swiss-cultural-heritage-mcp

> 🇨🇭 **Part of the [Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio](https://github.com/malkreide)**

# 🏛️ swiss-cultural-heritage-mcp

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> MCP Server for Swiss cultural heritage — SIK-ISEA artists, Nationalmuseum collections, and the Nationalbibliothek bibliography

[🇩🇪 Deutsche Version](README.de.md)

---

## Overview

`swiss-cultural-heritage-mcp` provides AI-native access to Swiss cultural heritage data sources, all without authentication:

| Source | Data | API |
|--------|------|-----|
| **SIK-ISEA (SIKART)** | ~17,000 Swiss artists — SIKART biographical data | opendata.swiss CKAN |
| **Nationalmuseum (SNM)** | Museum collections (numismatics, seals, special collections) | opendata.swiss CKAN |
| **Nationalbibliothek (NB)** | Swiss national bibliography (Helveticat) | OAI-PMH |
| **Memoriav / Memobase** | Audiovisual heritage (photo, audio, video) | Linked Open Data (JSON-LD / Hydra) |
| **Dodis** | Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland (documents, persons, organisations) | JSON-REST (Solr) + permalinks |

This server completes the humanistic dimension of the Swiss public data portfolio — history, literature, and art — alongside existing servers for law ([fedlex-mcp](https://github.com/malkreide/fedlex-mcp)), transport, statistics, and more.

The **memory-institution facade** (Memobase + Dodis) is exposed through three
federated tools — `search_heritage`, `get_heritage_item`, `list_heritage_collections` —
rather than one tool-family per source. Every result carries **source, permalink and
licence**, and the licence is reported **separately for metadata and for the
digitised object** (they diverge: metadata is open Linked Open Data, but a
digitised object may be *In Copyright*). Only metadata and links are returned —
copyright-protected full texts (e.g. Dodis transcriptions) are never reproduced.

**Anchor demo query (art):** *"Find works by Zurich-based painters from the 19th century in the Nationalmuseum, and cross-reference with their biography in the SIK-ISEA artist database."*

**Anchor demo query (memory institutions):** *"Which sources on the development of the Zurich Volksschule in the 19th century can be found in the Swiss memory institutions?"* → `search_heritage(query="Volksschule Zürich", collection="all", date_from="1800", date_to="1899")`.

### Demo

![Demo: Claude using heritage_cross_search](docs/assets/demo.svg)

---

## Features

- 🏛️ **11 tools, 2 resources, 2 prompts** across five data sources
- 🔍 **`heritage_cross_search`** — parallel search across SIK-ISEA + SNM + NB in a single call
- 🏛️ **`search_heritage`** — federated facade over Memobase + Dodis with per-result source, permalink and split metadata/digitised-object licence
- 🌐 **Bilingual output** (Markdown / JSON)
- 🔓 **No API key required** — all data under open licenses
- ☁️ **Dual transport** — stdio (Claude Desktop) + Streamable HTTP (cloud)
- 📚 **Prompt templates** for art research and finding educational materials

**Project phase:** **Phase 1 — read-only.** Every tool is annotated `readOnlyHint: true`; there are no write or destructive operations. Moving to Phase 2 (write-capable) requires the prerequisites in [`docs/roadmap.md`](docs/roadmap.md).

---

## Prerequisites

- Python 3.11+
- [uv](https://github.com/astral-sh/uv) (recommended) or pip

---

## Installation

```bash
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/malkreide/swiss-cultural-heritage-mcp.git
cd swiss-cultural-heritage-mcp

# Install
pip install -e .
# or with uv:
uv pip install -e .
```

Or with `uvx` (no permanent installation):

```bash
uvx swiss-cultural-heritage-mcp
```

---

## Quickstart

```bash
# stdio (for Claude Desktop)
python -m swiss_cultural_heritage_mcp.server

# Streamable HTTP (port 8000)
python -m swiss_cultural_heritage_mcp.server --http --port 8000
```

Try it immediately in Claude Desktop:

> *"Who is Ferdinand Hodler?"*
> *"What coins does the Nationalmuseum have from Zurich?"*
> *"Find publications about Volksschule in the Swiss national bibliography"*

[→ More use cases by audience →](EXAMPLES.md)

---

## Configuration

### Claude Desktop

Edit `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json` (macOS) or `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json` (Windows):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "swiss-cultural-heritage": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "swiss_cultural_heritage_mcp.server"]
    }
  }
}
```

Or with `uvx`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "swiss-cultural-heritage": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["swiss-cultural-heritage-mcp"]
    }
  }
}
```

**Config file locations:**
- macOS: `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
- Windows: `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`

### Cloud Deployment (SSE for browser access)

For use via **claude.ai in the browser** (e.g. on managed workstations without local software):

**Render.com (recommended):**
1. Push/fork the repository to GitHub
2. On [render.com](https://render.com): New Web Service → connect GitHub repo
3. **Select region `Frankfurt` (EU)** — required for Swiss public-sector use under revDSG / EDÖB. See [`docs/data-residency.md`](docs/data-residency.md).
4. Set start command: `python -m swiss_cultural_heritage_mcp.server --http --port 8000`
5. In claude.ai under Settings → MCP Servers, add: `https://your-app.onrender.com/sse`

> 💡 *"stdio for the developer laptop, SSE for the browser."*

For container deployments (Docker / Kubernetes / Cloud Run): the repository ships a hardened `Dockerfile` (non-root UID 10001). See [`docs/security.md`](docs/security.md) for recommended `SecurityContext` and [`docs/network-egress.md`](docs/network-egress.md) for egress policy. The service runs **single-instance** by default; before scaling horizontally, see [`docs/scaling.md`](docs/scaling.md) for the session-affinity prerequisites.

---

## Available Tools

### SIK-ISEA (Swiss Art Research)

| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `heritage_search_artists` | Search ~17,000 Swiss artists (SIKART) by name or place |
| `heritage_get_artist` | Full artist profile by SIKART ID (HAUPTNR) |

### Nationalmuseum (SNM)

| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `heritage_search_museum_datasets` | Search SNM datasets on opendata.swiss |
| `heritage_browse_collection` | Browse objects within a collection via CKAN DataStore |

### Nationalbibliothek (NB)

| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `heritage_search_helveticat` | Search Swiss national bibliography via OAI-PMH |
| `heritage_list_nb_collections` | List available OAI-PMH sets |
| `heritage_get_publication` | Full Dublin Core metadata for a publication |

### Cross-Source

| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `heritage_cross_search` | Parallel search across SIK-ISEA + SNM + NB |

### Memory institutions (Memobase + Dodis) — federated facade

| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `search_heritage` | Federated search over Memobase + Dodis (`collection = memobase \| dodis \| all`), with `date_from` / `date_to` / `media_type` filters. Every result carries source, permalink and a split metadata/digitised-object licence |
| `get_heritage_item` | Full metadata for one object (`collection`, `item_id`). Metadata + links only — protected full texts are never reproduced |
| `list_heritage_collections` | Discovery: which collections exist, their protocol, auth and licences — including the probed-but-not-connected sources (Bundesarchiv, Landesmuseum) and *why* |

### Example Use Cases

| Query | Tool |
|-------|------|
| *"Who is Ferdinand Hodler?"* | `heritage_get_artist` |
| *"Find Swiss artists born in Basel"* | `heritage_search_artists` |
| *"What coins from Zurich does the Nationalmuseum have?"* | `heritage_browse_collection` |
| *"Find publications about Volksschule"* | `heritage_search_helveticat` |
| *"Search for everything about Sophie Taeuber-Arp"* | `heritage_cross_search` |
| *"Sources on the 19th-c. Zurich Volksschule in Swiss memory institutions"* | `search_heritage` |

---

## Architecture

```
┌─────────────────┐     ┌──────────────────────────────┐     ┌──────────────────────────┐
│   Claude / AI   │────▶│  Swiss Cultural Heritage MCP  │────▶│  SIK-ISEA                │
│   (MCP Host)    │◀────│  (MCP Server)                │◀────│  opendata.swiss / CKAN   │
└─────────────────┘     │                              │     ├──────────────────────────┤
                        │  11 Tools · 2 Resources      │────▶│  Nationalmuseum (SNM)    │
                        │  2 Prompts                   │◀────│  opendata.swiss / CKAN   │
                        │  Stdio | SSE                 │     ├──────────────────────────┤
                        │                              │────▶│  Nationalbibliothek (NB) │
                        │  No authentication required  │◀────│  OAI-PMH (Helveticat)    │
                        │                              │     ├──────────────────────────┤
                        │  search_heritage facade      │────▶│  Memobase (JSON-LD/Hydra)│
                        │                              │◀────│  Dodis (JSON-REST/Solr)  │
                        └──────────────────────────────┘     └──────────────────────────┘
```

### Data Source Characteristics

| Source | Protocol | Coverage | Auth |
|--------|----------|----------|------|
| SIK-ISEA (SIKART) | CKAN DataStore | ~17,0