New unit to digitise cultural heritage assets set up within Heritage Malta
In line with its strategic digitisation policy, Heritage Malta— aided by the EEA Norway Grants—has set up its newest unit, namely the Digitisation Department, whose task is to digitise the tangible and intangible cultural heritage assets entrusted to Heritage Malta for the widest possible use by current and future generations.
The Digitisation Department’s studios were officially inaugurated today by Minister for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government José Herrera and Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi in the presence of Noel Zammit, Heritage Malta’s Chief Executive Officer, and other members of the national cultural heritage agency’s top management.
By managing and supervising the latest state-of-the-art equipment in the industry, the Digitisation Department is set to become one of the leaders in its field, also enabling Heritage Malta to facilitate digital links with other European cultural platforms. The equipment acquired allows acquisition in various digital formats, including photography, videography, 3D laser scanning, photogrammetry and, most importantly, a Collections Management System (CMS) which enables not only the cataloguing of artefacts but also of every conservation intervention conducted over time.
One of the first tasks entrusted to the department is the digitisation of thousands of artefacts housed within the Malta Maritime Museum, which is currently closed for a major overhaul. The Maritime Museum project has received around €2 million in funding from the EEA Norway Grants, half of which have gone towards civil works entailed in the project, with the other half used for the setting up of the digitisation studios. Heritage Malta has topped up these amounts from its own funds.
The major role of digitisation was highlighted during the months when the Covid-19 pandemic forced the agency first to close its doors entirely to the public and later to restrict admissions and opening hours. During that period, Heritage Malta was able to remain loyal to its mission by making cultural heritage accessible to the public virtually through digitisation, thus transforming a difficult situation into an exciting opportunity.
Minister José Herrera commended Heritage Malta for making optimal use of the tools that allow it to reach out to a broader audience more than ever before, and for embracing digitisation, conscious of its remarkable power to break cultural, economic and geographical barriers and to make our national collections accessible to both locals and foreigners in the comfort of their homes. The process of converting physical information, oral traditions and living expressions into a computer-based format is the way forward for the cultural sector, said Minister Herrera.
Parliamentary Secretary Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi stated that through this digitization project, Heritage Malta will be exhibiting its collection that will give visitors better access to the artifacts found at the Maritime Museum. This will give the visitor an enhanced experience when visiting this Museum. This project is part of a bigger project which Heritage Malta is carrying out in the Maritime Museum so that we can continue to enrich the beauty of our country’s cultural heritage.
Heritage Malta’s Chief Executive Officer Noel Zammit spoke of how the Digitisation Department was created from scratch, in line with current and foreseeable trends in the field of cultural heritage worldwide. However, Heritage Malta is determined not to be a follower, but the national leader in digitisation and an active player on a European scale, by endorsing and harnessing the power of digital technology and new approaches in museology to increase access, improve interpretation and create visitor-centric experiences.