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DigitAM – The Digital Collection of the TUM Architecture Museum
The Historical Archive of the Faculty of Architecture
The aim of the DigitAM project was to create high resolution scans of selected assets of the architectural museum plan collection.
During the two-year project period sponsored by the DFG, approximately 40 000 plans were digitized with a high-performance scanner, which can read up to a document size of 1.20 m x 1.80 m. MediaTUM, the TUM media server developed and supervised by the University Library, is used as a presentation and research platform. In this online database, the complete inventory of the plan collection can be researched. The digitized materials have been continuously catalogued into the database since September 2009.
Since 2012, the project has been carried out independently by the Architectural Museum and the University Library.
By now 78 000 scans are available online
The Architecture Museum pursues the following objectives with digitization:
1. Preservation of assets through facsimile reproduction
The main objective of the project is to provide permanent documentation of the drawings, graphics and plan materials held in the Architectural Museum, which are particularly endangered by their material nature and format. Digitization will reduce the necessity of handling the original materials.
2. Improved access to the collection
The accessibility to the stocks is greatly increased by providing an online catalogue for systematic research. The online database access also means, particularly in the field of image research, a significant relief for staff members in regard to archival research tasks. Employee capacities can then be increasingly directed towards the development and maintenance of the collection.
3. Enhance the value of the collection for the general public
The digitized assets are accessible to a wide public through the simplified research possibilities and allow scientists, researchers and interested persons to gain an insight into the treasures of the collection.
The digitized material can also be viewed via the following portals:
Bildindex der Kunst & Architektur (Bildarchiv Foto Marburg)
The Project Partners
The digitization of the archive's plan collection is a project of the TUM Architecture Museum in cooperation with the University Library and was sponsored by The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).
The technical execution of the project was carried out in cooperation with the company micro-Univers GmbH on scanners from Cruse GmbH.