Projects of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar are funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Free State of Thuringia, represented by the State Chancellery of Thuringia, Department of Culture and the Arts.
Digitalisation of the holdings
of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar
The Klassik Stiftung Weimar owns collections which comprise an extraordinary assortment of literary estates, autographs, antique prints, maps, photographs, drawings, graphic sheets and other museum holdings, all of which are an integral part of our national cultural heritage. In future, the goal is to create a digital copy of these documents and items irrespective of their indispensable original form. The project “Digitalisation of the holdings of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar” aims to expand the scope of digital cultural content, and in so doing, tap the potential of innovative information technologies in Thuringia. The digitalisation measures now being implemented at the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, the Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv and the museums of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar aim to fundamentally modernise the technical capabilities in book and manuscript digitalisation. More specifically, specialised technology will allow curators to carefully digitalise extremely rare and fragile books at the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek. With the aid of scanning devices, researchers will be able to conduct material-scientific analyses in order to comprehensively identify the material composition of selected museum holdings.
The project has secured funding for five years (2017-2021) and is partially financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Free State of Thuringia.
Digitalisation in the museums
The museums of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar are home to a broad spectrum of unique objects including Goethe’s private collection, the Bauhaus Collection and the Graphic Art Collections. The primary aim of the ERDF digitalisation project is to present various facets of this unique cultural heritage to the public in digital form and to promote networking between research endeavours.
High-resolution photos, in-depth infrared and UV imagery, and 3D scans of selected items deliver new insights in the scientific and material-analytical study of the objects and enable researchers to share digital data via online portals.
A selection of digitalised works and objects are presented in the digital collections of the museums.
Digitalisation at the Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv
dating from the 18th to the mid-20th century. One of the essential tasks of the archive is to preserve and provide historical manuscripts for scientific usage. The GSA fulfils this task by not only allowing researchers to study the originals, but also by digitalising the archive’s holdings and collections.
The digitalisation projects are conducted in specially equipped rooms in the archive and are based on metadata collected through indexing and made available via the archival database. Digital facsimiles provide references to the manuscripts’ metadata which enable researchers to quickly locate and use the materials.
You can find a selection of digital facsimiles in the Digital Archive.
