After a thorough verification of the contents of each inventory record, we are pleased to make part of our institution’s collections accessible: right here.

In 2019, some 1,565 object descriptions were added to the already online set, including:

• recent acquisitions
• 707 tiles for coating or heating (stoves), from the 13th to the 19th century, more than half of which are Spanish tiles from the Carreras donation.

983 new cards were added in 2018, specifically regarding the following theme:

• the collection of Swiss pottery and enamelled glasses from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries
• the Islamic collection from 10th to 21st century
• the Hamburger van Beusekom collection: earthenware and porcelain from 17th and 18th centuries.

At the end of 2017, we posted records online for the following works of art:

• 257 glass-works introduced during the museum’s permanent itinerary.
• 1840 objects shown in our study-collections.

Although the general public as well as the researchers will be able to gradually access the entirety of our pieces from a virtual point of view – it should be followed by the physical visit and irreplaceable experience in the direct presence of the pieces.
This is nonetheless a beautiful way to facilitate the remote discovery of treasures within our reserves.

CERAMICA CH In 2009, the CERAMICA Foundation launched the “CERAMICA CH” to reveal and enhance the ceramic collections kept in Swiss museums. This initiative took the form of a national inventory of ceramics of the modern period (1500-1950).

 ≡ ceramica.ch

Nowadays (22.04.2020), the Ariana database accounts for 27,629 records for which each object has at least one photographic edition.

The exponential development of computing, which began in the mid-1970s (then followed by its widespread democratisation in the 1980s) has profoundly transformed our society. The shift from paper to computerised files, which is one of its consequences, has been a major revolution for many departments and institutions.

In Geneva’s museum world, the biggest challenge has been to establish an electronic catalogue to inventory our substantial collections. Some experimental tests took place in the 1970s (Musée d’art et d’histoire / Geneva University) followed by several separate projects created in 1985 within the museums of the City of Geneva. It was not until 1995 that some systems were put together in hope of harmonising and migrating all inventory data to a single management software. A unifying project named Musinfo was born. According to the aforementioned institutions, the software internally developed by the Directorate of Information and Communication Systems (DSIC) contained multiple applications which favoured the sharing of documentary knowledge and tools.
As of November 2002, there were 21,685 computerised records in the Ariana Museum’s database on a set of pieces estimated at the time at 22,500. Between 2008 and 2009, the Musinfo program, notably operated by the Musée Ariana and the Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève, was gradually replaced by MuseumPlus – a very complete software package developed by the Swiss company Zetcom and now used by many prestigious institutions around the world.

Semi-automatic data transfer between software and databases can sometimes stock some unpleasant surprises and require careful analysis of each inventory sheet as a result