MatrizNet and the heritage databases

MatrizNet is the online collective catalogue of the museums under Portugal’s central cultural administration. It functions as a search engine that simultaneously queries dozens of inventory databases, bringing together at a single point of access the information on the national reference collections in the fields of art, archaeology and ethnology. It is one of the principal digital resources for the study, research and enjoyment of Portuguese movable heritage.

Origin and development

The Matriz family of applications arose from the need to standardise the national museum inventory. The system was created and implemented by the Portuguese Institute of Museums, which launched MatrizNet as an instrument for the online dissemination of the collections of the museums under its tutelage. With the reorganisation of heritage administration, development passed to the Institute of Museums and Conservation and, since 2012, the maintenance of the system has fallen to the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage (DGPC).

Alongside MatrizNet — intended for public searches — the DGPC maintains the Matriz 3.0 inventory application, used by museums and palaces to catalogue their collections according to common standards. There are also complementary resources such as MatrizPix, dedicated to imagery, ensuring consistency among the institutions of the network.

Scope and content

MatrizNet allows cross-searching across the databases of several dozen institutions, including the national museums and palaces managed by the DGPC and museums under the tutelage of regional cultural directorates. The database provides information on tens of thousands of pieces, with records that combine text, photography and, in selected cases, video and sound.

Each record brings together the inventory data of the cultural object — designation, authorship, dating, materials, techniques and provenance — as well as bibliographic references and information on exhibitions. The search can be organised by museum, by historical period, by artistic style or by author, which makes the catalogue particularly useful for cross-referencing works dispersed among institutions such as the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga and other reference holdings.

Place in the digital heritage ecosystem

MatrizNet forms part of a broader set of information systems that the DGPC maintains in the domains of material and intangible heritage. While MatrizNet covers movable heritage, MatrizPCI corresponds to the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage and constitutes the reference in the Portuguese language for that area.

These platforms are articulated with the instruments of museum coordination, such as the Portuguese Museum Network, contributing to documentary standardisation and to public access to the collections. Together, they form the digital infrastructure that underpins knowledge of Portuguese cultural heritage and allows researchers, teachers and the general public to consult remotely a vast universe of cultural assets.