Inspired by history, we reveal Timișoara's digital stories

Spotlight Heritage involves the population of Timișoara and its visitors in a complex real - virtual world that combines the old history of Timișoara, presented as a digital story, through a website and a mobile application, and the museographic exhibition at the headquarters of the National Museum of Banat but also in public places in the neighborhoods, under the title "Timisoara and the allegory of the senses".

Spotlight Heritage reveals, by digital storytelling, Timisoara through stories of cultural and historical heritage, of technical development, of communities and neighborhoods, interwoven with the personal stories of the inhabitants of yesterday and today.

The project aims to build multiple layers of personal memories and data from the history of their neighborhoods, communities, ethnicities and inhabitants, presented digitally, through intelligent applications and physically, in exhibitions.

In the 2019, under the spotlight is Iosefin neighborhood, having as a theme HEARING.

In the 2020, under the spotlight is the Elisabetin neighborhood, having as a theme tactile.

In the 2021,  under the spotlight is neighborhood  Fabric, having as a theme sight.

In the 2022, we focus on the neighborhood City with the theme The smell.

The stories of the historical buildings in Timisoara (Rectorat UPT, 2019)

Of public works of art (ArtTM 2018-2022)

Of Community (Jews, 2019)

Of technical innovations (2020)

Community - information from the history of neighborhoods, communities, ethnicities, organizations that were or are present in the neighborhood

your story – users can add their own personal stories, comments, pictures, videos

Events – exhibition events, guided and virtual tours, street theater, happenings, dance performances and digital installations, with active involvement of students and citizens, with science experiments, with digital exhibitions with XR and digital stories in cities abroad

Subsequently, writers, actors, directors, photographers and media artists will transform the collected stories into augmented and virtual reality elements for intelligent tourism applications. Local guides from a variety of environments and age categories will share neighborhood histories using the technologies created.

2022 - dedicated to the Cetate neighborhood

City – The life of the Cetate neighborhood in Timișoara is illustrated by the selection of literary texts collected by prof. univ. dr. Smaranda Vultur and assistant univ. dr. Roxana Rogobete, the memories from Timișoara's oral history capitalized by the Group of Oral History and Cultural Anthropology, but also with the original poems, created for Patrimoniu under Reflectoare Timișoara, by the well-known Timișoara poet Robert Șerban. All have been selected to provide a historical, social and cultural background to the 24 stations in the neighborhood featured in the classical exhibition in the attic of the Theresia Bastion, the 18-panel street exhibition and the digital exhibition (web page and virtual reality and augmented reality applications) – which contains 24 stations with old and new images of buildings and landmarks, video and 360 images, as well as the option that when users are in the vicinity of landmarks, they can view the old image of the buildings superimposed on the new one using the apps augmented reality, thus creating the feeling of "traveling back in time".

2021 - dedicated to the Fabric neighborhood

Fabric - The life of the Fabric neighborhood in Timișoara is illustrated through the personal histories of the residents interviewed by the team coordinated by prof.univ.dr. Smaranda Vultur, coordinator of the Group of Oral History and Cultural Anthropology, since 1997. Excerpts of interviews with residents of Fabric have been selected to provide a historical, social and cultural background to the 16 stations in the neighborhood presented in the classic exhibition in the attic of the Theresia bastion , the 16-panel street exhibition and the digital exhibition (web page and virtual reality and augmented reality apps) – the indoor and street exhibition contains only 16 panels/stations, compared to the digital one which contains 22 stations.

2020 - dedicated to the Elisabetin neighborhood

Elisabetin - fragments from the "Family Journal", manuscript by prof. dr. Pia Brânzeu, selected by Marius Cornea and offered by the authors through the assignment of the rights to use them. Photos, documents, objects from the collection of prof. dr. Pia Brânzeu and the collections of the National Museum of Banat.

2019 - dedicated to the IOSEFIN neighborhood

Iosefin - fragments from the novel Valeria dr. Pintea (author: Liana Maria Gomboșiu, Timișoara, Marineasa Publishing House, 2013) selected by Marius Cornea and offered by the author through the assignment of their rights to use them. Photos, documents, objects from the Liana Maria Gomboșiu collection.

Spotlight Heritage Timișoara / Patrimony under spotlights is a digital cultural initiative of the Timișoara Polytechnic University carried out in partnership with the National Museum of Banat, part of the Timișoara 2023 European Capital of Culture Cultural Program. Cultural project co-financed by the Municipality of Timișoara through the Project Center, Timiș County Council.