What is the object of the project?

The object of the project consists in:

• the digitization, documentation and scientific substantiation of all artifacts/documents referred to herein, as included in:

1. the Library,
2. the Gallery, and
3. the archived material, which constitute the cultural heritage of the Society for Macedonian Studies;

• the creation of a Digital Museum, including a Digital Museum Portal, intended to display and promote the digitized cultural heritage of the Society for Macedonian Studies both to visitors to its physical facility and the general public through a web portal to be developed for this purpose; and
• the supply of museum equipment, ready-to-use software and other equipment;
• the provision of other services (training and support for system testing and operation, publicity and dissemination of the project outputs).

What is the purpose of the project?

This project aims to highlight and promote the rich cultural heritage of the Society for Macedonian Studies, related to Macedonia. More specifically, this project will, by creating and maintaining a top-quality and all-round digital copy of the cultural heritage of the Society for Macedonian Studies, optimize its management and utilization methods. Also, by creating and operating a Digital Museum, it will allow for displaying and promoting cultural heritage to the general public, both in Greece and abroad.

To attain the purpose of the project, the following objectives have been set:

• To create top-quality digital copies of the cultural objects making up the collections of the Society for Macedonian Studies, accompanied by excellent documentation, and to store them in an infrastructure that is appropriate for maintaining, managing, making available and utilizing the Digital Cultural Objects to be produced, which will be implemented and will be accessible by the use of equipment to be installed and function in the infrastructure of the Society for Macedonian Studies.
• To create a Digital Museum for displaying all the Digital Cultural Objects of the Society for Macedonian Studies, which will allow for producing, formulating and displaying content by utilizing, in multiple ways, the Digital Cultural Heritage of the Society for Macedonian Studies. The Digital Museum will offer guided tours both to online visitors and visitors to the physical facility of the Society for Macedonian Studies.
• To implement physical actions for promoting the Society’s cultural, artistic and historical assets.

What are the benefits of the project?

The archived material maintained by the Society for Macedonian Studies in its physical facility represents its cultural, artistic and historical assets in their entirety. These assets are
mostly in physical form. Consequently:

• There are significant risks of damage, partial or total destruction of the artifacts/documents during handling.
• Management (cataloguing, utilization, enrichment, etc.) of the artifacts/documents by the Society is extremely difficult.
• There are significant and insurmountable limitations to the promotion and display of the Society’s assets to the general public (sensitive material, limited number of visitors, lack of documentation, etc.). Therefore, it is necessary to create a complete Digital Copy of the Society’s Cultural Assets by digitizing and scientifically documenting the above material, in line with scientifically accepted standards and methodologies. The new structure will:
•  Ensure preservation of a significant amount of artifacts/documents which are at risk of deterioration due to ageing and due to interaction with visitors/researchers
• Ensure easy, all-round and accurate management of the catalogue of all collections and their artifacts/documents
• Strengthen the ability of the Society for Macedonian Studies to digitize and document any new cultural material to be acquired in the future and included it in its digital cultural assets
• Ensure secure preservation of all cultural objects included in its collections, as digital representations of cultural objects will be accessible and easily usable at all times without the need to handle the respective physical objects
• Provide the general public with access to the Society’s cultural artifacts/documents by displaying and making available their digital copies either online or in the Society’s physical facility.
• Allow for creating many different scenarios for displaying the Society’s cultural artifacts/documents, with a view to promoting them among, and having them utilized by, different population groups

The Digital Museum to be implemented as part of the project will also serve as an innovative and effective hub for displaying and promoting important matters related to the history and culture of Macedonia. In this context, the availability of scientifically documented content by means of aesthetically excellent interactive video productions and interactive educational applications is expected to attract a large number of visitors (either to the Digital Museum’s physical room or to its web portal), as well as to provide such a level of information that is appropriate for each category of visitors (researchers, historians, students, etc.) on important issues related to the history and culture of Macedonia.