The National Roman Museum digitizes its holdings

The National Roman Museum digitizes its heritage: archival, photographic and especially archaeological artifacts constitute the core of the daily activity of the National Roman Museum, whose primary objective is the acquisition, preservation, enhancement and enjoyment of cultural heritage, and to optimize this mission, an integrated management system has been created that facilitates the dialogue between the archives of the different offices/departments and that places the cultural heritage of the Museum, especially archaeological artifacts, at the center for immediate knowledge. It is on this basis that the “MNR Digital - Collections and Archives” project was developed, aimed at making the Museum’s cultural heritage accessible to the general public.

The “MNR Digital - Collections and Archives” project was conceived by Chiara Giobbe, Head of the Inventory and Catalog Service, and Agnese Pergola, Head of the Photographic Archives.

An initial phase of planning and data retrieval was followed by a second phase dedicated to the collection and homogenization of the museum databases for their transfer to MetaFAD, a multistandard platform with an Open Source license developed by the company Gruppo Meta s.r.l., customized according to the specific collection management needs of the Museum. This platform enables dialogue between the archives of the different Operating Units of the Institute, facilitating the networking of all data related to the exhibits and their online publication. At the same time, the management system, by integrating catalographic, photographic, archival, restoration, handling and loan information within a system architecture designed to ensure their coordination, makes it possible to optimize the work of the Museum’s staff, who are engaged on a daily basis in the protection and enhancement of the works preserved in the exhibition halls and storage rooms of the four museum sites.

To carry out the project, which is still in the development phase, the Museum started from the idea that everyone should be able to enjoy the national cultural heritage in a better way. For this reason, the institute aimed to create a unified management platform for data on the individual artifacts, photographs, and monuments that make up the National Roman Museum. This platform makes it possible to associate with each object all the information related to it, such as catalographic, photographic, archival, and other information. The data can be integrated with the national cataloging systems adopted by the Ministry of Culture, as MetaFAD’s cataloging system is based on the standards defined by the Central Institute for Cataloging and Documentation (ICCD).

Currently, the data entered includes records for the Catalog Archive, for which 52,000 records have been entered, and the Photographic Archive, for which approximately 500,000 records have been entered. In the current front end it is possible to browse all the records in the Catalog Archive, many of which include related images, while only a small part of the documentation related to photographs is available. This choice was made in order to allow those who approach the Museum’s works to view all currently existing digitized records related to archaeological artifacts, even when they are incomplete. With regard to the photographs, the unevenness of the archival data led to the consideration of the inclusion of the tabs related to the images in stages, to ensure that more information is displayed and to allow the possibility of searching by keywords as well.

The Museum is working on structuring the archival tab to enable future sharing of data related to the Historical Archives’ records and, at the same time, the implementation and homogenization of all the data already published.

“This is an important digitization project and allows the National Roman Museum to be even more in touch with the scientific community and the public,” comments Director Stéphane Verger, “offering a fundamental service for the knowledge of cultural heritage. The forward-looking support and sponsorship of American Express have made it possible to realize this project, conceived by the Museum’s scientific and technical staff, whose ultimate goal is to improve through digital means the management, knowledge and enjoyment of the Museum’s collections, promoting digitization and innovation, aimed at maximum accessibility of the heritage.”

"This ambitious digitization project of the National Roman Museum, which we are proud to support, is part of the broader commitment that in American Express we have been pursuing for some time to enhance the artistic-cultural heritage of our country and support the process of digital transformation, says Maria Pina Carai, Director, Head of Client Management Global Merchant Services of American Express Italy. We wish not only to make usable unseen works, promote the territory and offer special experiences to our Italian and foreign Cardholders, but also to stimulate through our ecosystem a quality tourism capable of attracting visitors from all over the world and return value to the local community."

“From the moment of its establishment as an autonomous museum in 2016, the need emerged to identify digital solutions aimed at improving consultation of the large amount of data contained in the archives, both for the purpose of protecting the assets (and increasing the level of protection) and, of course, with a view to their enhancement and public enjoyment, by making the data available through the web,” says Chiara Giobbe. Agnese Pergola adds that “it is essential to facilitate access to consultation of the enormous photographic heritage of the National Roman Museum, as well as to create a system that allows the reorganization and management of documents and interaction with other existing databases.”

The National Roman Museum digitizes its holdings

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.