The INSPIRAL portal for travel literature

The platform was inspired by the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation’s rich Collection of travel literature. It was initiated by the Research Programme ‘ZEFYROS: Travel texts on Cyprus (15th-18th c.)’ of the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation and the University of Cyprus (scientific supervision: Professor Julia Chatzipanagioti-Sangmeister).

INSPIRAL is an open access knowledge portal, geared to both the general public and specialised researchers. Through its easy-to-use search engine, the user can search for catalogued information taken from travel texts (also containing engravings and maps) through keywords, subjects/categories, people’s names and place names. At the same time, the user is able to view the entire page on which the information appears, as the platform contains the respective book pages in digital format.

The INSPIRAL portal for travel literature, with Cyprus as its starting point, is gradually being enriched and travels to other places.

Partnerships of the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation on INSPIRAL

Cyprus:

• University of Cyprus (ZEFYROS Research Programme, 2016-2017)
• Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation (BoCCF) (ReTraPath Research Programme, 2020-2022)
• Costas & Rita Severis Foundation (CVAR) (ReTraPath Research Programme, 2020-2022)

Sifnos:

• Gennadius Library – American School of Classical Studies at Athens (2019)

Available soon:

• Kimolos with the Benaki Museum
• Preveza – Ambracian Gulf with the Aktia Nicopolis Foundation

Planning for the future

Committed to a vision of collaboration and the dissemination of knowledge, INSPIRAL invites and encourages institutions that wish to use the platform’s scientific tools and to work together with the Foundation by incorporating material from their own collections.