Audiovisual Cultural Heritage of the Canton of Graubünden

Be it a flight over Lake Sils and the landscape of the Engadin, a winter hike through deep snow at the foot of Piz Bernina, or a story about life in the remote Walser village of Avers – audiovisual media bring the history and culture of a place, a region, or even an entire canton vividly and accessibly to life.

Photos, audio recordings, films, and videos—whether analog or digital—are valuable documents of our past. They tell stories of social developments, personal histories, local crafts, political events, everyday culture, and much more. They entertain, inform, educate, and communicate with us. These cultural treasures are often found in the archives of institutions and organizations – but just as often in private households, attics, basements, or office shelves. Unfortunately, the media on which they are stored are fragile, and many of these mementos of our past are at risk of decay. Moreover, playback devices such as slide projectors, cassette players, or film projectors are becoming increasingly rare and can only be operated by a few specialists.

For many years, Graubünden’s cultural institutions have been actively engaged in promoting and preserving their rich audiovisual heritage. With the digital platforms Porta Cultura and AV Media Portal Graubünden, the catalogs of the Staatsarchiv Graubünden and the Kantonsbibliothek Graubünden (the Cantonal Library), as well as the work of the Fotostiftung Graubünden, iStoria, and the participatory platform nossaistorgia, a number of central tools for cataloguing and providing access to audiovisual cultural assets are already in place today. With just a click, you can embark on a digital journey through Graubünden from the comfort of your sofa – travelling over mountains, through valleys, and back to earlier times.

With audiovisual media, four main categories can be distinguished: photographs, sound recordings, films, and videos.

• Photographs capture and preserve a moment as a two-dimensional image. The materials and techniques used in photography vary greatly, ranging from glass negatives to digital images.
• Sound recordings preserve sounds, speech, or music and can be made in various ways – mechanically, magnetically, optically, or digitally.
• Films consist of moving images created through photographic or camera technology and recorded on film stock, often accompanied by sound. They are composed of individual frames shown in rapid succession, which the human eye perceives as movement.
• Videos are recorded electronically. Unlike film, they are not stored on film stock but as electrical signals – originally on magnetic tape and today predominantly in digital form. Unlike film, videos therefore did not need to be developed but could be viewed directly using a suitable playback device. Today, the digital signals are interpreted and played back by software.

Since 2022, Memoriav, the centre of expertise and network for Switzerland’s audiovisual heritage, has been compiling a nationwide overview inventory of audiovisual cultural assets. The aim is to document where collections are located and what condition the media are in. This will provide the federal government and the cantons with a basis for planning and implementing even more targeted preservation measures in the future, so that valuable photographs, sound recordings, films, and videos can be conserved and made accessible to the public.

The Canton of Graubünden is taking part in Memoriav’s national inventory project and building on the preliminary work already carried out at cantonal level. The project is a collaboration between the Cantonal Library of Graubünden and Porta Cultura, on behalf of the Office for Culture. Its objective is to document existing audiovisual collections and to identify and record new holdings, particularly those belonging to private individuals and associations active in various fields.

Take part yourself! Do you own films, videos, photographs, or audio recordings? At the end of October 2025, a comprehensive online survey aimed at institutions, organizations, and private individuals will be launched. Everyone who owns audiovisual documents that shed light on the history or the development of society, culture, and the economy of Graubünden or of individual regions of the canton is invited to participate. The aim is not to collect the media themselves, but to gather information: What kinds of media exist? Where are they located? What condition are they in?

Participation is open to all interested parties. If you own such films, videos, photographs, or audio recordings but have not received a personal invitation to take part in the survey, please feel free to contact us at av-inventar@gr.ch.

In addition, accompanying events for interested participants will be held at four locations as well as online. These events will provide information about the importance of audiovisual cultural heritage for Graubünden, how damage to materials can be recognized and treated, how to store media correctly, and how to take part in the inventory yourself.

The survey results will be summarized in a project report and made publicly available on the Memoriav website in due course. Information on inventories from other cantons, as well as general information on audiovisual media and their preservation, can also be found on the Memoriav website.