  Describing cultural heritage objects from the perspective of Linked Open Data
(LOD) is not a trivial task. The process often requires not only choosing
pertinent ontologies, but also developing new models that preserve the most
information and express the semantic power of cultural heritage data. Indeed,
data managed in archives, libraries and museums are complex objects themselves,
which require a deep reflection on even non-conventional conceptual models.
Starting from these considerations, this paper describes a research project: to
expose the vastness of one of the most important collections of European
cultural heritage, the Zeri Photo Archive, as Linked Open Data. We describe
here the steps we undertook to this end: firstly, we developed two ad hoc
ontologies for describing all the issues not completely covered by existent
models (the F Entry and the OA Entry Ontology); then we mapped into RDF the
descriptive elements used in the current Zeri Photo Archive catalog, converting
into CIDOC-CRM and into the two new aforementioned models the source data based
on the Italian content standards Scheda F (Photography Entry, in English) and
Scheda OA (Work of Art Entry, in English); and finally, we created an RDF
dataset of the output of the mapping that could show a result capable of
demonstrating the complexity of our scenario.
