After three years of work, the involvement of fifty institutions and dozens of cultural operators, the Museums of the Dolomites project, supported by the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation, is now complete and ready to be explored by students and tour operators.
Twelve new thematic galleries to explore
The MuseoDolom.it platform has added twelve new thematic galleries, that guide virtual visitors through the natural, cultural and historical legacy of the Dolomites World Heritage in Italian, English and German.
The journey takes us through the geology, Dolomites culture, sporting traditions, architecture and role of women over the centuries; these are all stages of a much longer journey during which enthusiasts and museum operators have dialogued and worked together, under the guidance of the team coordinated by MuseoDolom.it founders Stefania Zardini Lacedelli and Giacomo Pompanin, to create a digital space consisting of no less than 2,000 pieces of content that have been produced, collected, edited and sorted. Sharing this content has made it possible for virtual visitors to discover connections, find points of encounter, enrich their own cultural “rucksacks” and enhance their own specific cultural identity in relation to all the others that make up the ethno-anthropological kaleidoscope of the Dolomites.
“Stronger and more creative”
If one of the objectives of the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation is to strengthen the dialogue between the valleys and the people who live in them, the “Museums of the Dolomites” project has certainly implemented this and is now ready to become a cultural leavening for schools and tour operators who wish to add cultural depth to their offers.
“The project had the virtue of uniting the energies of more than 50 museums and cultural institutions. Thanks to targeted training activities, digital curatorship, and skilfully coordinated online campaigns, these museums have seized the opportunity that digital technology offers communities to rediscover, promote and tell the story behind their regions”, emphasises Mara Nemela, Director of the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation.
As coordinators Stefania Zardini Lacedelli and Giacomo Pompanin point out, “Digital technology has turned many small collections into one large shared collection, in which the beauty of each part is enhanced by the presence of the others”. They describe their experience by explaining how the link between the museums and each individual region has been strengthened; in fact, thanks to the Laboratory of Stories, many enthusiasts have found the inspiration to share family memories and recollections and propose new interpretations. In short, thanks to these three years of work, we can say that the museums in the Dolomites region are now even stronger and more creative.