Exhibition Spotlight Heritage Timișoara in Kaunas – Virtual paroda "Spotlight Heritage" Kaunas brought together hundreds of visitors, innovative technical solutions, VR technologies, the involvement of student co-creators in digital culture and an exceptional intercultural experience.

The activities of the culture and digital heritage project of the city of Timișoara, Spotlight Heritage Timișoara team, took place in the form of an exhibition, within the campus of the Kaunas University of Technology KTU, Lithuania, as part of the events dedicated to the cultural program European Capital of Culture – Kaunas 2022.

The exhibition took place on October 11-14, 2022, with hundreds of multicultural participants, students, teachers and visitors from Kaunas, Lithuania and many other countries, such as Taiwan, Georgia, Germany, Portugal, Italy or Lebanon. It was organized in English and Lithuanian by the Polytechnic University of Timisoara, the KTU Faculty of Informatics and the National Museum of Banat.

More than 450 visitors were active participants of the exhibition, which for almost a week, promoted and valorizedt the cultural and material heritage of Timișoara at an international level, through the digital augmentation of historical stories and buildings, highlighting the city's multiculturalism, ethnic, architectural styles and historical paths diversity.

The opening of the exhibition took place on October 11, 2022, in the premises of Kaunas KTU University of Technology library, where the demonstrations, annual exhibitions and digital applications Spotlight Heritage Timișoara team, dedicated to the city with the future title of European Capital of Culture, were inaugurated..

The event was broadcasted live on the Facebook pages of the Polytechnic University Timișoara, the e-Learning Center, the Multimedia Center and the Spotlight Heritage Timișoara project, gathering numerous messages, congratulations and positive thoughts from the audience.

The host of the event on behalf of Kaunas University of Technology, was Dr. Daina Gudoniene, vice-dean of the KTU Faculty of Informatics, and among those who spoke at the opening was Dr. Rita Butkiene, dean of the KTU Faculty of Informatics, the initiator of the Spotlight Heritage project Timișoara, Dr. Eng. Diana Andone, director of the UPT e-Learning Center and associate Dr. Eng. Silviu Vert, part of the project implementation team. The exhibition was opened with the other members of the Romanian team being present, Eng. Marius Tătaru, Eng. Silviu Berzescu, PhD students and Masters in Multimedia Technologies, Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technologies and Rafael Leucuța, Politehnica University of Timișoara, responsible for the creation of augmented/virtual reality experiences within the project.

They presented the ongoing activities of the project and the idea of ​​this exhibition, which brings together two European Capital of Culture cities: Kaunas 2022 and Timișoara 2023.

The public was invited to a complex world where the history and stories of the past of Timișoara are updated through digital technologies. The visitors had the opportunity to discover the web page of the project, with the stories of the four historical neighborhoods of Timișoara, through an interactive display. At the same time, they walked virtually through the streets of the city, having the opportunity to visit the most famous monuments, preserved historical places and buildings of the city from now and from the past, with the help of mobile applications and augmented reality, made available at the Spotlight Heritage stand, on interactive tablets, mobile phones and OculusQuest 2 and HoloLens 2 glasses with applications developed by polytechnic students, co-creators of digital heritage.

Assisted by the project team, the participants were able to explore the cultural and historical heritage of the city in a unique way, the guides of the stand explaining the technologies behind these applications. Thus, the visitors had the unique opportunity not only to communicate with part of the project team from Romania, but also to get to know modern technologies more closely, to learn about how they can preserve material and immaterial heritage.

At the same time, they could enjoy the experience of dance and theater performances, recorded in a multimedia experience, with elements of augmented reality, which explores, neighborhood by neighborhood, the memory and stories of the inhabitants of Timisoara yesterday and today.

For the implementation team, these were some special days, with numerous demonstrations, but also with many presentations about the ongoing actions of UPT and the importance of national and international partnerships, including the one with KTU.

The Romanian team enjoyed the many curiosities of the participants about the city with the next title of European Capital of Culture Timișoara 2023, as well as many impressions about the culture and history of the city and, in particular, about the applications through which they managed to find out all this information in unique visual details.

This project represents the implementation team's desire to innovate the way a city's history and built heritage are presented to the general public, so as to facilitate cultural awareness and education, especially among younger generations.

Through this exhibition, the Spotlight Heritage team managed to attract a wider audience of visitors to a world where history and heritage are updated and presented through digital technologies, more accessible and attractive ways to contribute to the promotion of cultural values, awareness citizens, in educating the younger generations, as keepers of this heritage.