The Maldives Heritage Survey aims to systematically inventory and document endangered tangible cultural heritage in the Maldives – including mosques, cemeteries, Buddhist temple ruins, and other historical structures and physical objects – through digital photography, laser scanning, 3D modelling, and GIS to create an open-access resource website and heritage database.

The materials documented through this work are critically endangered, facing both natural and human threats that jeopardize the survival and accessibility of historical information for this vital node in pre-modern global economic and religious networks at the cross-roads of an interconnected Indian Ocean world.

The project, based at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, is led by Dr Michael Feener and funded by Arcadia. Work in the country is done in partnership with the Maldives Department of Heritage (now National Center for Cultural Heritage) and with the support of Washington University’s SaieLab and the Earth Observatory of Singapore at Nanyang Technological University.