The ASEAN Cultural Heritage Digital Archive (ACHDA) celebrates the rich and diverse cultural heritage of ASEAN, and showcases a veritable treasure trove of exemplary artefacts and history. By sharing ASEAN’s beloved cultural treasures online, ACHDA hopes to raise greater awareness and appreciation of the shared ASEAN cultural heritage.
Initiated in February 2018, ACHDA is a project under the auspices of the ASEAN Senior Officials for Culture and the Arts (SOMCA), and is supported by the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund.ACHDA has digitalised more than 160 heritage items from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
Going forward, ACHDA will continue its digitalisation efforts to include the cultural artefacts from other ASEAN member countries; the second iteration with Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao PDR, and Vietnam will be implemented from 2020 to 2021, while Phase 3 with the Philippines, Brunei, and Singapore will be done in 2022-2023.
The ACHDA website promotes sharing of contents among institutions and enhance public access to ASEAN’s cultural heritage thereby raising their knowledge and understanding of the rich cultural heritage of the ASEAN countries.
The NCCA and the Cultural Center of the Philippines are the focal agencies of the ASEAN-PH SOMCA.
