Digital heritage and heritage digitisation

Digitisation has transformed how cultural heritage is inventoried, preserved and shared. In Portugal, this process has developed over three decades, linking technical work by institutions with growing demands for open access. From paper inventory cards to structured database records, and from these to web publication, high-resolution photography and, more recently, three-dimensional modelling of objects and buildings.

From inventory cards to databases

The computerisation 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 standardise records of movable, immovable and intangible heritage and automate their online dissemination. Today, under the supervision of the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage, the system coordinates several sectoral databases: Ulysses, for classified immovable heritage; Endovélico, for archaeological sites; Matriz 3.0, MatrizNet and MatrizPix, for movable heritage and related photographic archives; and MatrizPCI, for intangible heritage.

In parallel, the Information System for Architectural Heritage has built, over decades, an extensive documentary repository — drawings, photographs, administrative processes — on architectural, urban and landscape heritage. These platforms have made the cultural heritage inventory accessible remotely, albeit with varying degrees of openness: not all datasets are available for free reuse.

3D modelling and new recording methods

Digitisation has moved beyond records and photography. Photogrammetry, laser scanning and three-dimensional modelling technologies now enable precise digital representations of sculptures, ceramics, rare manuscripts and even entire buildings. 3D recording serves a dual purpose: offering the public detailed explorable models and virtual tours, while providing conservators with precise metric data to monitor deformations, cracks and material loss over time.

A three-dimensional model is not just a richer image: it is a conservation document, capable of capturing an object’s condition at a given moment and serving as a reference for any future intervention.

Open access and the European dimension

The ultimate goal of digitisation is open access. Portuguese collections are integrated into Europeana and the European digital heritage network, the shared data space aggregating millions of cultural objects from across the Union. This interoperability — designed into Matriz 3.0 from the outset — allows an item inventoried in a national museum to be searched alongside holdings 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 this ambition’s scale: it involves the 2D and 3D digitisation of approximately 59,500 movable cultural assets, 65 virtual tours of museums, monuments, palaces and archaeological sites, and a series of documentaries, to be made freely available from 2026. Using high-resolution photography, photogrammetry and laser scanning, tens of thousands of objects have already been digitised.

Yet democratising access coexists with persistent challenges: the diversity and complexity of heritage items, the need for ongoing technical training, image rights issues and the long-term preservation of digital files themselves. Ensuring that what is digitised today remains legible and accessible to future generations may be digital heritage’s most demanding objective.