Digital Heritage and Heritage Digitization

Digitization has transformed how cultural heritage is inventoried, preserved, and shared. In Portugal, this process has developed over three decades, linking the technical work of institutions with the growing demand for open access. From paper inventory sheets, the process evolved to structured database records, and from there to web publication, high-resolution photography, and, more recently, three-dimensional modeling of objects and buildings.

From Inventory Sheets to Databases

The digitization of inventories began in the 1990s as part of the integrated collection management policies established by the Portuguese Institute of Museums and later by the Institute of Museums and Conservation. This effort gave rise to the Matriz family of applications, designed to standardize the recording of movable, immovable, and intangible heritage and automate its online dissemination. Today, under the supervision of the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage, the system integrates several sectoral databases: Ulysses, for classified immovable heritage; Endovélico, for archaeological sites; Matriz 3.0, MatrizNet, and MatrizPix, for movable heritage and its photographic archives; and MatrizPCI, for intangible heritage.

In parallel, the Architectural Heritage Information System has, over decades, built an extensive documentary repository—drawings, photographs, administrative records—on architectural, urban, and landscape heritage. These platforms have made the cultural heritage inventory accessible from anywhere, though with varying degrees of openness: not all datasets are freely reusable.

3D Modeling and New Recording Methods

Digitization is no longer limited to records and photographs. Technologies like photogrammetry, laser scanning, and 3D modeling now enable the creation of precise digital representations of sculptures, ceramics, rare manuscripts, and even entire buildings. 3D recording has dual value: it provides the public with detailed explorable models and virtual tours while offering conservators precise metric data to monitor deformations, cracks, and material loss over time.

A 3D model is not just a richer image: it is a conservation document, capable of capturing the state of an asset at a given moment and serving as a reference for any future intervention.

Open Access and the European Dimension

The ultimate goal of digitization is open access. Portuguese collections are integrated into Europeana and the European digital heritage network, the shared data space that aggregates millions of cultural objects from across the Union. This interoperability—designed from the outset in Matriz 3.0—ensures that an artifact inventoried in a national museum can be searched alongside collections from other countries.

The Cultural Heritage 360 project, promoted by Cultural Heritage, I.P., in partnership with Museums and Monuments of Portugal and funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, illustrates the scale of this ambition: it includes the 2D and 3D digitization of around 59,500 cultural assets, 65 virtual tours of museums, monuments, palaces, and archaeological sites, and a series of documentaries, all to be made freely available by 2026. Using high-resolution photography, photogrammetry, and laser scanning, tens of thousands of objects have already been digitized.

However, democratizing access comes with persistent challenges: the diversity and complexity of assets, the need for continuous technical training, copyright issues regarding images, and the long-term preservation of digital files themselves. Ensuring that what is digitized today remains readable and accessible for future generations may be the most demanding goal of digital heritage.