WHAT CAN AUGMENTED REALITY TECHNOLOGY DO FOR MUSEUM VISITORS' UNDERSTANDING OF RELIGIOUS OBJECTS?

This work focuses on possible applications that could be given to augmented reality technology in museums, with a special attention to its role in presenting religious objects to visitors. Augmented reality techniques could provide access to richer descriptions of these objects, delivered in multimedia layers of information superimposed on the physical reality inside the museum. We discuss the benefits and the cautions that museum managers should have in mind when approaching AR technology and then invite readers to focus on a particular case, that of Saint Hierarch Dosoftei's Museum in NO, Romania. We propose that AR technology could fill in some gaps in the current visitor experience.