Project in progress (April 2011 – March 2014)
Value of the project: 3,946,147.45 pln, grant value: 2,366,882.25 pln

The main objective of the project titled “Digital Cultural Heritage – creation of a platform for the digitization of museum collections in the Małopolska region” was to increase online access to museum collections through the creation of a website shared by seven major cultural institutions from the Małopolska region. Forming a permanent network of cooperation between the project participants was meant to protect and popularize cultural goods through the use of modern technology.

In accordance with the idea of the development of a knowledge-based society, and with the development strategy of long-distance education forms, the project – assuming the digitization of the most valuable objects of the National Museum in Krakow and partner institutions as well as their dissemination – enabled a virtual presentation of works of art, which is easily accessible for everyone.

Preserving European cultural heritage and its popularization constitutes one of the European Union's guidelines implemented through an innovative – on a Polish scale – project which assumes digitization of the most valuable collections. The project was initiated by the National Museum in Krakow in partnership with six cultural institutions from the region.

Preserving European cultural heritage and its popularization constitutes one of the European Union's guidelines implemented through an innovative – on a Polish scale – project which assumes digitization of the most valuable collections. The project was initiated by the National Museum in Krakow in partnership with six cultural institutions from the region. In an easy and accessible way, the virtual recipient was granted access to information about approx. 127,000 most valuable works of art displayed on an interactive multimedia internet platform, allowing for the exploration of cultural heritage resources which in the vast majority are not normally available to the visitors. The shared website of all the project participants was created on the basis of one database programme aimed at compiling Małopolska collections, a shared glossary of key terms and uniform standards for descriptions of museum objects. Everyone interested has the opportunity to discover and explore the richness of culture and history of Małopolska.

The digitization process, carried out through photographing, scanning and microfilming the most valuable cultural resources, enriched the shared online database containing basic and popular scientific information about the selected objects from the collections. The digitization process involved the use of professional equipment purchased under the project, which ensured the required high quality of the digital image, its archiving and protection in accordance with applicable standards.