HAEMUS | Center for scientific research and promotion of culture

Transforming Heritage through Innovation
HAEMUS and EU Partnerships for Skopje 2028 – European Capital of Culture

As Skopje prepares to shine as the European Capital of Culture in 2028, HAEMUS, in collaboration with esteemed EU partners, is at the forefront of heritage innovation. Through four groundbreaking projects, we are blending cultural heritage with cutting-edge technology to create immersive AR and VR experiences. These initiatives not only celebrate the city’s rich history but also engage diverse audiences, offering them an interactive journey through Skopje’s vibrant past and future.

**The motto of the application bidbook for “Skopje European Capital of Culture 2028” is “CULTURE OVER DIVISION“**

The concept revolves around four key themes:

1. **Art for Hope – Art4Hope**: Fighting apathy and hopelessness through art. Encouraging collaboration between artists and citizens to foster hope and make Skopje a better place to live.
2. **Togetherness**: Reviving Skopje’s spirit of solidarity, tolerance, and mutual understanding, inspired by its history of resilience, especially after the 1963 earthquake.
3. **Recovering – rECOvering**: Addressing the destructive urbanism of the past, revitalizing green spaces, combating pollution, and fostering recovery through collective efforts.
4. **CreARTing**: Bridging creativity with technology. Promoting cultural entrepreneurship, reducing the digital divide, and positioning Skopje as a global hub for innovation and creative industries.

Our upcoming projects within Skopje 2028 resulting in AR and VR products

1. SheLeaders – VR
The project aims to tell the stories of prominent women who ruled the Balkans in the middle ages. Based on their lives, habits, successes, and challenges of their time, to create stories that are to be presented through virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications. The project is a follow up of our very successful “SheLeadersVR” joint initiative co-financed by the Creative Europe.

2. Discover Skopje History with the Queen Maria – VR game

The goal of the project is to create an educational Virtual reality (VR) game that would introduce users to Skopje’s history in an attractive and immersive way. The player would solve various tasks and challenges in the 3D reconstruction of Skopje Fortress in various historical periods. The avatar character of Macedonian queen Maria Paelologina would guide the players and helpthem in their mission. AI interface would be used for communication with the queen. The project is a follow-up of the Creative Europe SHELeadersVR project, where we presented the female rulers of Balkans countries in the medieval period through a VR application. The game would be published on the Steam VR platform, free for download, and set up in a VR showroom within the Fortress as well, to be available for the visitors.

3. Roman heritage of Macedonia – VR/AR application

Roman Empire stretched throughout the whole Balkans region. There are many archaeological sites and museum exhibitions in these countries, but most of them are not so known to the general public. The visit to the remains does not provide a lot of information for understanding this city and the life inside it. Using Virtual and Augmented Reality we will create a fully immersive 3D reconstruction of this city during the Roman times and enable the users to explore it and communicate with its inhabitants using AI interface. AR application will make the archaeological remains much more interesting as the users will be able to see the original buildings through their mobile devices cameras. The VR application will be published at the online platform and accessible in the local museums. The AR application will be accessible online for free download.

4. Time travel to Skopje before the earthquake – Mixed Reality application

In 1963 Skopje was destroyed by a terrific earthquake. Over 1000 people were killed, many more injured and remained homeless. After that destruction it took many years to rebuild the city to its present appearance. Still, some parts were never reconstructed in the way they used to be before this tragic event. Mixed Reality application will recreate the Old City of Skopje to the shape it looked like before the earthquake. The users will be able to be transferred in time and explore the parts of the city that don’t exist anymore using VR headsets. They will also be able to switch between the present and past city appearances. A virtual guide will help them to understand where they are and tell them stories about important historical buildings and monuments. This way, the destroyed parts of the city will be returned to the public memory.

Partners: HAEMUS Center for Scientific Research and Promotion of Culture (Macedonia), NoHo (Ireland), Institute of Archaeology (Serbia), National Museum of Montenegro (Montenegro); Sarajevo School of Science and Technology (BiH), Association for cultural heritage digitisation DIGI.BA (BiH), Museum of Macedonia (Macedonia) and many more…