The National Museum of Kruševac has taken a bold step into the future of cultural heritage by launching an engaging virtual exhibition. Combining advanced technology with historical storytelling, the museum allows visitors to explore its rich collection in a way that transcends the limitations of physical displays. In an interview with the museum’s director, Nikola Pantelić, we learn more about the vision behind this project, the challenges of digitizing historical artefacts, and the impact it has had on visitors. This virtual initiative is more than just a digital museum—it is an innovative, interactive experience designed to make history accessible to all.
What were the main goals you wanted to achieve with this virtual exhibition? How does it differ from a physical exhibition in terms of audience engagement?
The goal we wanted to achieve with the virtual exhibition is to allow visitors to see the exhibits in a way that they cannot see them in the exhibition space. The virtual exhibition allows visitors to move exhibits around, zoom in, zoom out, and look at them from all angles. Also, certain exhibits are not part of the permanent exhibition and are in depots under regular circumstances. So, in this way, we have enabled visitors to see exhibits that they otherwise would not be able to. At the same time, we achieved the goal that in this way the exhibits were permanently preserved in digital form.
How did you select which pieces of history or heritage to include in the exhibition? Was there a particular narrative or theme you wanted to focus on?
One of the criteria for the selection of the exhibits that will be shown at the virtual exhibition was certainly their attractiveness regarding their age, appearance, or purpose, but also the small details that visitors can only see through the virtual exhibition.
In this respect we did not have many challenges because most of the exhibits have been in our museum for a long time and their history is well known to us. The only item that was somewhat challenging in this respect was a bronze sword over 3,000 years old that has been in our museum since January 2023, which was found during the construction of the highway nearby.
What tools or platforms did you use to develop the virtual exhibition?
We used various tools, both technical and software. For the needs of this project, we rented technical equipment in the form of scanners, cameras, servers, and so on. Also, great support was given to us by the people who worked on the IT part of digitization with their equipment. With the help of some software, they developed the exhibition in a VR environment as well as a platform located at virtuelnimuzej.com.
Can you describe how the different members of the team collaborated? How were the responsibilities divided between researchers, designers, and developers?
The whole process went very smoothly from the beginning. We, as a museum, knew what we wanted, while the programmers and designers knew exactly how to achieve what we wanted. All the time we were in contact and gave the developers and designers the necessary information from the domain of our profession while they sent us their solutions where we gave further instructions so that in the end we got the product exactly as we wanted.
How did the virtual exhibition engage visitors differently compared to a traditional museum setting?
The visitors were pleasantly surprised because they got the opportunity to see the exhibits that they would not otherwise be able to see, and at the same time, they got the opportunity to see the exhibits in a way that they would not otherwise be able to see. They also expressed their desire for us to continue with this work because they considered this way of museum presentation to be innovative and interesting. This kind of museum presentation particularly appealed to the younger audience.
Do you plan to update or expand this virtual exhibition over time, or perhaps create new ones based on similar themes or historical periods?
We certainly plan to continue in this direction. Our ultimate goal is to allow visitors to see all the exhibits that we have in the museum, both those that are on permanent display and those that are in depots, within the framework of the virtual exhibition.
This virtual exhibition marks an exciting new chapter for the National Museum of Kruševac, pushing the boundaries of how history is presented to the public. By making its collection more accessible and interactive, the museum has reached new audiences, particularly younger visitors, while preserving priceless artefacts in a digital format. As Nikola Pantelić explains, this is only the beginning—the museum plans to expand its virtual offerings, ensuring that the stories of the past remain alive for generations to come.