About the cultural portal of Graubünden

"Making the Cultural Diversity Visible and Usable"

Porta Cultura, the gateway to Graubünden’s culture and language, was identified as a priority de-velopment goal in the cantonal government’s agenda for 2021-2024 and has been created with the following mandate: "Making the Cultural Diversity Visible and Usable. The cultural diversity is to be accessible in digital form and the benefits of Graubünden’s culture and for the economy and tourism, as well as education and science, are strengthened.” The objective is to provide an online catalogue and research platform for Graubünden's cultural and language heritage as well as cultural information and events. From traditional hay rakes to abstract works of art, from handwritten codices from the Middle Ages to fortifications from the Cold War era, from the Hom Strom Song to communal field names: Porta Cultura invites you to discover Graubünden’s culture, history and current affairs online.

Nowadays, it has become essential that cultural content is readily available, efficiently accessed from any location, and reusable; for both the general public and sectors such as education and science or the economy and tourism. The portal’s concept of culture is intentionally broad: objects and content from cantonal as well as non-cantonal institutions and cultural establishments are presented and interconnected. The spectrum is broad. Not only objects from folk culture, works of art, documents and publications, but also audiovisual media, natural objects and a variety of other items are included. The catalogue is supplemented by a large number of listed buildings in the canton as well as important archaeological sites, the place and field names of Graubünden and the intangible cultural heritage. The integration of events held in Graubünden acts as a bridge between the historical cultural heritage and current cultural activities.

In order to be accessible to as wide a range of users as possible, Porta Cultura is available in five languages.

Development and Objectives

As a priority development goal of the cantonal government’s programme for 2021-2024, the Graubünden cultural portal project is part of the broader political objective of strengthening the cultural and linguistic diversity in Graubünden. The canton sought to play an active role within its area of responsibility. The Amt für Kultur responded to this mandate by creating a digital portal for cultural assets and thus driving forward the digital transformation in the cultural sector. At the same time, the canton thereby aimed to create a digital database that facilitates access to culture and language across various disciplines and sectors.

Porta Cultura was developed over the course of three years under the leadership of the Amt für Kultur in collaboration with the Amt für Informatik [Office for Information Technology] and an external software development company. In an effort to enable as many cultural institutions and cultural organizations as possible to ingest digital data, a simple software for managing digital content with a direct software interface to the cultural portal has been developed and made available as a sub-project. Porta Cultura was finally launched in April 2024. Thus, the foundation was laid for the continuous addition of content and ever-expanding collaborations.

Pioneering Predecessor Projects

Porta Cultura is the first multilingual, cross-sector regional portal of its scope in Switzerland. The portal builds on pioneering predecessor projects that have been realised over the past fifteen years. As part of the 2009-2012 Government Programme, a museum platform was developed as a priority development goal, on which the numerous museums in Graubünden and increasingly also the cultural archives were given a unified digital presence for the first time. This phase was primarily concerned with presenting the various institutions, while Porta Cultura takes it one step further by allowing users to virtually "enter" numerous museums, archives and libraries located in the canton of Graubünden.

In addition, Porta Cultura was able to build on the preliminary work of various digitisation projects. In recent years, the Bündner Naturmuseum, the Bündner Kunstmuseum [Art Museum] and the Raetian Museum have continued undertaking extensive cataloguing measures and the Kantonsbibliothek Graubünden [Cantonal Library] has driven forward the retrospective cataloguing process, while the Archaeological Services have recorded and geolocated archaeological sites throughout the canton. The catalogue for audiovisual cultural assets of the canton of Graubünden and the platform for high-quality Baukultur have also been integrated.

All of these measures have been initiated by the Amt für Kultur and implemented as parts of priority development goals within the framework of Government Programmes.

Cross-sector Collaboration and Opportunities

Porta Cultura’s digital interconnection of cultural content both simplifies research and generates great advantages for transmitting information in various areas such as education, science, economics and tourism. Thus, our relations with partners and institutions such as the Amt für Höhere Bildung [Office for Higher Education], the Amt für Wirtschaft und Tourismus [Office for Economy and Tourism], Graubünden Ferien [the canton’s tourist marketing organization] and the association graubünden Cultura are strengthened. The centralised collection of cultural data offers new possibilities for data use, service development and evaluation.

The increased visibility and accessibility of Graubünden's culture, on the one hand, strengthens the cantonal and regional identity, and on the other, creates excellent conditions for broad participation in the social and cultural life.

Acknowledgements

Without the support and cooperation of numerous people, cultural institutions and specialist agencies, the realisation of Porta Cultura would not have been possible:

A big and heartfelt thank you is owed to our colleagues in the divisions of the Amt für Kultur and the countless employees of the cultural institutions in the canton of Graubünden, who have provided their collections and information with great commitment and pleasure.

Special thanks are due to the Amt für Informatik [Office for Information Technology], in particular to Heinz Patt, deputy head of the Office and head of Central Services, who has competently assisted and supported the project and the team. A special thank you is also due to Dr Philipp Wiemann for taking on a leading role in initiating the project.

We are equally grateful to the software development company histify ag (formerly known as Fabasoft 4teamwork AG), Jared Hevi and Jonas Baumann and their team.

A heartfelt thank you is owed for the communication planning and implementation concerning Porta Cultura to Yvonne Brigger-Vogel, Reto Küng and his team, as well as Edgar Zanoni.

The project team has collaborated directly and indirectly with various offices of the cantonal administration, particularly with the Amt für Höhere Bildung [Office for Higher Education], the Amt für Wirtschaft und Tourismus [Office for Economy and Tourism], the canton’s tourist marketing organization Graubünden Ferien, graubünden Cultura and other cultural associations, as well as specialist agencies. We extend our gratitude to all involved.

Over the years, the Erziehungs-, Kultur- und Umweltschutzdepartement [Department of Education, Culture and Environmental Protection] under the leadership of the President of the Government, Dr Jon Domenic Parolini, has been actively supporting us in all phases of the development and implementation of the 2021-2024 Government Programme’s ES 5.2 [ES stands for priority development goal], thereby enabling the launch of Porta Cultura. We have contracted a great debt of gratitude to him and his colleagues.

Last but not least: Sarah Amsler and Maria Solovey have been implementing the project since 2021 with a great deal of competence and enthusiasm as well as untiring dedication. A very hearty thank you to them and their team, comprising Dr Stephanie Santschi, Svenja Clauss, Lionel Rhyn and Matilde Bontognali.

Gratitude is also extended to all those who, while not explicitly named here, have nonetheless made a substantial contribution to Porta Cultura.

Barbara Gabrielli, Mag. phil, EMBE HSG, Head of the Amt für Kultur Graubünden (2009 - July 2024)