The online museum Virtual Collection of Masterpieces was launched in 2007 and grew to include content from more than 120 institutions, across Asia and Europe. Due to the rapid evolution of the Internet, a new platform was commissioned in 2011 to enable the project to continue to meet the needs of all visitors, including mobile visitors.

Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces

In May 2013 the newly redesigned online museum was launched and re-branded as the Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces (VCM).

Supported by Naver

The technical and design challenges were solved by Naver, Korea's top search portal which is part of the NHN Corporation, Korea's premier Internet company. Naver will continue to provide web-hosting and back-office support for the VCM platform.

About VCM

The Virtual Collection of Asian Masterpieces is about sharing museum knowledge. Together, the participants share 2,200 Masterpieces of Asian culture online.

Objects that are physically separated because of their distribution among museum collections all over the Eurasian continent are brought together in the virtual world. To fulfil its aims the VCM deploys the efforts of museum specialists who select Masterpieces from their own collections and explain their significance to a worldwide audience.

The VCM was originally a project of the the Asia-Europe Museums Network (ASEMUS). It is now led by a consortium of five Asian and European museums:

• National Museum of Korea, Republic of Korea
• National Museum of Ethnology, Netherlands
• Chester Beatty Library, Ireland
• Tropenmuseum, Netherlands
• National Museums of World Culture, Sweden

 

Download the VCM launch press release (PDF, 40kb)

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