The Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI) has announced a competition to develop a “Virtual Tour” of Jewish museums in four Italian cities — Rome, Venice, Bologna and Casale Monferrato — that will work on computers, smartphone and tablets. The aim of the initiative is “to promote the awareness, dissemination and development of some of the possible cultural routes, promoting Italian Jewish tourism and the valorization of its cultural heritage” through the use of innovation and new technology.
There are more than a dozen Jewish museums of various types around Italy, as well as several museums and memorial sites documenting World War II Fascist and Nazi persecution and valuable Jewish collections in other museums and libraries. The four museums chosen for the initial “virtual tour” project are among the most developed but also represent different approaches. The museums in Rome, Casale Monferrato and Venice are located in or near synagogue complexes. The Rome museum is run by the Jewish community; that is Venice was founded (in 1953) by the Jewish community but has been administered since 1990 by the cultural services company Coopculture. The Jewish museum in Bologna was founded and is run by a foundation whose members include city and regional authorities as well as the local Jewish community. The museum in Casale Monferrato is administered by a non-profit foundation in collaboration with the tiny Jewish community.
“The availability of the Virtual Tour in two languages, Italian and English, will favor the international visibility of the four museums and of the entirety of Jewish heritage present in our country, which is largely ignored, both because of both poor publicity and also because of the scarce knowledge of the Italian language around the world,” Fabiana Di Porto, a member of the UCEI’s commission for patrimony and cultural heritage told the UCEI information web site moked.it.
Developers are asked to submit proposals incorporating, among other possibilities, video (including 360 degree panoramas), audio, photographs and other images, navigation menus allowing visits to rooms in the museums and focus on individual objects.
Entries must be sent to the UCEI by email to [email protected] between February 15 and 17, 2014
Click HERE for complete details (in Italian)
Submissions must include:
– The identity of the participant;
– The technical details of the proposed project
– The proposal itself, with information on the Virtual Tour, including a short script (storyboard) and/or a demo (which is also to be sent via email or, if it is too big, it can be uploaded and the appropriate links sent );
– An analytical estimate of costs;
– Detalis of any proven knowledge of the reality the Italian Jewish experience and Jewish cultural heritage;
– Details of any proven experience in the implementation of Virtual Tours
Web site of the Jewish Museum in Rome
Web site of the Jewish Museum in Venice
Web site of the Jewish Museum in Bologna
Web site of the Jewish Museum in Casale Monferrato
2 comments on “Competition announced for Virtual Jewish museum tour in Italy”
Ah. So there is still no virtual tour available yet. It is still to be developed. Now I understand. This is a good initiative. I like it because many people should be made aware of what happened in the past.