On the 60th anniversary of the devastating flood in Venice, UNESCO and Fondazione Giorgio Cini are launching a project to digitise and promote the UNESCO archives on the safeguarding of Venice, a testament to decades of international cooperation for the protection and revitalisation of the city’s cultural and natural heritage.
The devastating flood of 4 November 1966 marked a turning point in Venice’s history, triggering an extraordinary international mobilisation. The project, ‘Preserving documentary heritage, sharing history: universal access to digitised UNESCO archives on the safeguarding of Venice’, aims to highlight the connection between the preservation of cultural heritage and residents’ everyday lives, the revitalisation of the city’s historic centre, and the development of Venice as an international cultural hub.
The digitisation of the archival collection – comprising projects, documents, and photographs – will take 2 years and it will be carried out at the Foundation’s Digital Centre. The collection consists of approximately 110,000 documents relating to the International Campaign for Venice promoted by UNESCO following the catastrophic flood, as well as documents related to UNESCO’s work on the safeguarding of Venice. The archives also include a photographic collection covering the 1970-2017 period, with approximately 6,000 photographs and audiovisual materials in various formats.
The digitised documentation will be progressively incorporated into AtoM (Access to Memory), the archival description system used to manage, describe, and consult archival resources. Photographs and audiovisual materials will be published and made available through the UNESCO Archives platform, promoting their use and ensuring wider access.
Digitisation will broaden access to these sources, making available essential documentation reconstructing the history of crucial events for the city of Venice, and of UNESCO’s efforts to safeguard it. Additionally, the project will support youth development by providing scholarships to train new professionals in the field of archive digitisation.
This process will also showcase the archival documentation relating to major restoration projects carried out in Venice, through the creative reuse of digital resources in new artistic and narrative initiatives.
