Digitalizing the Swedish Cyprus Collection – creating digital twins of archaeological finds for saving and sharing cultural heritage
Minna Silver & Kenneth Silver
The Museum of the Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities (belonging to the Swedish National Museums of World Culture) in Stockholm houses the largest collection of Cypriote antiquities outside Cyprus. The collection is based on and assembled from the archaeological finds of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition (SCE) in 1927 – 1931 led by Einar Gjerstad. The patronship and support of the then Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf (later King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden) was in many ways crucial for the entire project. He also participated in the excavations that were the largest in the island.
Figure 1. Part of the Cypriote archaeological collection at the Museum of the Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm, Sweden, under digitalization. Photo: Kenneth Silver
Figure 2. Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden in the middle in association with the beginning of the Swedish Cyprus Expedition in Cyprus in the 1920s. Courtesy the Pierides Museum.
Figure 3. Photo at the same place where Swedish Cyprus Expedition was starting its work at the Pierides museum in Cyprus ca. 100 years afterwards in 2023. In the middle HE Swedish Ambassador to Cyprus Martin Hagström. Courtesy the Embassy of Sweden in Cyprus.
The excavations have been fully published and the archaeological documentation of the expedition is available online via the Carlotta database, https://collections.smvk.se/carlotta-mhm/web. The collection of artefacts covers 7 000 years of Cypriote past. According to prevailing colonial legislation of the British Mandate period in Cyprus in the 1920s and the 1930s, the division of the archaeological finds of the expedition were generally based on the 50%/50% principle, one half remaining with the excavator and the other half was to remain locally where they were found, in this case in Cyprus. According to estimates, the SCE would have uncovered ca. 18, 000 archaeological objects of which more than 12, 000 ended up in Sweden with a special agreement that exceeded the general 50%.
As Sweden held the Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2023 an international conference was organized in Stockholm that year for digitalization of cultural heritage. Dr. Kenneth Silver, Curator at the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm and Adj. Prof. Minna Silver, Chair of Commission I at CIPA, from Finland participated in the conference with Prof. Marinos Ioannides, the UNESCO Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage, from Cyprus. Negotiations were started for the cooperation and continued on Cyprus in the Swedish Embassy.
The initiative for digitalizing cultural heritage of Cyprus in Sweden was supported by HE Swedish ambassador Martin Hagström in Cyprus for the eve of the 100-year-anniversary of the cooperation. In 2024 a unique agreement of cooperation to digitize collections was finalized and signed between Ms. Ann Follin, the Director General of the Swedish National Museums of World Culture in Sweden, and Rector Prof. Panayiotis Zaphiris of the Cyprus University of Technology and the Digital Cultural Heritage Research Centre, MNEMOSYNE, Cyprus.
Figure 4. Professor Marinos Ioannides photographing ancient Cypriote bottle in Stockholm. Photo: Kenneth Silver.
The aim is to digitize finds from the collection using photogrammetry, laser scanning and robotics with Artificial Intelligence for the protection and preservation of the artefacts as well as for their research and exhibition purposes. The digital twins will enhance the exchange and enable the return of cultural heritage in the digital form to the island. The Cypriot partner takes care of the technical part of the finds that the museum offers aid and access to the collection. The agreement to digitize the finds from the collection covers academic cooperation and exchange, teaching and research as well as science and technology, in accordance with the principles of mutual independence, reciprocity, and equity.
Figure 5. The German partners with the UNESCO chair use robotics in laser scanning the Cypriot finds in Sweden. Photo: Kenneth Silver.
Figure 6. The Finnish partners with the UNESCO chair building a robot for photographing miniature finds from Cyprus. In the photo Toivo Ylinampa. Photo: Minna Silver.
