The prestigious international competition of European museum multimedia "Heritage in Motion" has come to an end with the victory of the Russian project Virtual Museum of Architecture.
The unique mobile application was developed by the Russian company Vizerra at the initiative of the Shchusev State Architecture Museum with assistance of the RF Culture Ministry. The award ceremony took place on the island of Lesbos in Greece on May 20.
As the competition jury noted: "It is many-sided visualization of architectural heritage and introduction of innovative methods for digital storage. This huge and labor-intensive research project gives a chance to the museum to demonstrate its eormous funds in an attractive way".
The Virtual Museum of Architecture project is of great cultural and social value both for Russians and the entire world, especially in the light of negative attitude to this country presently spreading among certain organizations. Russia displays active study and thorough understanding of its domestic culture, respect for its own history thus promoting their preservation in the context of the world culture and history as well as enabling to expand borders of the Russian heritage and invite the world community to polylogue of various national cultures.
The annual competition Heritage in Motion is aimed to draw attention of a wide range of people to outstanding cultural, natural, material and non-material heritage of Europe. Organizers of the event that highlights the best multimedia projects in movies, games, websites and applications are Europa Nostra and the European Museum Academy with assistance of the digital library Europeana.
The creators of the application Virtual Museum of Architecture have tried to recreate 12 magnificent Russian architectural complexes in exact 3D models. It is interesting that some of these cultural monuments have been lost, reconstructed or have never even been implemented. Among them is Prince Trubetskoy Estate, the Palace of Councils, the Ascension Monastery and the Monastery of the Miracle in the Moscow Kremlin. Developers of the application have carefully studied photos and drawings from archives of the Architecture Museum and on their basis created 3D models that immerse users into interactive three-dimensional environment. It is important that the free application offers comments and historical information to each of its projects in 5 languages. This visual architectural encyclopedia gives an opportunity to study and see in detail the constructions and buildings that are recognized to be an integral part of world cultural heritage. Not less than 5 thousand people from 150 countries around the world have already used the application.
It should be noted that the application Virtual Museum of Architecture will be interesting to travelers looking for new impressions, students of historical and architectural higher education institutions, their teachers, architects, connoisseurs of beauty and art, teachers and parents aspiring to inculcate love of history and culture in children, and those who study foreign languages.
Creators of the application invite users from all around the world to connect with a large-scale layer of Russian culture.