Inspired by history, we reveal Timișoara's digital stories, stimulate the interest of locals and tourists to see, hear and feel Timișoara's past, to co-create its future through the virtual overlap of intangible heritage, the passion that unites the participating generations of cultural heritage.
The App is Spotlight Timișoara augmented reality application on the interactive and is available here:
or it can be downloaded using the following QR-code:
The open, participatory mobile application contains:
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- Landmarks - data and information of cultural and historical heritage, geographically mapped, photos and films, with recognition of buildings by augmented reality, 360 images.
- Memories - fragments from the novel Valeria dr. Pintea (author: Liana Maria Gomboșiu, Timișoara, Editura Marineasa, 2013) selected by Marius Cornea and offered by the author through the assignment of the rights to use them. Photos, documents, objects from the Liana Maria Gomboșiu collection - for the Iosefin neighborhood; fragments from the manuscript "Jurnal de familie" by Prof. Dr. Pia Brânzeu selected by Marius Cornea and offered by the authors through the assignment of the rights to use them. Photos, documents, objects from the collection of Prof. Dr. Pia Brânzeu - for the Elisabetin neighborhood. Personal histories of the residents interviewed by the team coordinated by prof. univ.dr. Smaranda Vultur, coordinator of the Oral History and Cultural Anthropology Group for the Fabric neighborhood. The selection of literary texts collected by prof. univ. dr. Smaranda Vultur and assistant univ. dr. Roxana Rogobete, the memories from the oral history of Timisoara capitalized by the Group of Oral History and Cultural Anthropology, the original poems, created for the Patrimony under Reflectoare Timisoara, by the Timisoara poet Robert Șerban. Photos, documents, objects from the collection of prof. univ. dr. Smaranda Vultur, Oral History and Cultural Anthropology Group for the Cetate neighborhood
- Community Information from the history of neighborhoods, communities, ethnicities, organizations that were or are present in the neighborhood
- Your Story Users can add their own personal stories, comments, photos, videos
- Exhibitions - information about all museum exhibitions held from 2019-2023, with information about the exhibits, virtual or guided tours, with a focus on the city districts presented through the allegory of the senses: visual, tactile, auditory, olfactory and gustatory;
- "International" – access different events: XR Festival, XR Show, Student Contest (ISHSC), cultural workshops or international events that the Spotlight Heritage Timisoara team has organized or participated in;
- "Events & Exhibitions" and "News" - are the categories that users can follow regularly on both the website and the mobile app to keep up to date with all official Spotlight Heritage events and announcements.
The National Museum of Banat organizes the Exhibition ”Spotlight Heritage. The Iosefin Neighborhood and Valeria dr. Pintea - a novel in an exhibition”, November 8, 2019 – January 31, 2020
The National Museum of Banat organizes the Exhibition "Spotlight Heritage. The Elisabetin neighbourhood and Netti Dr. Diel - A world in a chest", November 13, 2020 – January 31, 2021
The National Museum of Banat organizes the Exhibition "Spotlight Heritage. TheCetate neighbourhood - A world in the mirror", July 5, 2022 – September 11, 2022
The National Museum of Banat organizes Exhibition "Heritage in the spotlight - Parallel worlds", 12 May 2023 - 01 October 2023
The mobile and augmented reality application is accessible on an interactive table and tablets within the exhibition at the National Museum of Banat and in the Technical Museum of the Polytechnic University of Timisoara.
The exhibition in the Iosefin neighborhood is located in the 16 landmarks and in addition at the Lloyd Palace and the National Museum of Banat, accompanied by pictures and video images, both current and old, and fragments of the personal histories of the inhabitants.
The exhibition in the Elisabetin neighborhood is located in the 16 landmarks and the National Museum of Banat, accompanied by pictures and video images, both current and old, and fragments of the personal histories of the inhabitants.
The exhibition in the Fabric district is located in the 23 landmarks and the National Museum of Banat, accompanied by pictures and video images, both current and old, and fragments of the personal histories of the inhabitants.
The exhibition in the Cetate neighborhood is located in the 24 landmarks and the National Museum of Banat, accompanied by pictures and video images, both current and old, and fragments of the personal histories of the inhabitants.
Spotlight Heritage Timisoara augmented reality mobile app:
The Spotlight Heritage Timisoara augmented reality (AR) mobile app offers a dynamic entry into Timisoara's cultural and historical heritage. Users can explore augmented reality functionality, overlaying old photos and information on buildings, providing a unique perspective on the city's architectural evolution.
With access to image galleries (current and old), videos and 360° images of each location and informative texts, those who take Timisoara at a walk can create the feeling of being inside the building or in front of the building. In addition, in all the five quarries (Iosefin, Elisabetin, Fabric, Cetate and Giroc) in front of a building, the augmented reality (AR) function recognises the building and provides information about it, along with old images. By pointing the phone's camera at the building, you can see the building's old facade superimposed over the current one.
The App is Spotlight Timisoara AR and is available here:
Spotlight Heritage Timisoara Mixed Reality (MR) App
The MR app offers the opportunity to test augmented and mixed reality technologies. Using special holographic glasses, participants will interact and manipulate in real time virtual heritage objects, obtained through 3D scans of real ones from the the National Museum of Banat and sculptures by sculptor Peter Jecza. Built like a game, based on information about heritage objects, each user creates their own personal museum exhibition in mixed reality.
The AR/VR/MR applications are a concept of the Politehnica University of Timisoara and have been jointly developed by academics and students from the Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania, Universita Modena e Reggio Emilia (Italy), Aalborg University (Denmark), Agder University (Norway).
In 2023, at the third edition of the International Spotlight Heritage Student Contest (ISHSC) 2023, applications have been updated by teams of students from Politehnica University of Timisoara (Romania), Universita Modena e Reggio Emilia (Italy), University of Genoa (Italy), Roma Tre University (Italy) and Agder University (Norway).
Two projects have been produced for the competition:
- Giroc & Timisoara 2023 in VRwhich included game and gamification elements by modifying the visual interface, adding new landmarks such as the Jecza Museum, the Triade Sculpture Park and the Casa Tineretului, part of the Giroc neighbourhood, and also added an assistant to walk users through the app.
- Timisoara 2023 Quest in MR, which included interface changes, new graphics and objects specific to contemporary art and the 1989 Revolution, integrated with the aim of stimulating users by personalizing their interaction with artifacts and art objects.
Digital and physical neighbourhood itineraries Iosefin (2019), Elisabetin (2020), Fabric (2021) and Cetate (2022) and reveals their stories through several layers: theater and street dance, with the use of technology and elements of augmented reality.
These events represent the executive team's desire to innovate the way a city's history and built heritage are presented to the general public in an attractive, artistic, dynamic and attractive way, in order to facilitate cultural awareness and education, especially for the younger generations, and to highlight multiculturalism, diversity of ethnicities, architectural styles and historical journeys by providing stories worth preserving and cherishing.
In 2023 the project initiative "Spotlighting Timisoara's Heritage through Dance" started in 2022, , the initiative continued with other series of dance and theater performances, all of them keeping the signature of our project, namely the integration of Aug Augmented Reality (AR) elements within each show, thus bringing to life the stories of the 5 representative women for each neighborhood included in the project - Iosefin (2019), Elisabetin (2020), Fabric (2021), Cetate (2022) and Grioc (2023).
Concepts & technical-artistic development: Politehnica University of Timișoara & The National Museum of Banat
Archive images: The National Museum of Banat, Revolution Memorial, Constantin Duma, personal archives (Diana Andone, Radu Vasiu, Sorina Jecza, Smaranda Vultur, Andrei Jecza)
Actors & Dancers: Thespis Student Theater, the Diogenes Association, Magnum Team Sports Dance Club
The theater and dance performances, captured in an AR multimedia experience, can be viewed below:
Spotlight Heritage Timisoara virtual reality (VR) app
The winning applications contain virtual tours of the Roman Catholic Church "The Sacred Heart of Jesus" in Bălcescu Square (historic district of Elisabetin) and of the Millennium Roman Catholic Church in Trajan Square (historic district of Fabric), in a 3D virtual space, with 360 images, old and new pictures, audio elements, as well as information about the history and architecture of the buildings, the objects of art inside them (paintings, stained glass windows, organs inside the churches), but also about the historical characters who left their mark in the construction, design and development of Timișoara’s buildings. All of these elements are integrated into an interactive and unique VR application through which the user can explore churches through digital storytelling artefacts in virtual reality.
More details about the event here.
Among the MEDEA Awards 2022 finalists is the team that developed the interactive virtual reality application developed within the International Spotlight Heritage Student Contest 2021, submitted by the Politehnica University of Timișoara, Romania and represented by Silviu Vert & Marius Tătaru during the ceremony.
More details about the event here.
Spotlight Heritage Timisoara virtual reality (VR) app
In the VR app (in Oculus) you can take a "short tour" through the history of Timișoara's old neighbourhoods, through five emblematic neighbourhoods for the city - Iosefin, Elisabetin, Fabric, Cetate and Giroc, including 18 landmark historical and cultural.
You can also listen to stories about Timisoara's multicultural and multi-ethnic history using virtual reality technologies. Starting from a panoramic and spectacular perspective of the city, participants will be able to "teleport" through the streets, parks or public squares, visiting iconic landmarks as you would visit them in real life. Taking advantage of the interactions offered by VR technology, high quality 360 images, 3D videos and scans, photos and videos, you will learn historical and architectural facts and personal memories, past and present, documented in Spotlight Heritage Timisoara. The app is bilingual, in Romanian and English.
In 2023, following the competition International Spotlight Heritage Student Contest 2023 A quiz system has been added to the SH virtual reality app, where users have the opportunity to collect points and earn an "achievement" for each neighbourhood.
The applications can be downloaded and used on the Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality glasses, but also on the Cospaces Edu web and mobile platform.
Spotlight Heritage Timisoara 2023 NFT Collection
To bring value to Timisoara's digital and cultural ecosystem and based on the previous experience, Politehnica University of Timisoara launches in February 2023, for the first time in the Romanian academic landscape, the NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) | Spotlight Heritage - Timisoara2023. The university initiated actions on the adoption of blockchain technologies in education and creative industries, in 2020, also as part of the "EBSI4RO: Connecting Romania through Blockchain" project, included in European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI). These NFTs will be available for download only in 2023. More informationEBSI4RO: Connecting Romania through Blockchain”, included in European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI). These NFTs will only be available for download in 2023.
Collect your own NFT here: https://nft.spotlight-timisoara.eu
Digital and physical neighborhood routes Iosefin (2019), Elisabetin (2020), Fabric (2021), Cetate (2022) and Giroc (2023), represents a sum of all the neighborhoods and offers the general public multiple routes and possibilities to visit, read and deeply understand the city of Timișoara. The neighborhoods reveal their stories through multiple layers: a museum exhibition, a street exhibition, an online website, a mobile app, an augmented reality app, virtual and mixed reality apps, 3 cultural FNTs, happenings and performances of dance and street theater with digital technologies, The International Digital Culture & Spotlight Heritage Festivalevents and digital installations The XR Show in Timisoara and European cities, hybrid openings, cultural mediation and guided and virtual tours, the International Spotlight Heritage Student Contest, the international conference Digital Culture & Heritage Talks and a final catalog.
During these events, local and international partnerships were realized, which allowed the integration and creation of unique digital installations that tell the story of the city through artistic and technical modes, thus encompassing the multi-cultural complexity and technical development of Timișoara. One of these digital installations is:
Patterns of Poetry
Marius Jurca (13m10j)
Patterns of Poetry is an interactive installation with customized software that allows users to discover Timisoara through poetry and color. It was created by local artist Marius Jurca (13m10j), based on poems created by writer Robert Șerban, under the title "Poems about Miss Timisoara", part of the Spotlight Heritage Timisoara cultural project.
The digital installation presents 14 prominent locations in the city through 14 distinct poems and 14 different color palettes each representing one poem and location. Its interface presents a selection of random numbers, each dedicated to one verse for each poem in the catalog. People can track the color codes or areas for which they want to hear the poem, or they can become their own digital artists, mixing the verses and colors to create their own poems that define the city in unique ways.
The poems reference heritage buildings, city squares, and historic monuments that have helped define the city's architectural and cultural profile. Through words and images, people are invited to travel through time and space to explore the story and symbols that have shaped Timisoara. Listening to the lyrics, they can create through colors and shapes the image of Timișoara seen from above!
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13m10j (Marius Jurca b. 1984) is a multimedia artist and designer who is passionate about creating interactive experiences for people and communities. He is interested in random numbers, unpredictable processes, and the interconnections between art, science, and technology. He uses algorithms, numbers, sounds, and colors to explore the complexity of processes invisible to the human eye.
Robert Șerban - A writer and journalist, Robert Șerban is the president of the Timișoara International Literature Festival and editor of the magazine Orizont. He has published six books of poetry, the most recent being Techniques of Camouflage (2018). His poems have appeared in anthologies, magazines, and volumes in German, Serbian, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Macedonian, Danish, Norwegian, Hebrew, Swedish, Arabic, Ukrainian, Yiddish, and Portuguese.
All digital artifacts are in Romanian-English, licensed under Creative Commons License, which allows sharing and reuse by everyone, published on web and mobile platform and the most important ones are proposed for inclusion in Europeana.