The Cultural Heritage Act 2002 identifies the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage as the statutory body responsible for the development and management of a National Inventory of Cultural Property.

Upon its establishment, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage launched the CHIMS (Cultural Heritage Inventory Management System) Project.

The main objective of CHIMS is to create a new knowledge-based context for understanding, managing and disseminating data concerning cultural heritage.  CHIMS is all about enabling access to cultural heritage as a requirement for protection as well as a fundamental human right.  CHIMS aims to have a social vision that can bridge the gap between academic and technical necessities and public concerns.

At the same time, cultural heritage is steadily gaining importance as one of Malta's most important assets.  Because of its bearing on cultural identity, cultural heritage is fast becoming an element that gives strength to Malteseness in the context of globalisation.  In addition, cultural heritage is of intrinsic value to tourism in Malta, and is therefore defining the country's position in international economic markets.

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage views CHIMS as an opportunity to create for the first time in Malta a national core for Heritage Data Management. This development will provide an effective platform for improved public heritage management as well as improved contact between government and society at large.

Experience, locally and internationally, is showing that it is no longer sufficient to simply create lists of cultural heritage assets. It is simply not enough to develop ever more lengthy and fragmented lists, schedules or catalogues of heritage resources without concurrently addressing public needs and expectations. 

Increasingly it is becoming clear that speed and accuracy in data capture and retrieval are critical to heritage management and protection. Public accessibility to data-storage is similarly becoming an increasingly important issue, both for the local public and for extra-national audiences. It is also generally acknowledged that these objectives should be achieved in a unified format, through the use of advanced IT technologies.

CHIMS is aiming at developing these values with a view to making heritage data management a pro-active tool for the use of contemporary society in Malta. This is one tangible way in which cultural heritage management can extend its contribution to the improvement of the quality of life enjoyed by today’s society.

It is also hoped that any lessons learnt in Malta – both on a philosophical and on a practical/managerial level – will be of interest and utility to a broad international audience.

It is envisaged that the experience gained through the development of the CHIMS project can be beneficial to neighbouring countries in that it can serve as a focal point for training and promoting standards and best practice.  The Mediterranean region will be targeted as a basin of potential partners.  In this regard the support of international partners will be explored.

The aims of the CHIMS project will be on a scale that can attract interest among neighbouring micro-regions.  In these areas one finds countless small-scale territories (national, regional or communal) that share identical concerns in cultural heritage management.

CHIMS was officially launched on the 9th of February 2007 [View Press Release] and is accessible online at www.chims.gov.mt.

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, together with Datatrak Solutions Ltd, participated in the VAST/CIPA/EG Joint Conference which took place in Nicosia, Cyprus, in November 2006. As part of this participation, the Superintendence and Datatrak have presented and published a paper entitled CHIMS: The Cultural Heritage Inventory Management System for the Maltese Islands. You can view this paper by clicking on the title.