YORK.- York Museums Trust has put details of more than 160,000 objects online for the first time, enabling access to thousands of items not currently on public display.

More than 50,000 of these are photographed, with all the images on the database free to access, download and be used in any way.

The Trust is one of a number of cultural organisations who are leading the way in releasing photographs of the vast majority of its collections copyright free into the public domain.

Martin Fell, digital team leader for York Museums Trust, said: “This is a ground breaking project which enables people from all over the world to access the thousands of objects the Trust takes care of.

“York Museums Trust is at the forefront of putting images of our collections into the public domain for people to use and enjoy in any way they see fit. We believe it is a fantastic opportunity to spread the word about the strength of York’s collections, get more people interested in them and attract visitors to this historic city and its wonderful museums.”

The works uploaded so far include paintings from York Art Gallery, medieval and Roman treasures from the Yorkshire Museum and costume from York Castle Museum.

Visitors to the site can search for objects using key words, subject category, material and production year while international visitors can change the language the results are shown in.

York Museums Trust has started taking high definition images of the collections, with the aim of uploading these new images as they are taken.

The majority of images which will not be put not on the database are those which are still in copyright with the original creator or producer, such as more modern works of art.

York Museum Trust is following in the footsteps of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which has also uploaded thousands of images of its collections for the public to use.

Click here to access the York Museums Trust Online Collections