Spotlight Heritage Timisoara exhibitions and digital applications dedicated to the Fabric district have been launched Thursday, July 15 at the Opening Heritage in the spotlight: the Fabric district - Lights in destinies. The event took place for the first time in a hybrid format, both at the Mansarda of Maria Theresia Bastion and LIVE, on Zoom, Facebook and YouTube, with live interventions from emblematic points in the Fabric district.

A physical and virtual tour into the economic life of the Fabric neighbourhood of yesteryear, two live interventions from iconic street exhibition locations and live demonstrations with online, mobile and augmented reality apps dedicated to the Fabric neighbourhood. The 3rd exhibition of the Spotlight Heritage Timisoara project was inaugurated on Thursday 15 July, both at the Mansarda of the Bastion Maria Theresia and online via Zoom, Facebook and YouTube.

The hosts of the event were Claudiu Ilaș - Director of the National Museum of Banat, dr. eng. Diana Andone Director of the UPT e-Learning Centre, prof. dr. eng. Florin Drăgan - rector of the Politehnica University of Timișoara. Simona Neumann - Director of the Association Timisoara 2021 - European Capital of Culture.

The exhibition "Heritage in the spotlight. Fabric district - worlds in destinies"open at the Maria Theresia Bastion during the period 15 July - 30 September 2021, street exhibitions with information boards in the 16 locations emblematic of the Fabric district, but also online, mobile and augmented reality applications through which the public can find the old and new stories of Timișoara online and can even "travel" in the old Fabric district with the help of virtual reality.

A glimpse into the economic world of the Fabric of yesteryear

Participants could discover the exhibition at the Bastion Maria Theresia physically and virtually, stepping into the economic world of the craftsmen's quarter, the petty bourgeoisie, factories and workshops, with the help of diplomas, seals and guild insignia. Here they were able to step inside a reconstructed brewery from the inter-war period, admire collections of beer mugs from the 19th century, impressive collections of labels of alcoholic beverages from history, vintage shoes, as well as a series of models of lanterns and trams from the district, trolleybuses and trolleybuses, locomotive trains, and an anchor belonging to a boat that once ran on the Bega, along with numerous other collectibles. Marius Cornea and Ciprian Glăvan museographers at the National Museum of Banat, presented to the participants the exhibition at the Bastion Maria Theresia, giving them details and historical stories about the Fabric district.

Live interventions from the street exhibition

Prof. arch. dr. Cristian Blidariu - pro-dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Polytechnic University of Timișoara - welcomed the participants with a live intervention in front of the Millenium Roman Catholic Church in Fabric, and Zoran Markov - The National Museum of Banat - intervened live from in front of the Corneliu Mikloși Tram Museum - both giving Timisoara residents, and not only, details about the history and architecture of Timisoara's buildings and monuments, right next to the Spotlight Heritage Timisoara information boards placed in the locations.

Worlds beyond Destinies

A special intervention during the event was given by Prof. Dr. Smaranda Vultur - coordinator of the Oral History and Cultural Anthropology Group - collaborator of this edition and the one who contributed to the creation of the Sequences, through the stories of the Fabric's past inhabitants selected from the interviews conducted by the Group she coordinated. She gave the participants details about the Group's archive of oral history and cultural anthropology, as well as about the interviews conducted since 1998, and about the significance of the exhibition's title - Worlds beyond Destinies

Web page featuring online stories from the past and the present

The online and mobile components are in continuous development, the web page spotlight-timisoara.eu/ - with old and new stories dedicated to the Fabric neighbourhood was discovered by the audience in Bastion on a state-of-the-art device - the interactive table on display at Bastion Theresia, while online participants had the opportunity to discover the application through a live tour, offered online by the Polytechnic University of Timișoara.

Enhanced technology experiences in the Fabric district

At the opening, the first stories contained in the Spotlight Heritage Timișoara mobile and augmented reality applications were launched, updated with the sections dedicated to the Cetate neighborhood this year - and having multiple functionalities that identify the 18 locations in the neighborhood, presented in several ways: text with information about the location and the memories of the former inhabitants - of various ethnicities and occupations - written in text form, an image gallery - both current and old, video clips and 360-degree images of each location, so that anyone can can create the feeling of being inside the building or in front of the building. In addition, once a user of Spotlight Heritage Timișoara mobile and augmented reality applications is near the Cetate neighborhood and in front of a building, the augmented reality (AR) function recognizes the building and provides information about it. By pointing the phone's camera at that building, anyone will be able to see the old facade of the building superimposed on the current one.

Guided tours for young people

Again this year, as part of the project, experts from Politehnica University Timisoara, the National Museum of Banat and the Oral History and Cultural Anthropology Group will offer guided, guided tours of the Spotlight Heritage Timisoara exhibitions and applications to pupils and students from Timisoara educational institutions. An augmented reality competition will also be organised in the autumn for students from Politehnica University Timișoara, AAlborg University, Denmark and Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Watch the recording of the event: HERE