Digital Studenica

The project “Digital Studenica” was launched during 2018, within which the digital upgrade of the monastery complex was created, along with a modern interactive setting in the visitor center, also known as St. Sava’s Dining Room. An educational and informational platform has been created, assisted by new media and technologies. The informations are presented through innovative recordings which display the sights and cultural and historical heritage of this monastery complex.

The creator of the “Digital Studenica” project is Marko Todorovic. At the entrances to the monastery interactive informational boards with basic informations of the project and instructions for using the application were placed.

Exhibits on the tabels in the Dining Room/ visitor center are stylized compositions essentially made of wooden boards and stone slabs, characteristic for the preparation and serving of food, respectively the interactive elements that provide information in the expanded reality. The idea of the project is that visitors on the tables in the St. Sava’s Dining Room be served with virtual/ spiritual food, as well with audiovisual narratives about the event, architecture and art of the monastery Studenica. Special emphasis is given to the three-dimensional animation of the St. Sava, which was, modeled on the figure from the fresco, created for an enlarged and virtual reality.

Abstract landscapes, motifs of soil with background and haloes that associate on sunny landscapes, get the final meaning using the application and appearance of Saints from the members of Nemanjic family in expanded reality. Marko Todorovic created them with a careful selection of the motifs from the frescoes, making realistic visualization and instructions on which they were painted. Incorporating animated frescoes of Saints in expanded reality, the creator made the final composition- audio visual experience through which visitors can familiarize each of the presented member of the Nemanjic family.

The Vertical VR is a concept created on the idea of using the HTC Vive glasses for virtual reality to allow the visitors to experience the symbolic rise, or vertical VR 360 video of climbing inside and above of the Bogorodica’s church. The VR sequence consists on three scenes. After the Saint Sava’s oration, the vertical movement within a computer-generated church provides the possibility of looking at physically inaccessible frescoes from a different views, while a video, made using a drone with an 8K 360 camera, presents a panorama of the monastery complex from the air.

With 3D models and animations, numerous photographs and short films present the monuments of the monastery within the interactive catalog of “Digital Studenica “.

In addition of the creative workmanship and digital upgrade of the exhibits, within the project technical solutions have been realized and implemented, representing how the technology of expanded reality can in a quality way enrich the existing experience of individual objects and improve the presentation of cultural and historical heritage. Faintly visible architectural drawings, carved on the northern facade of the Bogorodica’s church appears as a entirety, thanks to the application and 3D models of the objects. Also, the replica of the freestone reveals the story of the origin and it uses in the Middle Ages.