UNESCO and Arius Partnership for Digital Heritage

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Arius Technology Europa Italia Srl have entered into a landmark partnership to preserve, valorize, and expand access to some of the world's most significant cultural and documentary heritage. The agreement, signed on October 2 by Julien Pellaux, UNESCO Director of Partnerships, and Marco Antonio Soriano, Chief Executive Officer of Arius Technology, will create ultra-high-resolution digital "twins" of irreplaceable artifacts and artworks, helping safeguard cultural memory for future generations.

The first phase of the digitization campaign is scheduled for the latter half of 2026 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, with initial priorities focused on fragile, oversized, and non-standard archival materials where advanced 3D scanning provides clear added value. Key historical items slated for digital preservation include selected works from the renowned UNESCO art collection, emblematic architectural spaces within UNESCO Headquarters historical building, the original register of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, the exclusive UNESCO poster collection featuring original contributions by acclaimed artists such as Sonia Delaunay, the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation Livre d'Or and several UNESCO Livres d’Or spanning decades, including the most recent guest book signed by Pope Leo XIV, the UNESCO Human Rights exhibition kit, and the earliest, uniquely formatted issues of the UNESCO Courier.

To ensure long-term accessibility and data sovereignty, resulting high-resolution files will be delivered to UNESCO using open, format-agnostic standards, including the Stanford Polygon format (PLY), avoiding dependency on proprietary software. From Digital Twins to Documentary Storytelling, the agreement also creates a pathway to integrate Arius's scanning capability into UNESCO's "Dive into Heritage" initiative, enabling digitally captured preservation of complex physical assets worldwide, including sculptures, mosaics, frescoes, and rock-art heritage sites.

The partnership between UNESCO and Arius Technology marks a significant step in the preservation of global cultural heritage. Arius Technology, a specialized firm delivering ultra-high-resolution digitization and replication of artworks, heritage objects, and documentary materials, will deploy its specialized 2D and 3D digitization systems, engineered to capture micro-reliefs, textures, and structural properties that conventional photography or scanning methods cannot reliably see. To deliver exceptional precision, robotic automation, and secure long-term preservation, Arius will be supported by a consortium of technology partners, including Kamanga.io, Awa Piql, and ABB Robotics.

The agreement also underscores UNESCO's enduring role as a steward of knowledge and heritage. The organization, with 194 Member States, contributes to peace and brings people together by leading multilateral cooperation on education, science, culture, communication, and information. Headquartered in Paris, UNESCO has offices in 53 countries and oversees more than 2260 World Heritage sites, Biosphere Reserves, and Global Geoparks; networks of over 1500 Creative, Learning, Inclusive, and Sustainable Cities; and more than 13,000 associated schools, university chairs, training and research institutions, with a global network of 200 National Commissions. Its Director-General is Khaled El-Enany.

The partnership between UNESCO and Arius Technology is a testament to UNESCO's commitment to preserving and safeguarding cultural memory for future generations.