Project ARIA aims to carry out a comprehensive study of the two rooms that are known as the Music Library of King John IV at the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa, Alentejo, Portugal. Among other things, the team wants to analyse the materials and their degradation, to understand the state of conservation, and possibly offer preservation strategies, to carry out a historiographical study of what is represented in the paintings, and also to digitise the space, transforming the two rooms into two virtual spaces, accessible for further study and fruition.

The project’s mail goals are to ascertain how interdisciplinary methodologies from history, art history, science, and technology can help to preserve and understand cultural heritage (specifically the Ducal Palace’s Music Library), what insights into the cultural and musical heritage of King João IV’s court can be gained by integrating architectural and functional analysis, acoustic studies, and characterizing the library’s musical repertoire, and also what are the implications and best practices for using advanced digital technologies to preserve, study, and digitally disseminate historical spaces and artifacts, such as the Musical Library and its mural paintings.