Rijksmuseum case study: Empowering storytelling with DAM

The power of visuals for cultural institutions

Cultural institutions, like museums and archives, are custodians of both physical and digital treasures. In the digital age, a museum’s ability to curate, manage, and deploy its collection of visuals shapes both the visitor experience and the reach and relevance of its stories.

Visual content breathes life into exhibitions, fuels public communications, drives e-commerce, supports academic research, and enables public engagement far beyond the museum’s walls.

With 1 million objects in their collection, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam handles a massive collection of artifacts & artworks, where the 8,000 displayed physically at the museum amount to only the tip of the iceberg.

In addition to high-resolution images of key artworks, the museum stores marketing resources, e-commerce assets, object documentation, and more.

In order to successfully share their vast amount of content items and knowledge with the world, the museum depends on having a robust and scalable public-facing channel, where one can browse, interact with and admire the collection.

Fotoware Alto: A DAM optimized for content delivery

Recognizing these challenges, the Rijksmuseum set out to streamline content management and delivery, by establishing an inter-connected digital ecosystem. With a Digital Asset Management (DAM) platform at its core, their solution ensures that the right visuals are available on the right channels, at all times – always with the correct and necessary information attached.

Learn more: How Digital Asset Management helps museums with managing collections

Today, this ecosystem is made up of a handful of software, all interacting with each other through the API. At its center, you’ll find Fotoware Alto, a robust DAM solution, enabling the Rijksmuseum to store every file and metadata value once – and only once – removing the need for duplication of assets and data entries.

Streamlining efficiency with automations

Perhaps one of the most transformative outcomes has been the automation of workflows, with synchronization of data and files no longer relying on human intervention.

Streamlined processes keep everything up to date, so the latest versions are always ready to use. For instance, an automatic workflow ensures that every object is represented with its best image, and a built-in focal-point editor allows for complete control of how the image is presented.

This is done by automatically tagging files that meet the pre-determined criteria for qualifying as the “best image” - resulting in less time searching for assets, reduced risk of incorrect visuals being published, and a dramatically improved ability to respond to the needs of curators, educators, marketers, and researchers alike.

Thanks to the system’s built-in Master Data Management (MDM) capabilities and seamless integration to the CIS system, metadata is automatically populated upon upload – ensuring top-level efficiency and making it easy to grow digital libraries with new content.

From a single file name, Fotoware Alto can extract vast amounts of data, including information about the object, its contributor, related exhibitions, and much more.

Collaboration without boundaries

For an institution as multifaceted as the Rijksmuseum, streamlined collaboration across departments is invaluable. With Fotoware Alto, staff from marketing, collections management, archiving, research, and even retail, can access precisely what they need in seconds.

Whether it’s marketing assets, research materials, sellable products, or detailed object documentation, teams can quickly locate, share, and work with the content relevant to their role.

This ensures effective decision-making, more cohesive communication, the ability to seize opportunities as soon as they arise, and most importantly, it offers an overall sense of control, which is key when handling digital assets of such importance.

Better storytelling, faster content management

With the day-to-day burdens of content management lifted, Rijksmuseum’s teams can focus on what truly matters: telling compelling stories, engaging audiences, and delivering on their mission to make art and history accessible to all.

Enhanced control over digital collections means that curators and marketers alike can shape narratives with confidence, knowing that the right visuals are always at their fingertips.

The Rijksmuseum’s implementation of complimentary software is a shining example of how technology can empower cultural institutions to unlock the full power of their collections.

A key piece of the puzzle is the work done to bridge the gaps between legacy systems. This creates a unified digital environment where every piece of content is current, accessible, and used to its fullest potential – empowering storytelling at every touchpoint.

Want to learn more?

The world of content and collection management is continuously evolving, and with it so do countless opportunities for optimizations and enhancements. Therefore, we believe that cultural institutions do well in learning from each other, taking advantage of each other’s expertise and knowledge.

In June 2025, we were fortunate to have Iris Labeur, Application Manager at Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, join us for a live webinar where we discussed how they’ve structured the digital ecosystem with the DAM at its core.

The webinar featured a live demonstration of their solution, highlighting system automations, content orchestration and their work to enhance the digital experience – making thousands of objects available to a global audience.

The webinar is available on demand and can be accessed here for those who want to learn more about DAM, experience management and optimization of digital storytelling.