“O Património é Teu!” (‘Heritage is Yours!’) is a project for an app open to the active participation of the population in the process of reflection regarding the conservation of material heritage. It is based on community participation in the monitoring and preservation of heritage, and has two main objectives: to contribute to heritage conservation and to bring together different agents, such as citizens, the scientific community, institutional leaders and political decision-makers. The goal is to contribute to a greater democratisation of the process of reflection on heritage conservation, in a citizen science project.

It is the result of the collective transdisciplinary work carried out by one of the six teams of researchers who took part in the first IN2PAST – Associate Laboratory Doctoral School, the ‘In2Future Boot Camp: Towards an Ecology of Heritage Practices’, held in Évora between May 18th and the 24th, 2024, in partnership with Festival Imaterial and Évora 27 – European Capital of Culture.

Coming from diverse research areas, such as chemistry, history and philosophy of science and technology, museology and museums, nanoscience, biochemistry, tangible and intangible heritage, conservation, hybridisation, materials science, biodeterioration, or popular art, and to respond to the challenge of (re)thinking techniques and devices of archiving, or of cultural transmission, which constitute heritage, an idea underlying the notion of anarchive, the team decided to make its contribution to the democratisation of conservation, promoting a collaborative and informed approach to protecting our cultural legacy.

Taking the Igreja da Graça in Évora as a case study, the application allows citizens to capture and upload images of heritage sites, creating a photographic database. Using artificial intelligence (AI), the app analyses these images to identify early signs of deterioration, providing valuable data for studies and interventions. Two major challenges identified by the team are the need for broad public uptake and managing the role of AI.

This project’s first public presentation was part of the boot camp/Festival Imaterial’s session ‘Heritage Anarchives in Évora: Towards an Ecology of Practices’, held at the Garcia de Resende Theatre, in Évora, on May 24th, 2024.