Ekhbary News Agency | 2024-05-15
Portugal's Ministry of Culture has officially launched "Património Cultural 360®," a groundbreaking digital platform offering immersive virtual tours of the nation's museums, monuments, palaces, and archaeological sites. This significant initiative consolidates over 60,000 digitized cultural assets, making them readily accessible to a global audience. The portal, found at 360.patrimoniocultural.gov.pt, aims to democratize access to and enhance public engagement with the country's rich, diverse heritage.
Expanding Digital Access and Technological Scope
Building upon an earlier announcement in April, which first made over 61,000 Portuguese cultural items available online, the new platform integrates these resources seamlessly. These assets, meticulously chosen by site directors, encompass everything from delicate jewelry pieces to monumental, multi-ton sculptures, including many classified as "national treasures." Advanced technologies like high-resolution photography, photogrammetry, laser scanning, and sophisticated 3D modeling were extensively employed for their precise digitization, ensuring a high-fidelity virtual experience.
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A Vision for Preservation, Education, and Global Reach
Margarida Balseiro Lopes, the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, underscored the project's profound significance. She affirmed it "places the knowledge, history, and identity of our country within everyone's reach, regardless of their geographical location, while reinforcing the preservation and transmission of this legacy to future generations." The portal's robust search functionality allows users to explore by theme, location, or historical period, showcasing 232 national treasures and providing 67 virtual tours across 90 distinct heritage sites. These sites span 45 municipalities and 17 districts, featuring iconic locations such as the Batalha Monastery, the Cathedral of Évora, and the Mafra National Palace. This ambitious undertaking, to be sure, received substantial financing of approximately 14.4 million euros from the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).