi. 2023. “Ethnological Museum of Bandar-e Kong: a collection of living maritime cultural heritage and oral history.” Edited by Jennifer Craig, Jay Mok, T. Kurt Knoerl, and Michelle Damian. Proceedings of Fifth Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage: Gwangju, The Republic of Korea, November 13-18 2023. The Museum of Underwater Archaeology. URL: https://apconf.omeka.net/exhibits/show/apconfproceedings/item/1920
Files
Collection
Citation
Shadi Kalantar and Zeinab Hadi, “Ethnological Museum of Bandar-e Kong: a Collection of Living Maritime Cultural Heritage and Oral History,” Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Proceedings, accessed September 16, 2026, https://apconf.omeka.net/items/show/1920.