TIRANA, Aug. 14 /ATA/ – History and technology have converged in the southern Albanian city of Berat, where visitors to the National Iconographic Museum “Onufri” can explore the city’s cultural heritage through immersive digital experiences.
Using virtual and extended reality (VR/XR), artificial intelligence and other digital technologies, the initiative offers visitors a new way to engage with Berat’s history and cultural treasures, turning a traditional museum visit into a more interactive experience.
Tourism, Culture and Sports Minister Blendi Gonxhja said the initiative provided visitors with a new way to discover and experience culture by combining history with VR/XR technology, artificial intelligence and other digital tools.
Visitors become part of an interactive narrative, allowing them to explore the city’s cultural heritage and history from a different perspective, he said.
“Developed by Digital Culture in cooperation with the National Iconographic Museum ‘Onufri’, this initiative opens a new perspective on how cultural heritage can be preserved, interpreted and passed on, creating a closer connection between heritage and younger generations,” Gonxhja said.
Miklor Pasku, director of the Berat Museum Centre, told ATA that the museum had begun presenting and testing the initiative, which he described as introducing a new dimension to the experience of cultural heritage.
“Berat is the first city in Albania to host such interactive experiences in a museum, marking an important step towards the digital transformation of cultural institutions,” Pasku said.
The initiative seeks to explore new ways of interpreting and presenting cultural heritage through technology, making history more accessible and engaging for visitors, he added.
“The initiative is in the testing phase. Visitors can try a VR experience with Ava, the digital guide, and interact with Onufri through an interactive painting, turning a museum visit into a vivid and personalised experience,” Pasku said.
An Italian tourist from Rome described the experience as “interesting, original and exciting”, saying it showed how digital technology could be combined with the real world and could provide a new way of bringing younger generations closer to art.
The “Onufri” Iconographic Museum has been housed in the Church of the Dormition of Saint Mary, within Berat Castle, since Feb. 27, 1986. It is named after Onufri, the leading master of Albanian iconographic painting in the 16th century.
According to inscriptions on the building, the church was rebuilt in 1797 on the foundations of an earlier Byzantine-era church. It is considered one of Berat’s most distinctive examples of post-Byzantine architecture.
The museum’s collection comprises 196 icons and liturgical objects.
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