Concept

Info

The concept endpoint provides access to a single concept from the Design Museum Gent thesaurus. Concepts are used to classify and describe objects in the collection — they include materials, techniques, object types, and other descriptive terms.

endpoint:

GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/concept/{PID}

# check if a concept exists
curl -k -I 'https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/concept/530000049'

example:

GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/concept/530000049

Response format

Data is returned as CIDOC-CRM compliant JSON-LD combining CIDOC-CRM and SKOS vocabularies using the following namespaces:

Prefix	Namespace
`crm`	http://www.cidoc-crm.org/cidoc-crm/
`skos`	http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#
`owl`	https://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#
`rdfs`	http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#
`xsd`	http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#
`prov`	http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#

Why SKOS + CIDOC-CRM?

CIDOC-CRM uses crm:E55_Type to represent concepts used for classification. SKOS properties (prefLabel, scopeNote, broader, narrower) are used alongside it for thesaurus-specific labelling and hierarchy — this is standard practice in cultural heritage linked data.

Code	Description
200	Successful request returning a single concept as JSON-LD
404	Concept not found
500	Server error

Fields

Basic identification

Field	Type	Description	Example
`@id`	URI	Internal DMG URI for the concept	`https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/concept/530000049`
`@type`	string	CIDOC-CRM class	`crm:E55_Type`
`rdfs:label`	string	Default label (Dutch)	`"pepervat"`
`prov:generatedAtTime`	xsd:dateTime	Timestamp of last harvest	`"2026-04-17T16:53:19"`

Authority links

owl:sameAs contains an array of URIs linking the concept to external authority records. These may include Getty AAT and the Stad Gent datahub.

"owl:sameAs": [
    "https://stad.gent/id/concept/530000049",
    "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300043086"
]

Warning

Stad Gent URIs (stad.gent/id/...) used in owl:sameAs are persistent identifiers but do not currently resolve. Getty, Wikidata and EU Publications Office URIs do resolve and return linked data.

Provenance — `prov:generatedAtTime`

Each record includes a prov:generatedAtTime timestamp indicating when the record was last harvested from the source system. This is not the date the object was created or modified in the museum's collection management system — it is the date the DMG API last processed and stored this record.

"prov:generatedAtTime": {
    "@type": "xsd:dateTime",
    "@value": "2026-04-28T10:38:46.7599119"
}

Field	Description
`@type`	Always `xsd:dateTime`
`@value`	ISO 8601 timestamp of the last harvest

Incremental harvesting

Use prov:generatedAtTime together with the ?modifiedSince= parameter to build efficient incremental sync pipelines — only fetch records that have changed since your last harvest:

GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/concepts?modifiedSince=2026-05-01&fullRecord=true

The ETag and Last-Modified response headers on single entity endpoints expose the same timestamp for HTTP cache validation:

Preferred labels — `skos:prefLabel`

Array of preferred labels, one per available language.

Field	Type	Description	Example
`@value`	string	Label text	`"pepper shaker"`
`@language`	string	Language code	`"en"`

Multilingual labels

Labels are available in Dutch, French and English. French and English translations are added as part of an ongoing translation project — not all concepts have translations yet.

"skos:prefLabel": [
    { "@value": "pepervat", "@language": "nl" },
    { "@value": "poivrière", "@language": "fr" },
    { "@value": "pepper shaker", "@language": "en" }
]

Scope notes — `skos:scopeNote`

Array of scope notes describing the concept in more detail, one per available language.

Field	Type	Description	Example
`@value`	string	Scope note text	`"Vessels with a perforated top..."`
`@language`	string	Language code	`"en"`

Multilingual scope notes

Scope notes follow the same translation project as labels — Dutch is always present, French and English are added progressively.

"skos:scopeNote": [
    { "@value": "Vaten met een geperforeerde bovenkant...", "@language": "nl" },
    { "@value": "Récipients avec un couvercle perforé...", "@language": "fr" },
    { "@value": "Vessels with a perforated top...", "@language": "en" }
]

Broader concepts — `skos:broader`

Array of broader (parent) concepts in the thesaurus hierarchy.

Field	Description	Example
`@id`	Internal DMG URI of the broader concept	`https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/concept/530006544`
`owl:sameAs`	External authority URI (Getty AAT or Stad Gent)	`http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300198282`
`rdfs:label`	Label of the broader concept	`"specerijvat"`

Resolvable URIs

The @id is an internal DMG URI and is resolvable — you can fetch the full concept record directly from it:

GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/concept/530006544

Info

When a broader concept exists in the DMG thesaurus, its internal URI is used as @id and the external authority URI is preserved as owl:sameAs. If no internal match exists, the external URI is used as @id directly.

Narrower concepts — `skos:narrower`

Array of narrower (child) concepts in the thesaurus hierarchy.

Field	Description	Example
`@id`	Internal DMG URI of the narrower concept	`https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/concept/530006141`
`owl:sameAs`	External authority URI (Getty AAT or Stad Gent)	`http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300043030`
`rdfs:label`	Label of the narrower concept	`"peperstrooier"`

Resolvable URIs

Each @id in skos:narrower is resolvable — you can fetch the full concept record directly from it:

GET https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/concept/530006141

Info

When a narrower concept exists in the DMG thesaurus, its internal URI is used as @id and the external authority URI is preserved as owl:sameAs. If no internal match exists, the external URI is used as @id directly.

Example response

{
    "@id": "https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/concept/530000049",
    "@type": "crm:E55_Type",
    "@context": {
        "crm": "http://www.cidoc-crm.org/cidoc-crm/",
        "owl": "https://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#",
        "xsd": "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#",
        "prov": "http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#",
        "rdfs": "http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#",
        "skos": "http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#"
    },
    "owl:sameAs": [
        "https://stad.gent/id/concept/530000049",
        "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300043086"
    ],
    "rdfs:label": "pepervat",
    "skos:prefLabel": [
        { "@value": "pepervat", "@language": "nl" },
        { "@value": "poivrière", "@language": "fr" },
        { "@value": "pepper shaker", "@language": "en" }
    ],
    "skos:scopeNote": [
        { "@value": "Vaten met een geperforeerde bovenkant voor het strooien van peper op voedsel. Worden gemaakt in een verscheidenheid van vormen en materialen en vormen vaak een paar met een zoutvaatje.", "@language": "nl" },
        { "@value": "Récipients avec un couvercle perforé permettant de saupoudrer du poivre sur les aliments. Fabriqués dans une variété de formes et de matériaux, ils forment souvent une paire avec une salière.", "@language": "fr" },
        { "@value": "Vessels with a perforated top for sprinkling pepper on food. Made in a variety of shapes and materials, and often forming a pair with a salt shaker.", "@language": "en" }
    ],
    "skos:broader": [
        {
            "@id": "https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/concept/530006544",
            "owl:sameAs": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300198282",
            "rdfs:label": "specerijvat"
        }
    ],
    "skos:narrower": [
        {
            "@id": "https://data.designmuseumgent.be/v2/id/concept/530006141",
            "owl:sameAs": "http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300043030",
            "rdfs:label": "peperstrooier"
        }
    ],
    "prov:generatedAtTime": {
        "@type": "xsd:dateTime",
        "@value": "2026-04-17T16:53:19.2689332"
    }
}