German experts presented latest innovations for reconstructing lost items of documentary heritage during their visit at the National Library

The representatives of German business development and applied scientific research organisations, Dr. Marc von der Linden (CEO of MFB MusterFabrik Berlin) and Dr. Bertram Nickolay (representative of Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology) visited Lithuania from 6 to 8 September 2021. The technological solutions developed and implemented by these German organisations are used in the reconstruction of lost cultural heritage artefacts. Besides other types of cultural heritage objects, the specialists working for these companies reconstruct the lost content of the items of documentary heritage by connecting fragments into a single original virtual document image with the help of innovative visual information processing programs.

The recently completed projects by these companies have opened up opportunities to explore the documents from the Historical Archive of the City of Cologne that sustained significant damage as a result of the collapse of the archive building in 2009. The lost documents from Leibniz’s Collection of Manuscript Papers kept at Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library in Hanover and the historical banknotes collection of the German Federal Bank were reconstructed.

The guests paid a visit to the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania during their stay in Lithuania. Director General of the National Library, Prof. Dr. Renaldas Gudauskas, together with other leaders gave the guests a comprehensive overview of the library’s activities with a particular focus on the cultural heritage objects stored at the library. They discussed the possibility of using the projects developed by the institute in the reconstruction of the lost artefacts of historical cultural heritage stored at the National Library.

The guests also discussed the latest advancements in the reconstruction of cultural heritage concerning the technological solutions developed by the institute in their lecture titled “Reconstruction of Lost Cultural Heritage: New Developments”. The event was also attended by the representatives of other Lithuanian memory institutions.

The German guests also visited other institutions engaged in the safeguarding of the country’s cultural heritage. They were introduced to the unique collections of Lithuanian cultural heritage and they also took part in the discussions on the issues regarding their preservation.

The visit was initiated by Gabrielė Žaidytė, Prime Minister’s Advisor on cultural affairs.

Visit organisers: the National Library of Lithuania and the Lithuanian Culture Institute.

This visit was organised as part of the Visit Programme implemented by the Lithuanian Culture Institute.