New Fitzwilliam Museum augmented reality app

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The Fitzwilliam Museum is one of twelve of England’s historic cities that have collaborated to develop an innovative augmented reality (AR) app, which brings heritage to life.

The Fitzwilliam Museum app takes the user on a tour of the world of art within its walls. The founder of the Museum Richard, Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion, himself a traveller in the Grand Tour tradition, guides visitors around the historic building beginning with the beautiful Victorian entrance hall. Through ten stories the visitor can navigate the Museum, and be transported across centuries and continents to find out more about the Paris of the French Impressionists as well as the uses for a Roman “Swiss Army” knife. The app will tell you how a circus strong man enabled the sarcophagus lid of the pharaoh Ramasses III to travel from Egypt to England, and encourage you to spot the difference in 17th century Venice with two very similar views of the Grand Canal painted by Canaletto and his nephew.

The cutting-edge technology that has been used gives a fresh perspective on our cultural heritage, which will be of particular appeal to a more technologically motivated and younger audience. It also hopes to encourage return visitors by offering the opportunity to experience the Museum in a different way. In a rapidly changing and competitive tourist environment, the use of AR technology offers a point of difference that we hope will attract visitors and showcase the best of the city. The ground-breaking new AR experience launched on 31 March to celebrate English Tourism Week.

Find out more & download the app