Building bridges rather than walls – Information Centre – Research & Innovation

Researchers in the EU-funded CROSSCULT job created program apps that make it possible for readers to much better take pleasure in Europe’s shared heritage at popular exhibitions and archaeological web-sites throughout the European Union.

According to job communications coordinator Luc Vandenabeele of the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Know-how, CROSSCULT experienced two principal targets. The very first was to digitally increase customer experiences during tours of EU historic exhibitions, these types of as the Montegrotto Terme archaeological web site close to Padua, Italy. The next was to make gatherings that would endorse each a much better knowledge of European heritage and increase how readers encounter the gatherings. “We aimed to improve historic recognition by connecting unique venues and viewpoints, and by displaying the connections between historic phenomena in unique eras,” he states.

Sharing by connecting

CROSSCULT’s very first motion was to create an on the web platform for building Android apps certain to exhibitions and their pilot assignments. The app for the Nationwide Gallery in London, for case in point, provides museum maps, will allow readers to “like” particular museum functions, and implies other functions that the user could like based mostly upon prior input. These mobile apps, readily available via Google Perform, make it possible for guests to tailor their digital experiences to their possess preferences.

A different CrossCult-created Android app, “Cultural Connections”, attracts parallels between historic and contemporary periods. For case in point, the app informs consumers that locations of Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece have been united for above four hundred decades during the Roman Empire, and details out that beneath the European Union, they have only been united because 1986. The app then asks the user to react by sharing his or her ideas.

When constructing the pilot assignments linked with the apps, researchers began with the core basic principle that heritage has no complete truths, but rather many interpretations and contrasting viewpoints that persuade personal reflection.
The very first pilot job was an artwork exhibition at London’s Nationwide Gallery held on twenty five-29 June 2018. The pilot’s app allows readers navigate the Gallery’s functions and poses issues meant to persuade the contemplation of their cultural and historic significance.

The next job created another app that explored the therapeutic use of h2o in antiquity. The app allowed consumers to digitally investigate historic spas close to Lugo, in Spain Chaves, in Portugal Montegrotto, in Italy and the Epidaurus archaeological web site in Greece.

A smaller sized location was the focus of the 3rd pilot: the Tripolis Archaeological Museum in Greece. “Visitors went further than the regular level of historic presentation, these types of as the form of a statue or its construction day,” Vandenabeele states. “Instead, they went into further ranges of reflection, these types of as above the social areas of daily life in antiquity.”

The fourth and closing pilot allowed consumers to examine the cultural heritage of the cities of Valetta in Malta and Luxembourg Metropolis and Belval in Luxembourg. The app for this pilot, entitled “CrossCult: Cities”, utilised on the web maps to guide readers on walking tours and pointed out web-sites of cultural and historic significance.

Far better historic appreciation

The closing outcomes from CROSSCULT, which ended in late February 2019, consist of financial added benefits for collaborating municipalities. Researchers created program and apps that educators, tourist operators, and regional governments can use to increase their expert services. In addition, the program platform stays readily available as a toolkit that cultural heritage industry experts can use to create their possess customised apps.

“CROSSCULT was an astounding journey,” Vandenabeele states. “It enabled the humanities and know-how to be a part of forces to help reflections on heritage and an knowledge of our widespread European previous.”