The promotion and valorization of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the city of Timișoara continues at the international level, the project Patrimoniul sub Reflectoare Timișoara - Spotlight Heritage Timisoara becoming an example of the integration of digital technologies in culture and education within the cultural program Timișoara 2023 - European Capital of Culture.

The Politehnica University of Timișoara, in partnership with the National Museum of Banat, the Timișoara 2023 European Capital of Culture Association, the Romanian Cultural Institute in Budapest, the Embassy of Romania in Budapest and the Óbuda University in Budapest organized on January 19-20, 2023 the "International Spotlight Heritage Festival with XR Demonstrations”.

In the Romanian Cultural Institute in Budapest On January 19th, at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Budapest, took place the launch and presentation of the Timișoara 2023 European Capital of Culture Program for Hungary. Andreea Dogariu, head of mission Romanian Cultural Institute in Budapest, H.E. Gabriel Șopanda, Ambassador of Romania to Hungary, Ovidiu Megan, executive director Timisoara 2023 Association, Assoc. Prof. dr. eng. Florin Drăgan, Rector Politehnica University of Timișoara, Claudiu Ilaș, director of the National Museum of Banat and dr. eng. Diana Andone, director UPT e-Learning Center and Spotlight Heritage Timisoara coordinator. Many ambassadors, cultural attachés, teachers and students, Romanian citizens residing in Hungary, journalists from the Romanian section of the Hungarian National Television, UPT teachers and students and Prof. dr. eng. Radu Vasiu, president of the UPT Senate, Dr. Sorin Predescu, director of the Timiş Culture Directorate and Zoran Marcovici, head of the History section of the MNaB were present.

The International Spotlight Heritage Festival with XR Demonstrations aims to promote the cultural diversity of the city, communities and neighborhoods, through the multiple stories of Timișoara, told through digital technologies. The interactive installation that combines illustrations and stories documented in Spotlight Heritage Timișoara, was presented in a multiple print structure integrated with interactive spaces through touch screens, mobile applications, virtual reality applications (VR) and augmented applications (AR).

The VR application allowed the participants to visit, with the help of virtual reality glasses, 4 emblematic neighborhoods of Timisoara - Iosefin, Elisabetin, Fabric and Cetate. Starting from a panoramic, spectacular perspective of the city, the participants were able to "teleport" to the streets, parks or public squares, visiting one of the dozens of landmarks documented in Spotlight Heritage Timișoara, through high-quality 360 images taken both outside and inside the buildings. Taking advantage of the interactions offered through VR technology, participants were able to learn about the stories of the places and the people who lived there. The application is bilingual, being available in both Romanian and English.

In parallel, the AR application gave the opportunity to all those present to test augmented and mixed reality technologies. With the help of special glasses, which allowed them to interact both with the physical objects around them and with the holograms of some virtual objects, the participants were able to manipulate in real-time virtual heritage objects, obtained by 3D scanning of the real ones found in the collection of the National Museum of Banat. The epic thread of the application, organized in the form of a game, excited the participants, in addition to the novelty and possibilities of the technology itself.

12 large prints with images of the most representative landmarks in Timișoara and interactive touch screens for navigating the website and the mobile applications, all united by a game to test the acquired knowledge, completed the experience of the participants and highlighted the importance of the link between history, heritage and cultural sustainability, influenced by digital technology. 

The experience was completed by a concert by Cári Tibor on the piano and Szabo Attila on the cello, also combined with various audio technologies, in a modern interpretation of Cári Tibor's compositions.

The International Spotlight Heritage Festival with XR Demonstrations continued, with the support of the Center for Projects of the Municipality of Timișoara, on January 20th at Óbuda University in Budapest , with a series of activities dedicated to the culture and heritage of the city of Timișoara. The direct information through the presence of Prof. Levente Kovács, Rector of Óbuda University and UPT graduate and Dr. György Eigner, Dean of the Faculty of Informatics allowed the participation of hundreds of teachers and students as well as high school pupils from Budapest. They had the opportunity to interact with a complex, real-virtual world by using the latest digital technologies through which they not only learned about Timișoara, but also how they can get involved in the development and co-creation of digital cultural content.

The Spotlight Heritage team enjoyed the many questions of the visitors about this year's activities, about Timișoara 2023, as well as the many impressions about the city's culture and history and, in particular, the evaluation of the applications through which they managed to find out all this information in unprecedented visual details.

Spotlight Heritage Timișoara / Patrimoniul sub reflectoare is a digital cultural initiative of the Politehnica University of Timișoara, realised in partnership with the National Museum of Banat, part of the Cultural Programme Timișoara 2023 European Capital of Culture. Cultural project co-financed by the Center for Projects of the Municipality of Timișoara, Timiș County Council, Romania. In Hungary, the project was presented with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Budapest and the Óbuda University Budapest.