New platform for Norrbotten's common cultural heritage

By developing a new platform - the History of Norrbotten - the museums aim to increase knowledge of the region's history, especially among children and young people.For teachers, "Norrbotten's Cultural Heritage" will be a website to find inspiration for lessons, be able to download lesson suggestions and access curated material based on historical objects, archival documents, printed works, photographs and places in Norrbotten.

Common knowledge hub

By increasing the volume of digitized material at each museum, linking data, improving quality, increasing dissemination and packaging and thematizing the participating museums' digital collections and cultural heritage, the goal is to increase accessibility and thus knowledge of the county's history for a wide audience, especially children and young people.

The project is unique in the field of cultural heritage and represents an effort by the county's museum sector to meet the national cultural policy objectives in Norrbotten's cultural plan. The project has attracted national interest and will be followed by the National Heritage Board.

The project is coordinated by the Norrbotten Museum in its capacity as county museum. - "We live in a large county, and the financial conditions of the museums make it difficult to reach out to all the county's primary schools through traditional museum education. The collaboration with the Knowledge Hub will be a step on the way to making our common cultural heritage and history accessible, says Nils Harnesk, head of the Collections Department at Norrbotten Museum.

Shares the view on the future of the project

Malin Brännström, director of the Silvermuseet in Arjeplog, which conducts cutting-edge research within the framework of the INSARC research institute, emphasizes the importance of the project:
- "Through this project, we can reach out to more people with the knowledge and research that we museums possess, both in and outside the county.

Göran Sjöberg, Head of Archives and Collections at Ájtte - Swedish Mountain and Sámi Museum, sees the potential of the project:
- "Ájtte works throughout Sápmi with the Sami natural and cultural heritage. The collections contain many objects with exciting stories, and the project increases our opportunities to make these visible.

The project is planned to be implemented in 2024 and 2025 with funding from Region Norrbotten and Sparbanken Nord. Additional funds will be sought from the Swedish Arts Council's development funds for regional cultural activities.