Housing Ireland's buildings online

Ireland's architectural heritage is now vividly displayed online at Buildings of Ireland, the Web site of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH). The "archives without walls" provides the public with access to a catalog of information about and photographs of the historic buildings and gardens of Ireland. Prior to the launch of the Web site, some of the records, locked in file cabinets, were only available to government staff.

Willie Cumming, senior architect at NIAH, says, "This is an important step for the NIAH to achieve its goal of becoming an archive without walls. Our new strategic plans emphasize the importance of providing records any time, anywhere. For the first time, the public is able to view this remarkable collection on the Internet."

A content management system from TerminalFour was chosen for the site, which archives every significant structure—both large and small--including castles, cathedrals, thatched houses, boathouses, hospitals and gardens. Sixteen counties in Ireland have been cataloged so far on the site, and the remaining 10 counties will be added in the next five to 10 years.

According to TerminalFour, its Site Manager offering has enabled the NIAH to simplify the publication process of the vast archive of information, while delivering a user friendly and scalable Web site. A much broader audience in Ireland and worldwide can now access the information 24/7. For example, Americans of Irish descent could compare old family photographs with images on the Web site.

The NIAH is part of Ireland's Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.