International Day of a Seafarer is celebrated annually on June 25, beginning from 2010, when the Member States of the International Maritime Organization signed a resolution at the Manila Conference, which established this international holiday.

The resolution emphasized that for people of all nautical professions this holiday is necessary, because the contribution of sailors to the international trade, the global economy and the development of civil society as a whole is invaluable. These words were addressed to 1.5 million professionals who linked their lives with sea.

We have compiled a thematic photo album with the unique silver table decorations in the form of medieval ships for the professional holiday of seafarers. The miniature ship models — the naves (fr. Nef — the ship) with the appropriate fixed equipment and full rigging are notable for the masterly subtlety of work. They were immensely popular, gained recognition and were landmark items of the festive dinner tables’ decoration in Europe in the 14th - 16th centuries, which was a kind of response to the spreading of navigation and great geographical discoveries.

You can examine the miniature ship models in the subsection “Western European Metal Artworks".