History of Manuscriptorium

The Manuscriptorium history itself is so abundant and rich that it could easily be turned into a book. Thirty years of systematic work is thirty years… That is why we state below only some of the milestones.

1992

A pilot CD with images of the pages of historical documents with captions was launched for UNESCO.

1995

The first two CDs with complete documents (Antiphonarium Sedlecense, Historia Concilii Constantiensis) were released in the Manufret programme (data not yet clearly separated from the software).

1998

Digital images represented in colours and compressed first appeared.

1999

DOBM Standard was introduced for complex digital documents, a recommendation by UNESCO.

2001

MASTER Standard was introduced, initiating its practical use in manuscript cataloguing.

2002

An on-line catalogue of historical collections was made available.

2003

MASTER+ Standard was introduced (extended MASTER Standard for complex digital documents).

2003

Manuscriptorium, the digital library formed by the fusion of the Comprehensive Catalogue of Historical Collections and Memoria.cz was launched. For the first time ever, complex digital documents could be accessed on-line (it would be unthinkable if not preceded by more than ten years of systematic work on manuscript digitisation).

2005

The National Library of CR received the UNESCO Award for digitisation and Manuscriptorium.

2005

Manuscriptorium was recognised as the main platform for publishing the results of the national programme of the historical collections’ digitisation (VISK 6).

2006

Manuscriptorium became an aggregate source (first of Czech memory institutions, later of some Central European ones).

2007

The ENRICH Project (European Networking Resources and Information Concerning Cultural Heritage – a consortium of 18 partners from 11 countries) focusing on available digitised materials in memory institutions used Manuscriptorium as the basic platform. Many other associated institutions supported the project.

2008

Manuscriptorium was integrated in The European Library and began to aggregate on the European level.

2009

TEI P5 ENRICH Specification Standard for complex digital documents was introduced.

2009

Manuscriptorium version 2 was introduced.

2015

Manuscriptorium version 3 was introduced.

2016

Manuscriptorium became the world’s most extensive digital library of medieval manuscripts.

2017

Manuscriptorium joined the IIIF initiative (International Image Interoperability Framework).

2019

Manuscriptorium became the Europeana domain aggregator.

2021

EDM ARMA Specification and IIIF ARMA Specification standards for sharing data in the digital network environment were introduced.

2021

Manuscriptorium version 4 was launched.