As Cyprus celebrates Orthodox Easter the UNESCO Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage Research Lab wishes you a Happy Easter, Καλή Ανάσταση! Like many springtime festivals around the world, Orthodox Easter is a time for reflection, community cohesion, cultural observances and a reconnection with the past with family, friends and traditions. In that spirit, the DHRLab is pleased to announce that the first twenty-one items digitised in collaboration with the Medelhavsmuseet (Mediterranean Museum) in Stockholm, Sweden are now available via the Europeana web portal.
In January this year, a team from the DHRLab at the Cyprus Univerity of Technology travelled to Sweden at the invitation of the Medelhavsmuseet to digitally document the museum’s extensive collection of Cypriot antiquities from the Stone Age to Imperial Rome. The majority of the Medelhavsmuseet Cyprus collection originates from the 1927-1931 Swedish Cyprus Expedition during the island’s period of British Colonial rule from over twenty excavation sites, conducted under the patronage of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden (then crown prince) and formed the basis of the museum’s foundation in 1954.
The joint initiative to digitise the Medelhavsmuseet Cypriot collection represents a significant moment in the international effort to promote and protect cultural heritage and is the first time a museum has officially invited a state-of-origin-held antiquities to lead digitisation of expatriated objects. The digitisation initiative, and now publishing through Europeana, provides access to the Medelhavsmuseet’s collection to the people of Cyprus, Europe and the world highlighting the significance of the island’s role in the development of the eastern Mediterranean region in the past, and how modern technology can be used to connect people with cultural heritage, strengthening understanding and respect through our shared histories, culture and heritage.
It may not be the most traditional of Easter gifts, but we at the DHRLab hope that you will find the objects interesting and be inspired to learn more about the Medelhavsmuseet collection and the rich cultural heritage of Cyprus. Καλή Ανάσταση!
The twenty-one objects from the Medelhavsmuseet Cypriot collection digitised by the DHRLab will be showcased at the European TwinIT! event to be held on 14th May 2024, along with the MNEMOSYNE project case study of the Lambousa fishing vessel and the official entry for TwinIT! representing Cyprus Paphos Harbour Castle. The programme for the TwinIT! event can be found here
If you are interested in supporting the Cyprus Swedish Digitisation Initiative please contact us through our webmail page.
