The COLOURS EU Project officially kicked off on 5–6 December 2025 at the Istituto di Scienze del Patrimonio Culturale (ISPC-CNR) in Florence, Italy. Representatives from the ten partner organisations gathered for the first time to align on objectives, define the project roadmap, and set the collaborative foundation for three years of work ahead.
COLOURS (Collaborative On-cloud Lab for the conservation and digital restoration of ColOUred heritage collectionS) is a Horizon Europe-funded initiative developing AI-powered tools to preserve and restore Europe’s coloured cultural heritage — from ancient frescoes and polychrome sculptures to historic textiles and films. Building on two years of research conducted under the PERCEIVE project, COLOURS takes the next step in applying digital technologies to real-world conservation and restoration practice.
Colour is not merely decoration — it is data, a carrier of historical, aesthetic and cultural meaning that fades, alters and disappears over time. Restoration decisions are complex and frequently irreversible, traditionally relying on the expertise of individual specialists rather than shared, evidence-based consensus. COLOURS addresses this by shifting the decision-making process into a collaborative, predictive digital environment where experts can test, visualise and debate restoration strategies before any physical intervention begins.
At the heart of the project is a hybrid digital environment where conservators, curators and scientists — regardless of where they are in the world — can collaborate in real time with 3D digital twins of artefacts. All tools will be fully integrated into the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH), ensuring they are accessible and scalable for institutions of all sizes across Europe.
Beyond the conservation community, COLOURS also aims to enhance public engagement through mixed reality technologies and digital storytelling, allowing museum visitors to experience what artefacts looked like in their original, vibrant state.
The project brings together 11 organisations from 9 European countries — CNR (Italy), Fraunhofer (Germany), FORTH (Greece), NTNU (Norway), FundingBox (Poland/Spain), Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship (Netherlands), Bratislava City Gallery (Slovakia), Ministry of Culture Italy, Brakebusch Conservation Studio (Germany) and ZVKDS (Slovenia) — and will run until September 2028.
