Interpreting Art of Mysterious Medieval Stećak Tombstones through Virtual Reality

ended

"Stećak, Stećci in plural form, are tombstones from the High to Later Middle Ages, from the 12th to the 16th century, often found grouped in necropolis in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro; some of them are decorated with carvings: the majority are technically rudimentary and the others are of great interest from the iconographic point of view. The Stećci in all aspects of their appearance, represent a specific segment of the cultural and historical heritage of South-Western Balkans and are of primary historical importance as representatives of the cultural epoch in which they were created. UNESCO has recognized the ""extraordinary universal value"" of these unique cultural heritage objects and in 2016 included them in the World Protected Heritage List. This project develops the concept of applying Information Technologies in Cultural Heritage, actually in the most important necropolis with Stećci in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and their decorations; Virtual Reality applications with digitized creative content will be introduced in museums partners in the project and in other museums in Western Balkans and Europe, that have digital content and on-line, Augmented Reality applications will be settled in relevant historical sites and necropolis, an interactive metaversal theatre play will be realized and presented in different locations. A collaborative team of historians, visual artists, performance artists, VR producers and software developers will, through new creative processes, design and develop digital content that will be deployed in mentioned modern media. A theatre play will be produced and set up at the physical stage with digital replicas of Stećci and performed by actors, while one of them will wear a VR headset visiting the StecakLand–a place inhabited with ornaments from Stećci. It will travel through selected theatres in WB and eventually in other countries, spreading knowledge about medieval WB history."