The Activity of the National Office for Ecclesiastical Cultural Heritage and Religious Buildings of the Episcopal Conference of Italy

Abstract

Italian bishops have promoted new regulations for the National Office for Ecclesiastical Cultural Heritage and Religious Buildings of the Episcopal Conference of Italy, for the allocation of the 8xmille funds according to the requests presented to the Italian dioceses. In order to provide for worship necessities and to protect the historical and cultural religious heritage of each territory, since 1996 the Italian dioceses have worked on an inventory of the whole heritage (churches, works of art, books, archival documents), in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Culture, thus adopting its cartographic standards. The database is available online, and further research can be done through a cross-origin resource sharing of more than 10'500'000 items. The portal offers the history of each good, which is part of the community and it represents its spiritual, cultural and social values. Religious orders have also started an inventory of their cultural heritage by adopting CEI-Ar (44 archives in total) and SBN of the Ecclesiastical Library Center (PBE, 122 libraries in total). New projects aim at representing the presence of cultural heritage in each territory, defining the boundaries of each diocese in a digital format. From the container (churches and religious real estate) to the contents, the projects describe the condition and risks of each good, in order to efficiently plan future interventions. The dioceses have also opened new projects together with museums, archives and libraries, and these activities are advertised through a social network campaign.