About 100 virtual objects developed by scientists of the Saint-Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design were donated to museums in Russia and several European countries. In the practice of scientific reconstruction, such a gift is a major act of modern patronage. Associate professors of SPbSUITD Alexey Moskvin and Maria Moskvina create digital reconstructions of historical artifacts together with specialists from the Ivanovo Polytechnic University and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. During their work, Alexey and Maria managed to create a new scientific direction of digital reconstruction of historical costume. The unique technologies that scientists use to revive lost artifacts and recreate their counterparts in the digital space are now of interest to archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, film and game industry specialists all over the world.
15 major museums are currently engaged in the introduction of virtual exhibits into their permanent expositions, including the Ivanovo State Museum of Local History named after D. G. Burylin (Ivanovo, Russian Federation), the National Museum of Denmark (Copenhagen, Denmark), the National Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh, UK), the Museum of Archaeology at Gottorf Castle (Schleswig, Germany), the Zagreb Archaeological Museum (Zagreb, Croatia), the German Mining Museum (Bochum, Germany), the Drenz Museum (Assen, Netherlands), the Museum in Province of Jaen (Jaen, Spain),
Among the transferred objects are digital reconstructions of a number of archaeological artifacts, clothing, shoes and accessories considered important objects of historical and cultural heritage, partially preserved to this day as a result of natural conservation in the swamps of Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Croatia, Great Britain, Spain, the attire of natural mummies discovered in the territories of modern Germany and Iran, 2D-3D visualization of costumes depicted on objects of decorative and applied art of Russia.
“The transfer of objects even to one museum for research teams is considered a significant event, since museums accept only objects of value for exposition, exhibition and research activities as a gift. In this case, we are talking about the formation of a new practice of donating virtual exhibits, clothing items of a wide range, on the basis of three universities,” comments the author of the completed reconstructions, associate professor of SPbSUITD Alexey Moskvin.
“Now we are working together with museum staff to introduce the virtual artifacts donated by us into online collections available to visitors around the clock, from anywhere in the world. To date, this has already been done, for example, at the Württemberg State Museum and the National Museum of Scotland. Over time, as representatives of museums suggest, they will be presented at exhibitions, such as, for example, at the German Mining Museum. We donated the objects under the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, that is, when using our materials, museums will refer to the University of Industrial Technology and Design and the authors of the development. We hope that this work, which provides a wide audience with access to the developments of SPbSUITD, will contribute to increasing the prestige and recognition of our university at the national and international levels,” said Maria Moskvina, co-author of the reconstructions, associate professor of SPbSUITD.
Scientists note that the inclusion of virtual exhibits in museum expositions ensures the study and demonstration of historical and cultural heritage objects in the digital space, their preservation for future generations.
Reference: Currently, the team of authors places virtual reconstructions on the Sketchfab Internet platform to provide opportunities for interactive study of objects by museum visitors. Some of the transferred objects can be found at the link.
Dr. Martin Weinhoven (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and Professor Viktor Kuzmichev (Ivanovo State Polytechnic University) worked on the reconstructions together with the staff of SPbSUITD.
