Since my childhood Russian folktales have always inspired me. Yet I remember every detail from The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship (1990) broadcasted by Slovenian national TV. Anyhow the magic of the puppet animation is far away from the real world but traveling to Russia – Saint Petersburg and Moscow, was still a great experience.
Saint Petersburg city glamourosity can be seen on every step including when entering one of the largest traditional museum in the world, the State Hermitage. Can not say that it didn’t impress me, but for someone who is dealing with digital technologies in heritage I was totally excited about the Grand Model of Russia and Van Gogh Alive traveling exhibition.
An interpretation center with the largest interactive scale model (1:87) of Russia is based in a revitalised industrial building south of the city. On almost 800 square meters different scenarios, towns and villages from Sochi to Vladivostok can be seen.
On the other side, Van Gogh Alive from Grande Exhibitions, an Australian museum company, is a blockbuster with 40 high-definition projections of Van Gogh’s masterpeaces and images of his live, syinchronised with music. The main exhibition room is based on a new media platform SENSORY4™.
With the spirit of Van Gogh symphony, the way lead us to another great technology based attraction, the Moscow Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics. Due to the fact that the permanent exhibition was reopened in 2009, beside dioramas and mockups, more visitor orientated exhibits had been expected as well as original objects. However, worth a visit.
An album of 113 photos can be seen at my personal Facebook page.
