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TM2023 project, Spotlight Heritage Timisoara, winner at the European Cultural Tourism Network Awards in Dublin

The cultural project Spotlight Heritage Timisoara, coordinated by UPT, through the Department of ID/IFR and Digital Education won the award European Cultural Tourism Network in section Advances in digitalization and digital transition in smart and sustainable cultural tourism. Over the past 6 years, the project has reached over 2.5 million people in more than 10 countries, encompassing thousands of exhibitions and events, both on the streets, in museums, institutions and, above all, through cutting-edge digital technologies.

The award was presented to the UPT project coordinator, Dr. Diana Andone, within the International Conference for Cultural Tourism in Europe "European Collaboration for Smart and Sustainable Cultural Tourism Destinations"in Dublin and was awarded for the section Advances in digitalization and digital transition in smart and sustainable cultural tourism

Part of Cultural Program Timisoara 2023 European Capital of Culture, Heritage in the Spotlight Timisoara increases the interest of the young generation, but also of the general public, in Timisoara's marginalized and neglected historic districts by using digital storytelling to enable locals and tourists to see, hear, feel, but also to act, co-create and internalize the city. The project combines personal memories, past and present, with historical and architectural data, by digitally overlaying intangible heritage and laying the foundations for participatory governance of cultural heritage. 

Timisoara's historic neighborhoods in the spotlight

All the activities and applications of the project offer visitors an insight into the history of the neighborhoods through a baroque key: the allegory of the senses, presenting sequences of everyday life in the historical areas - Iosefin (2019), Elisabetin (2020), Fabric (2021), Cetate (2022) and Giroc (2023) - a residential neighborhood from the communist period.

The digital and physical itineraries of 110 historical and cultural landmarks in the neighborhoods tell their stories through multiple layers: museum exhibitions, a street exhibition, an online website, a mobile app, an augmented reality app, virtual and mixed reality apps, 3 cultural NFTs, happenings, and dance and street theater performances with digital technologies, The International Digital Culture & Spotlight Heritage Festival, XR Show events and digital installations in Timisoara and European cities, hybrid openings, cultural mediation and guided and virtual tours, International Spotlight Heritage Heritage Student Contest, international conference Digital Culture & Heritage Talks and a final catalog.

Among the elements that impressed the ECTN jury were the international impact of the project, which reached over 2.5 million people over the 6 years, of which over 50 thousand people visited the exhibitions and participated in guided tours, more than 57 thousand took part in cultural events organized by UPT (conferences, workshops, webinars, performances and public events) and over 400 thousand people attended national and international events of the project. At the same time, through digital technologies, Spotlight Heritage Timisoara had an impact of almost 2 million users, both on the website, mobile apps and through AR and VR equipment, digital experiences that have been used by locals, tourists, virtual tourists, on the streets, in museums and at international festivals in 10 countries.

Creators - student teachers and over 50 national and international partners

Also, all digital artifacts are created by professors, students and alumni of the Politehnica University of Timisoara and partner universities, developed over the past years, with new layers of data and information constantly being added, both in Romanian and English, the content being licensed with Creative Commons License, while some elements are included in Europeana, also accessible online at https://spotlight-timisoara.eu/ and through mobile apps that can be downloaded from Play and Apps stores and VR stores.

Digital components of Spotlight Heritage Timisoara are available online at https://spotlight-timisoara.eu/ and via mobile apps that can be downloaded from Android and Apple stores or by searching "Spotlight Heritage Timisoara".

The project and related events are available via:

Spotlight Heritage Timisoara is a digital cultural initiative of the Politehnica University of Timisoara through the Department of Digital Education and Multimedia Center, carried out in partnership with the National Museum of Banat, part of the Cultural Program Timisoara European Capital of Culture 2023. Cultural project co-financed by the Project Center of the Municipality of Timisoara, Timis County Council, Ministry of Culture, Romania, EEA and Norway Grants. More than 50 partners, such as universities and high schools, museums, galleries, libraries, foundations and cultural centres, Romanian Embassies and Romanian Cultural Institute, student theater and DanceSport organizations from 11 countries - Romania, Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Serbia, UK, USA, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Serbia, UK, USA, contributed to the success of the Spotlight Heritage Timisoara project.

European Cultural Tourism Network (ECTN) is the only pan-European network for the development and promotion of cultural tourism.

The joint jury is made up of representatives from ECTN, Europa Nostra, the European Travel Commission and Dublin City Council - European Capital of Intelligent Tourism 2024, with the participation of ENAT - European Network for Accessible Tourism for the category "Accessibility to Heritage".

October 29 @ 8:00 – 17:00