proposal part b - The Bernstein Project

CIP-ICT PSP Call 4 20
Pilot B
[Imperialle]
B2.3. Wider deployment and use
The importance of Imperialle is based on its plan to digitise unique masterpieces that have been executed on
fragile paper. Since the Renaissance and still today, paper has been the most important information carrier in
Europe. Paper, by nature of its production materials and techniques, not only stores information about the date
and location of its making, but also, in a broader sense, about the technological, economical, social, and cultural
environment of its origin. Tracing the movement and use of a sheet of paper through space and time provides a
thread of captured events that can form the basis for historical research and, at a still wider scale, the
exploration of cultural heritage. For the general public, tracing the movement of paper from country to country,
from artist to artist, adds significantly to the understanding of artistic creativity as a pan-European activity
rather than a local or particularly national pursuit.
The importance of paper studies is well established among medievalists and codicologists, but it is less known
and accepted in other fields of the humanities. The Imperialle project will increase awareness about the value
of paper studies, as well as the beauty and significance of watermarks. Further, it will stimulate the
standardization of adequate digitising of artwork on paper in the future. The experience and results gained in
the pilot project will be passed on to other European cultural institutions through personal contacts, articles in
scientific journals and presentations at conferences. The institutions within the Imperialle project – and beyond
– hold tremendous numbers of objects on paper that are part of the European cultural heritage, and all are
obvious candidates for future digitisations, also for preservation reasons.
Imperialle is closely related to the eContentPlus project Bernstein (http://www.bernstein.oeaw.ac.at). Bernstein
has created an integrated digital environment for European paper history and expertise by linking several
individual watermark databases into one. The project is a comprehensive and unrivalled information source on
paper. The various databases are augmented by specialized image processing tools for measuring,
authenticating and dating papers, as well as by a large amount of contextual data that includes bibliographical,
historical and geographical (GIS) information. Imperialle will contribute to Bernstein and enlarge its watermark
data pool significantly by providing images and paper samples from the 15 th to 19 th centuries.
Bernstein has coordinated the watermark terminology of six languages and also developed the basis for
standardizing a hierarchical watermark classification. Imperialle, together with the Bernstein portal, will set
standards regarding how information inherent in paper from the Renaissance through the 19 th century is to be
digitised, described and used.
Digitising paper objects is vital because paper is a fragile material and every direct physical contact with this
vulnerable material presents risks and potential damage. By digitising these objects, Imperialle offers an crucial
contribution to the conservation and preservation of art works on paper, while simultaneously publicising them,
which is something that will surely be replicated throughout Europe.
The project Bernstein has been very successful in its dissemination activities. The most effective activity has
been a still-continuing series of exhibitions about paper history and watermarks, with catalogues in Italian,
German and English (http://www.bernstein.oeaw.ac.at/twiki/bin/view/Main/ProjectExhibitions). To promote
Imperialle, this series will be continued and extended throughout the project member states and beyond.