Āraiši Ezerpils Archaeological Park preserves and presents the only reconstruction of a 9th-10th century fortified lake settlement in Europe. Operated by Cēsis Business and Tourism Agency in Latvia's Vidzeme region, the park features authentic archaeological findings from Iron Age Latgalian culture, reconstructed buildings in their original lakeside setting, and well-preserved cultural landscape representing unique European heritage.
Collaboration Focus
- Voice-activated XR application validation with museum visitors
- Archaeological accuracy requirements for digital reconstruction
- Museum operational workflow integration
- Heritage visitor experience research
Joint Initiatives
XR Ireland, Nuwa's sister brand, collaborated with Āraiši Archaeological Park on:
- VAARHeT EU-funded research project validating voice-activated XR applications for cultural heritage visitor engagement
- Operational environment validation hosting Technology Readiness Level 7 testing with 39 museum visitors
- Heritage domain expertise ensuring archaeological accuracy and cultural sensitivity in XR content
- User persona development informing design decisions through visitor demographic insights and museum operational requirements
Eva Koljera, park manager and senior tourism officer, and Jānis Meinerts, archaeologist specialising in heritage management, contributed essential domain knowledge about open-air museum challenges including seasonal limitations, multilingual accessibility requirements, and interpretation complexity for reconstructed archaeological buildings where construction technique communication proves difficult through conventional guided tours.
Impact
The partnership enabled comprehensive validation of voice-driven AR welcome avatar, VR archaeological building reconstruction, and AR live translation applications in authentic operational museum environment. Research generated critical insights about heritage sector technology adoption requirements including near-perfect AI accuracy thresholds for institutional credibility preservation, minority language support as baseline requirement rather than optional enhancement, and selective XR application value where experiential spatial learning outperformed theoretical information delivery. Validation outcomes directly inform Nuwa's Culturama Platform commercial development priorities, establishing evidence-based foundation for heritage XR deployment standards whilst raising awareness of immersive technology potential across Latvian and Baltic cultural heritage sector through national television coverage and regional media attention.
The Āraiši collaboration demonstrated successful EU cascade funding impact, with VOXReality research project enabling proof-of-concept validation progressing toward continued partnership through service agreement supporting Culturama Platform reference implementation and commercial development.