Frank Ligterink

Frank Ligterink is senior heritage scientist working at the laboratory of the Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE) of the Netherlands in Amsterdam.

With a background in physics, paper conservation and teaching, his current focus is the development of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) software and data to support interdisciplinary research of historic cultural objects.

Major contribution in the NICAS Falnama project is the processing and visualization of gigabytes of challenging X-Ray Fluorescence scanning data to infer the chemical composition of paints that were used in the Rotterdam Falnama (Book of Omens).

Frank Ligterink will be speaking at the MuseumNext Digital Summit 2025 :

A digital dashboard: material research of the Book of Omens; A Falnama at the Wereldmuseum

Material research has been done by an interdisciplinary team on a Book of Omens (Falnama) at the Wereldmuseum, disentangling the creation and the changes of the illuminated manuscript of 35 loose pages. The paintings depict historical and mythological figures, along with events from Islamic, Christian and Hindu religions. With a digital dashboard created by the research team (Wereldmuseum and National Heritage Agency, RCE), the 500 gb of data is visualised and used to discuss the results of material technical analyses.