The National Museum in Warsaw has launched a new website that allows you to view works of art from our collection without leaving your home! The New Digital NMW was established as part of the 'Open National Museum. Digitization and access to the National Museum's collections”, funded by the European Union. The official premiere of the new portal took place on October 15, 2020. The collection of the National Museum in Warsaw has over 800,000 items. Currently, due to the limited exhibition space and the need to provide works of art with appropriate storage conditions, only a small part of it is displayed.

 

- For decades, the collections gathered in museum stores were available only to a small group of researchers. Technologies of the 21st century make it possible to present them in a digital version - says Kamila Hołubowicz, manager of the Open National project. The first edition of the Digital National Museum in Warsaw was launched in 2011: originally it was only a simple catalog enabling the query. The new Digital NMW offers many more opportunities to Internet users.

 

User enhancements

The new portal allows you to download high-resolution digital reproductions. The user can search the collections on the timeline or view selected masterpieces. The website is personalized: you can create your own profile and save previous searches. The digital National Museum in Warsaw will also facilitate contact with world cultural heritage also for foreign tourists: it is available in Polish and English. The website also works in a mobile version and is adapted to the needs of people with disabilities - blind, partially sighted and deaf, in accordance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. Materials in Polish Sign Language were also published.

 

From a virtual visit to a stationary visit

The new Digital Portal of the National Museum in Warsaw also offers virtual, thematic sightseeing paths, audiovisual materials and educational cards - for those who want to broaden their knowledge of works of art. The website will also make it easier to plan a visit to the Museum in Warsaw: it will allow you to check whether a given object is currently on display and where exactly it can be found. - There is no substitute for direct, personal contact with a work of art, which is why stationary sharing of collections will remain the main activity of museums for a long time. However, presenting them on the Internet is a valuable extension of the offer of our Museum. The new Digital National Museum in Warsaw will facilitate the work of researchers and allow Internet users from all over the world to see our collection.

 

- I hope that it will also contribute to increasing attendance in the future. We also find out that it is worth investing in new technologies in museology during the coronavirus epidemic - says p.o. of the director of the National Museum in Warsaw, dr hab. Łukasz Gaweł, prof. Of the Jagiellonian University

 

Mug, T-shirt and bag ... design your own gadgets!

On the portal, photographs of works of art are accompanied by information on the conditions of their use, including copyright. Images of objects in the public domain (when at least 70 years have passed since the death of the creator) can be downloaded, processed and used without any restrictions, also commercially. The reproductions posted on the Digital NMW portal can be used to make your own gadgets. - The new Digital National Museum in Warsaw is also a completely new quality of photography. One of the elements of the project was the construction of a modern photo pavilion. The latest generation equipment allows you to take photos of works of art at the highest possible level - emphasizes Karolina Tabak, head of the Department of Digitization and Visual Documentation of the National Museum in Warsaw.

 

Operational Program Digital Poland

Assumptions of the project "Open National. Digitization and access to the collections of the National Museum in Warsaw ”, which included a new portal - The Digital National Museum in Warsaw is in line with the national strategies of a single and open digital market and in line with the assumptions of the Digital Poland Operational Program. The implementation of the project was possible thanks to the agreement signed in January 2018 between the National Museum in Warsaw and the Digitl Poland Project Center on co-financing from the European Union. Co-financing in the amount of PLN 7,148,207.64 was granted from the European Regional Development Fund under the Operational Program Digital Poland, "Digital accessibility and usefulness of public sector information", "Digital access to cultural resources". The project was also co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, in the amount of PLN 1,309,193.45. The total value of the investment is PLN 9,602,449.16.