All Saints in the NMK
Henryk Siemiradzki, Harlot, piece of work, photo by Bartosz Cygan - Photography Studio NMK
All Saints in the NMK
"People like stories and finding out about their origins and traditions" – this was our assumption while selecting collections for the project. This line of thinking also includes knowledge about one's spirituality, or more precisely – piety, presented through unique depictions which illustrate the cultural wealth testifying to the trends and directions of the development of human devotion since the times of devotio moderna to the times of changes incurred by the Enlightenment thought and the industrial revolution.
The aim of the project is to digitize the priceless collection of prints with images of saints, depictions of the Virgin Mary and the now forgotten patrons, as well as to promote this collection – hitherto unpublished in its entirety – on-line in order to enable access to this impressive iconographic resource, which is often used by researchers and scientists.
The activities planned within the project include:
- digitization of 1400 prints dating back to the period from the 16th to the 20th century – unique in terms of iconography, art and history – which through their representative overview of evangelical scenes constitute the testimony to the piety of the entire generations of the faithful, both from the territory of the Polish Republic and the whole Christian Europe and the world;
- updating the descriptive metadata resources in the database system in accordance with current standards and guidelines regarding the museum collections records;
- preparation of the interpretative layer in the form of popular science texts which explain the meaning and ideological content of the published works to the wider public, as well as providing the exhibits with keywords, tags and Iconclass dictionary terms in order to facilitate the search for specific iconographic themes;
- online presentation on the Digital Cultural Heritage website, which features the most valuable collections of the Małopolska region, as well as on the Museum's own website (photo galleries of the exhibits).
We are interested in history when it is not merely told, but also presented in an intriguing way. Therefore, digital images of digitized objects will be accompanied by easy to understand descriptions, which are meant to present the iconography of the depicted figures, as well as the history of pilgrimage centres and sanctuaries (in the case of images, it refers to those which are recognized as miraculous or miracle-making). The proper tagging of records and our search tools will make it easier to find the required theme or motif.
By implementing the project, we would like to create in the viewer's imagination the image of religious life in the past centuries, along with everyday activities so closely associated with this sphere, and to restore the public awareness of history, not so much forgotten, but perhaps not very well-known, which co-creates the nature of our culture to this day.
Text by Joanna Niewidok
Co-financed by the Kultura + Multiannual Programme
