The MELTOPENLAB project aims to develop and pilot an innovative integrated information system for demonstration facilities such as Museums, Multicultural Spaces and Open Labs. The project focuses on the digital documentation of exhibits / objects of recent cultural heritage and methods of their restoration / conservation and presentation. In this context, an Open Laboratory of innovative conservation and textile restoration techniques was created and equipped, relevant ontologies of documents and conservation methods were implemented and an advanced system for capturing and analysing visitors’ movements in real time. The system was used to assess interest per exhibit and overall, to record visitor behaviour and satisfaction, and to create and provide visitors with a personalised experience of presentation, entertainment and learning.

This system integrates cutting-edge technologies from different knowledge areas, such as Digital Ontologies, Documentation, Semantic Web, Entities and Conceptual Models, Open Linked Data, Machine Learning, Non-Invasive Visitor Detection, Statistical Analysis of Geospatial Data, Fabric Preservation & Restoration, etc. The information system, which has been piloted on archival material, documentation/maintenance/restoration processes in selected exhibits (simple and complex – concepts) of the Museum of Modern Greek Culture in Plaka, has the main objective to contribute to the evolution of the new space of the Museum from a space of memory and presentation, to a space of learning and experience for visitors, while providing the Museum’s administrators with tools for documentation, promotion and evaluation of the way the exhibits are presented and the methods of their restoration / conservation / composition.

The Open Laboratory for Textile Conservation operates in a well-arranged and appropriately equipped existing space of the Museum, where the methods of conservation and restoration of textile objects are presented, as well as selected displays/collections that are hosted in the permanent central exhibition of the Museum. Thus, it can welcome visitors (students from all educational levels, or other audiences such as family groups, professionals, etc.) and at the same time serve the Museum’s needs for the introduction of new modern conservation methods. Visitors learn about the stages of conservation of a real museum object, participate in selected activities of the process and become aware of the issue of conservation and in general of the need to protect modern Greek culture.

The Partnership brought together partners from the research/educational, business and cultural sectors, and as a result their complementary skills, experience and expertise, to enable the implementation of reliable solutions to maximise the benefits for both the visitor and the museum/cultural organisation. The proposed solution offers an integrated system and automated services to optimise the organisation and operation of museums and cultural institutions (tools for the management and evaluation of exhibits / methods / ways of exhibition, for strategic decision making), as well as to limit the treatment of the public as an undifferentiated mass of passive visitors.