The Royal Collection E-Gallery

To mark the Golden Jubilee of HM Queen Elizabeth II in 2002, the Royal Collection opened two new galleries in London and Edinburgh for the display of special exhibitions of the collection of art gathered together by successive British Sovereigns. In planning the galleries, it was decided that technology should have a role. However this was technology on a tight budget, with limited resources and a tight timetable. The challenge was to produce an installation that captured the complexities of a collection that has been built by successive sovereigns with widely differing tastes and yet also present objects in their context and in ways not possible in traditional publishing and object display. The aim was to tell more about the pieces in the Collection, explaining their function, the fact that many remain in the context for which they were acquired and are still in use today. The ‘e-Gallery’ not only presents the Collection in the context of its acquisition but also attempts to bring an the intimacy to the study of the art, an appreciation of its variety, and recognition of its association with buildings and people known the world over. This case study looks at the lessons learnt in the development and maintenance of a system in a short period of time with limited resources, using systems that are updateable, economical to develop and maintain and can continue to add new dimensions to the interpretation of the Collection.