The Inside the Mansion mobile app developed using augmented and virtual reality technologies is now available for
Android users.
The app was developed as part of the program of GlavUpDK under the MFA of Russia to popularize cultural heritage sites supervised by the Enterprise. GlavUpDK supervises more than 130 Moscow mansions, which mainly house diplomatic missions of foreign states, making these mansions inaccessible to Russians.
Zinaida Morozova’s Mansion (17 Spiridonovka Street) designed by the architect Fyodor Schechtel was chosen as a pilot project. Today, this beautiful Moscow building is used as the Reception House of the MFA of Russia to host high-level international meetings. Users now can download the mobile app to “walk” through this building, which has become a symbol of Russian diplomacy abroad.
The app includes:
· An immersive audio performance, consisting of 14 chapters, set in 5 different halls.
· 29 digitized interior elements, including unique works by Mikhail Vrubel.
· 4 educational blocks about the history of the mansion, the lives of Savva Morozov and his wife Zinaida, Fyodor Schechtel and Mikhail Vrubel.
· The map of cultural heritage sites supervised by GlavUpDK.
The user can choose the plot of the performance and the guide - the Snake or the Dog - these mythical images decorate the staircase of the mansion's entrance hall and welcome its visitors.
In each of the halls, the user is greeted by the neural network-aminated owners and creators of the mansion, who share their personal stories:
· Zinaida Morozova (Fireplace Hall - this was a dining room where the whole family often used to gather) will talk about family values, the role of a woman in the household and love for children.
· Savva Morozov (Bogaevsky Hall is the only hall that got a new design after the house was sold to Konstantin Bogaevsky) will share his thoughts about professional success and qualities that help you be successful in life.
· Fyodor Schechtel (White Hall, where the hostess often welcomed guests) will speak about happiness and a positive outlook on life, hope for the best.
· Mikhail Vrubel (next to his work - a sculpture based on the opera Robert the Devil by Italian composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, decorating the main staircase) will explain the throes and the power of art, but also the joy that creative activity brings.
Visitors will hear both monologues about unshakable values that remain relevant today and interesting historical facts.
As part of the performance, users will also need to collect objects associated with the mansion. For example, one of the chapters features a copy of a key that is still used today. The sound accompaniment also contributes to creating a great atmosphere with its audio theater playing the sounds relevant to the era - the clock that strikes in the fireplace room every 15 minutes, and a fragment of a Feodor Chaliapin’s performance, who used to sing there for the owners of the house and their guests.
GlavUpDK is already adding new places to the app as voters have chosen for the new performance to be delivered in the Fyodor Schechtel’s house at Ermolaevsky Lane.