Medieval Nitra (SK)

In Slovak history, Nitra played a dominant role especially in the Early Middle Ages. In 9th century as a seat of a principality, it was one of the largest agglomerations in the Central Europe consisting of several castles, hill forts and suburban settlements. Its core is located under the present day castle hill – a 60 metre-high landmark. Here, under the gothic and baroque St. Emmeran's Cathedral, remains of a church of the 9th century were discovered being the place of the oldest Christianity in Slovakia as well as early medieval and Romanesque palaces.

THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Like all urban areas in Central Europe, Nitra is threatened by urban development and sprawl, renovations and new construction works. By focusing on the visualization of the hidden early medieval City of Nitra, the publicity could apprehend the “non visible” in combination with “visible” cultural heritage. The results could be introduced in urban development and spatial planning procedures and related proceedings but also utilized for teaching and tourism development.

PLANNED PROSPECTION / VISUALIZATION ACTIVITIES

The planned visualization activities consist of few steps. The first one is digitization of explored objects and work on existing documentation. Next, field prospection using LiDAR and photogrammetry, processing of 3D data in combination with 2D data from previous research as well as processing of archaeological and historical archive data will be conducted and 3D documentation of the most important archaeological finds, such as jewellery, ceramics or weapons, will be prepared. Planned output are sources of a highest quality for virtual and augmented reality, e.g. visualization of the castle in various historical times, presentation of the most important finds, virtual exhibition of the excavation results from the area of Nitra city, etc. It is planned to set up at least one local outdoor information point, sharing via WIFI visualized information on mobile devices with tourists and local population.

STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN THE PROJECT

In the process of the project implementation it will be beneficial to set the communication among various levels of administration and urban planning authorities as well as the cooperation among organizations and companies focusing on marketing and tourism development. The Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, the Diocese of Nitra, the City of Nitra and Nitra City Museum will take an active part in the project. But also owners and administrators of private residences and offices located on the pilot site should be involved in the project.

REGIONAL STRATEGY

Klick here for the planned regional strategy (after project ending).