Tripont’s experts digitised the Coronation Mantle

Tripont Foto Video can look back on more than 30 years. Over the past 3 decades we have taken part in countless exciting photography projects. One of our youngest and most beautiful areas, our Cultural Heritage Solutions business unit, turned 5 this year.

In these barely 5 years we have been able to digitise works of inestimable intellectual and cultural value, such as Gábor Egressy’s daguerreotype portrait of Sándor Petőfi, the foundation charter of the Veszprémvölgy nunnery of 1109, or the world-famous Csorna Diadem. But we have also taken part in large-scale digitisation projects, such as processing more than three hundred thousand documents from the Andrássy family’s estate in Upper Hungary (Felvidék).

Our team has reached another milestone. We received a request from the Hungarian National Museum (hereinafter: MNM) to digitise one of the most significant symbols of a thousand years of Hungarian statehood.

The Coronation Mantle

The mantle was commissioned by King St Stephen and Queen Gisela in 1031. One of the most important state-founding symbols of Hungarian history, it served as the kings’ coronation mantle until 1916.

It is therefore understandable that we had to handle the whole workflow with particular care, carrying it out to excellent quality and in accordance with the strictest heritage preservation requirements.

© Hungarian National Museum – Tripont Foto Video Kft. – Dániel Bedő

The digitisation project helped to renew the MNM’s image, as the Coronation Mantle was chosen as the Museum’s new symbol. Based on their ideas, the visual concept of their new identity faithfully reflects the outlook of the renewing museum: they want to present millennia-old relics and values in a modern, clean form that everyone can understand.

The technical background of the process

The preparation process included the use of protective equipment, dusting all the equipment used during digitisation, and creating a suitable low-light environment. Because this is an exceptionally sensitive object, for conservation reasons it had to be photographed at a very low light intensity, below 25 lux. This corresponds roughly to the light of a street at night.

The Coronation Mantle, nearly 3 metres wide, was digitised with the Phase One IQ4 150-megapixel system. To digitise the object at high resolution, it had to be imaged from several shots. To stitch the photos together pixel-accurately, and to ensure the overlaps needed for this, the final image was assembled from more than 60 exposures. To move the camera system safely above the object we used an electrically controlled, high-precision crane.

It was important that the end result be an image that, with full colour fidelity, records the present state of the meticulous fabric richly embroidered with gold thread, in research quality. In addition, thanks to the FADGI 4-star quality, it will be possible in the future to check at certain intervals for any changes in colour shade.

We are proud that we were able to digitise the coronation mantle of the Hungarian kings with the internationally proven technology of the Phase One camera system. This commission will be a prominent reference not only for Tripont but also for the Danish manufacturer.

It was an uplifting experience, and we thank you once again for the request!