The NotaryPedia project has been officially launched as a national initiative that marries advanced technology with the preservation of Maltese historical and legal heritage.

This project uses Artificial Intelligence and knowledge graphs to make the Maltese notarial archives more accessible and interactive for present and future generations. A large amount of the documents were written in notarial Latin and their contemporary orthography. Through AI, automatic transcription and extraction for research will be possible.

“The NotaryPedia project will spearhead Malta to the forefront of digitisation and semantic exploration of historic archives, and will serve as a model to other countries who have similar documentation heritage,” said the minister for national heritage, art and local councils Owen Bonnici during the launch of this ground-breaking project.

Bonnici went on to say how this initiative focuses on notarial manuscripts that date back to the 15th century and that include documents like wills, marriage contracts, transfers of properties and dowries amongst others.

“This is another project that will give a boost to interested researchers and academics on the subject. We are continuing to use AI for the good of society with the invaluable partnership with the University of Malta,” said the Minister for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation, Clifton Grima.

The President of the Notarial Archives Foundation, Dr Joan Abela remarked that “NotaryPedia is a project that we’ve long been waiting for and that it will not only preserve our heritage but it will make it accessible in innovative ways. It is a very proud moment for the team working on paleography, cataloguing and digitisation”.