Revealing the Layers of History: Enriching Medieval Cultural Heritage 4D Models with Interactive Narratives

Abstract

Cultural heritage (CH) preservation is increasingly leveraging digital technologies to support art history research and provide educational experiences to the public. In the case of some Medieval monuments, the myriad of architectural and pictorial transformations suffered due to the passage of time, and the geographical dispersion of its remaining decoration substantially hinders their understanding. In this article, we present a novel approach for enriching multi-layered, multi-phase 3D models of CH monuments with art history knowledge. Such knowledge is presented in the form of image-based annotations, interactive narratives, points of interest, text, and audio, organized into a collection of guided tours enabling visitors to traverse through different historical phases of the monument. A key benefit of our approach is that art historians require no programming skills to easily define all the elements of the interactive narratives. Our approach integrates various multimedia elements seamlessly into 3D models, offering visitors an engaging and informative journey through space and time. We conducted a pilot user evaluation to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, highlighting its value in enhancing visitor engagement and understanding of CH. The study also provided valuable feedback on the user experience, which allowed us to enhance the final version of the web-based application and the associated narratives.

This work has been partially supported by projects PID2021-122136OB-C21 and PID2021-122136OB-C22 funded by MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and ERDF “A way of making Europe,” by the EU Horizon 2020, JPICH Conservation, Protection and Use initiative (JPICH-0127), the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (grant PCI2020-111979), and the Department of Research and Universities of the Government of Catalonia (2021 SGR 01035).