THE MONASTERIUM PROJECT – VIRTUAL ARCHIVES PROTOTYPE
Karl Heinz
(ICARUS, Austrija)
Monasterium is an international virtual platform for medieval and early modern charters.
About 60 partners from ten countries (AT, DE, CH, CZ, SK, HU, SI, HR, IT, SRB) participate in this
project. Up to now (Nov. 2010) app. 200.000 charters have been supplied free of charge via the
internet (www.monasterium.net). With this number of digital documents Monasterium is the biggest
online-portal of its kind.
As a result of the making of this portal a multinational European network came into being.
Semi-annual meetings have been installed with the purpose of exchange of know-how and experiences
cross the borders, supporting the awareness that due to the common past of the region cooperation is
useful and necessary.
With the foundation of the association „ICARUS – International Centre for Archival
Research“ in 2008, this network has been institutionalised, and the base was laid for sustainable
activities in the future.