Business Case · Culture & Heritage
Unifying and modernizing a regional multi-museum database
How Alienor.org — the museum network of Nouvelle-Aquitaine — replaced a fragmented stack of 180 mini-sites and two search engines with a single, structured platform for 75,000+ works.
Melis nous a permis d'unifier et d'intégrer des technologies disparates et une base de données de plus de 75 000 œuvres sous un seul et unique socle.
From fragmented to unified
One platform, measurable impact
The organization
The cultural-heritage portal of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Created in 2000, Alienor.org is a platform dedicated to museums and cultural heritage, federating the collections, exhibitions and events of 52 museums across the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region — and giving the public access to tens of thousands of artworks online.
Over two decades, the platform grew through gradual and complex evolution. Layer after layer of development was added, resulting in a fragmented technical environment that combined several heterogeneous technologies and became increasingly difficult to maintain.
We had a fragmented architecture, with independent building blocks that didn't communicate with each other. The objective was clear: unify, simplify, and improve performance.
At a glanceA major technological challenge
Five disconnected technologies, one fragile experience
By 2019, a public tender was launched to unify everything into a single centralized platform. That's when Melis Technology stepped in.
- Main website built on eZ Publish
- A custom-developed database
- Virtual exhibitions across 180 independent HTML mini-sites
- A separate WordPress CMS for certain publications
- Two search engines that couldn't talk to each other
- One structured, centralized ecosystem
- A single collections database, fully integrated
- Exhibitions & mini-sites unified under one stack
- WordPress, HTML and databases interoperable
- One smooth, cross-content search engine
The platform
See the unified Alienor.org, rebuilt on Melis
Collections, exhibitions, museums and publications — all queryable from one place, with a smooth, intuitive experience for 600,000 visitors a year.
alienor.org — one search bar across works, publications, museums and events, powered by MelisCMS.
One search across every collection
A single engine queries the collections database, exhibitions and museum news simultaneously — eliminating the two disconnected search tools and letting visitors find what they need in seconds.
Deep metadata, media and 3D, ready for the future
Each work gets a structured record — provenance, characteristics, related objects — with support for immersive media including 3D digitization and ultra-high-definition content, plus links back to the owning museum.
Each museum manages its own pages
Role-based administration lets partner museums update their own opening hours, events and exhibitions directly — without intermediaries and without heavy technical training.
Thematic publications, seamlessly integrated
The WordPress publications that once lived apart are now part of the same experience — filterable by category, tag and museum, and fully searchable alongside the collections.
Performance & accessibility
From 18-second pages to a fast, smooth platform
When the new platform first launched, some pages took up to 18 seconds to load. Through a series of optimizations led by Melis Technology, the situation changed dramatically:
- An advanced caching system, drastically reducing loading times
- A temporary CDN to overcome initial technical constraints
- Migration to Laminas — a more scalable, high-performance architecture
Integrating Melis Platform allowed us to reduce loading times significantly. Today, we have a platform that is both smooth and efficient.
Built for what's next
An evolutionary foundation
Intelligent search
An AI-assisted engine is being developed to deliver more relevant results across the entire catalogue.
Immersive media
Support for 3D digitization, ultra-high-definition imagery and interactive content brings collections to life.
Continuous SEO
Ongoing optimization with a dedicated audit planned for 2026 to keep growing the platform's reach.
Thanks to Melis, we now have a scalable solution that lets us adapt to new digital trends and evolving user expectations.
Clear success
A centralized, high-performance platform built for growth
Despite the technical complexity, the results are unambiguous.
- A faster, more intuitive website with unified navigation
- Significant time savings for internal teams via simplified content management
- Full interoperability between WordPress, HTML, databases and virtual exhibitions
- A robust foundation ready for AI, 3D and advanced SEO
With an audience of 600,000 visitors per year, Alienor.org now aims to strengthen its visibility and communication strategy while relying on Melis Platform for efficient, scalable site management.
In summary
Melis, a strategic partner for digital transformation
With Melis Platform, Alienor.org found much more than a service provider — it found a true technology partner. Why it made the difference:
- Unified and simplified a fragmented technical ecosystem
- Delivered a powerful, centralized search engine
- Reduced page load times dramatically
- Built a foundation ready for the future — AI, SEO, 3D
Have a digital transformation project?
Discover how Melis Technology can help you structure, optimize and evolve your platform — however complex your starting point.