Past and FutureSeals of the Archive of the Bohemian Crown and their representation in
Monasterium.netDaniel Jeller
13. 10. 2016 / Olomouc
http://monasterium.net
What is Monasterium?
Collaborative Archive
Quick factsOnline database for medieval and early modern charters
Collaborative platform and editor
Founded 2002 as the “Monasterium-Project”
Around 600.000 charters from over 130 European archives
800.000 digital images
Based on open standards
Free to use
Public: Database and Search
Private: Userspace and Editor
Czech charters in MOM-CA∞Collaboration with the National Archive due to contacts to
the monastery Břevnov∞Digitisation starting in Brno and Praha 2007∞First fonds: Archivy českých klášterů zrušených za Josefa II.∞2008: Digitisation of Archiv České koruny∞Continuous digitisations in the last 10 years∞Currently charters from 10 archives online∞Many charters still to be published
Online data overview
Česká republika Národní archiv Archiv České koruny0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
24839
14603
2551
58366
31655
5936
21772
12839
2340
Charters Images Seal data
Seals in Monasterium.net
Two components
Image Metadata
Depiction as complete as possibleFront Back
Drawbacks‡ Digitisation has to be cost effective‡ Images need to be “good enough to use”‡ Not intended as “preservation digitisation”‡ No special care is taken to make the images of seals as good
as possible – the charter as a whole is the main focus
Main equipment: fixed lighting
Camera view
LightLight
Shadow but good contrast…
…if the seal permits it
Detailed metadata possible
Sigillant
Legend
DimensionsMaterial
Condition
Problem: Usually just simple text
Seals of the Archiv České koruny
∆Metadata similar to other fonds in Monasterium
∆Charters are specially conserved
∆Seals fixed in place∆Removal of protective case
only permitted in special cases
∆Not problematic for the text∆Seals can be blurred due to
the plastic
Plan: Integrate seal database and imagesSeparate database only for ACK sealsHighly detailed metadataDigitisation project to take separate, high quality images of
all sealsFinished 2018
MetadataBefor
e After
Background
Text / Legend
Material and condition
Iconography
A single text entry
Images
Before After
Integration in Monasterium
Both images and metadata will be merged with the existing data in Monasterium
Thank [email protected]