Mr. Dimitris Maras was born in Athens in 1944. He studied at Physikomathematical School of the Athens University and then went to the USA, where he studied at the University of Illinois, Chicago, on a Scholarship and received the Degree in Mechanical Engineering M.Sc.
He worked in Chemical, shipbuilding, construction and shipping companies.
His love of the sea and the Greek maritime tradition, gave rise to deal systematically with over 30 years of research and study of Greek traditional shipbuilding. He visited maritime museums in Greece and abroad, particularly libraries and shipbuilding centers.
After research and data collection, taking advantage of his innate ability to craft and armed with the gift of patience, started making replicas of historic wooden sailing vessels, to scale, not currently operating in the Mediterranean Sea.
Strictly follows traditional manufacturing methods, exactly the same way they were built over the centuries. He uses authentic materials, identical to those used by shipbuilders of the prototypes.
His collection includes more than 120 different models that represent the traditional shipbuilding history of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, including Bosporus and Black Sea. It covers the Minoan era, the battle of Salamis, Alexander the Great era, Byzantine era, The Greek revolution of Greece of 1821, against the Ottoman Empire until the middle of last century.
He exhibited part of his rich collection at various events, such as:
1. Nautical week, Thessaloniki 1996
2. Nautical weeks, Kavala 2002
3. Historical Centers, Thessaloniki, 2003
4. Greek Maritime Museums, Athens 2004
5. Participation in the events of the Olympic Games
6. Greek Maritime Museum, Athens 2004
7. 470 World Masters Cup , Alexandroupolis , 2006
8. Naval Museum , Litohoro , 2006
9. Center of Macedonian Studies , Thessaloniki , 2008
10. Naval Museum , Litohoro , 2008
11. Naval Museum, Litohoro, 2009
The magazine « GREEK PANORAMA» has presented several of his articles. Several TV programs , newspapers and magazines have presented his work.
The aim of Mr. Maras is to construct as many models as possible and to generate the interest in modelism of the young generation. His wish is to to see his rich collection permanently exposed in a suitable place.
Mr. Maras is a member of the Nautical Museums of Greece and Litohoro.