At the AI Workshop for Cultural Data, we open the door to our daily work: You’ll see firsthand how Thuringia’s cultural treasures are digitally recorded, cataloged, and visualized with the help of AI—using real-world examples.
How does a museum object become a dataset that can be found online? We’ll show you, step by step, how collection items are digitally recorded. Historical forest maps demonstrate how high-resolution digital copies are created from fragile originals and how their content is cataloged—that is, made searchable and usable. And using index cards—which for decades served as the memory of libraries and collections—you’ll experience how an AI-supported workflow converts the information card by card into structured data. We expressly encourage you to watch, ask questions, and join the discussion.
At the same time, it’s worth taking a trip down to the Fürstenkeller: Built starting in 1532 under Elector Johann, it is one of the largest vaulted cellars in Germany—about 55 meters long, 12 meters wide, with barrel vaults up to ten meters high. The chronicler Adrian Beier once marveled that a cart driver could drive in with four horses, navigate the lower levels, and drive back out again. To this day, the construction techniques of the era—including a water channel and a channeled spring—remain impressive, and as a protected cultural monument, the cellar has been integrated into the new ThULB building. In this way, the building itself bridges the gap from the past to the digital present.
