Digital cultural heritage, an interdisciplinary field at the crossroads of various disciplines, enhances the study and preservation of cultural heritage using advanced technologies. The Institute for Digital Cultural Heritage Studies (DCHS) at LMU-Munich, founded in 2022, leads transformative research on the ancient world, addressing societal challenges and expanding digital scholarship through innovative methodologies and technologies.
Digital cultural heritage, a new academic discipline that emerged at the turn of the 21st century, is a testament to the power of interdisciplinary collaboration. It sits at the intersection of cultural heritage studies, Conservation Science, Archaeology, Museology, Computer Science, and Information Science. This innovative field breaks down traditional disciplinary boundaries, creating new theoretical frameworks and methodologies that enhance the exploration, understanding, and protection of cultural heritage.
The Institute for Digital Cultural Heritage Studies (DCHS), established at LMU-Munich by Professor and Chair Nicola Lercari in 2022, is a unique entity within the European higher education system. It stands out as a research and teaching unit fully dedicated to spearheading transformative research on the ancient world through technology and digital societal engagement with the past. This unique position allows the institute to address 21st-century societal problems and expand digital scholarship.
DCHS researchers and students ask and answer vital questions to study the human experience and improve the understanding, preservation, and sustainable use of the cultural and material legacies of the past through the lens of technology. Digitization, digital collections, GIS, 3D mapping, laser scanning, 3D visualization, VR/AR, serious games, artificial intelligence, and semantic web are some of the techniques utilized at the Institute.
Additionally, research and teaching at the Institute re-frame how scholars and students think about past and present cultures by developing deep relationships across the university-participant-stakeholder spectrum to increase cultural heritage awareness and improve the quality of life for our partner communities and the world.