SEMANTIC COLLECTION MANAGEMENT HELPS IN CONSERVING THE CULTURAL HERITAGE

The Orthodox Church Museum Riisa is conserving, educating and researching the rich cultural heritage of the Finnish Orthodox Church. The collections and public exhibits consist mainly of icons, sacred objects and liturgical textiles from the monasteries and congregations. In addition to the permanent exhibitions, the museum offers seasonal exhibitions.

Ikonikokoelma, ortodoksisen kirkkomuseon säätiö - Icon - Orthodox Church Museum Riisa - Collection Management

The strategy of the church highlights the role of technology in preserving and distributing information about cultural heritage. The digital collection management system Kosmos, provided by Profium, has a key role in organizing the item collections, reference library, and photographic archives consisting of thousands of images.

Profium Digital Asset Management provides a uniform and centralised solution for storing the image collection and for organizing the management of the item collection. The semantic data structure is configured using RDF schemas. Technical metadata is automatically collected from imported images. Ontologies relevant to the field, especially Finnish General Upper Ontology YSO, are integrated for improved description and retrieval of the collection items.

RIISA, located in Kuopio, is one of the most notable Orthodox church museums in Europe. The intention of RIISA church museum is to preserve, study and display the unique orthodox cultural heritage in Finland and to use this heritage for educational purposes. The museum and the collections are maintained by The Orthodox Church Museum of Finland Foundation.