Observing South Caucasus' Historical Landscape: An Open Photo Archive. Tools, Activities, and Purposes of the OSCOP Project
Presents the OSCOP project, which collects, digitises and catalogues a photographic archive documenting the cultural heritage of the South Caucasus, held by the Centro di Studi e Documentazione della Cultura Armena in Venice. The collection derives from the research missions led by Adriano Alpago Novello from 1967 onward and comprises roughly 10,000 items. Preservation work targets three layers: the photographic object itself, the intangible historical layers (site ownership, historical stratification and toponymy), and the architectural and natural heritage of historical Armenia and Georgia. The authors devote substantial attention to cataloguing method, arguing for transliteration over translation of Armenian names in order to resist toponymic erasure and appropriation of contested heritage.