XR culture
Reimagining Europe’s Cultural Legacy Through AI, 3D Digitization and Extended Reality.
Supporting the deployment of the common data space for cultural heritage.
Innovating 3D, AI, and XR for Cultural Heritage.
XRculture is a cutting-edge initiative working to enhance Europe’s shared digital cultural space using innovative 3D technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and extended reality (XR).
We focus on three main areas:
- Using artificial intelligence to create high-quality 3D models.
- Building an open framework for 3D visualization.
- Designing and testing ways in which extended reality can be used in education, tourism, and the preservation of cultural heritage.
The project brings together a diverse group of experts in digital innovation and cultural heritage, uniting public institutions, research centres, and private companies from across Europe.
XRculture is funded by the European Commission's Digital Europe Programme. A key initiative of this programme is the Common European Data Space for Cultural Heritage (DSCH), which supports the digital transformation of Europe's cultural sector and promotes the creation and re-use of cultural content.
Solutions
From Smart 3D Capture to Seamless XR Delivery.
AI for 3D
Smarter Digitisation of Cultural Heritage
XRculture uses cutting-edge AI to revolutionise 3D digitisation of cultural heritage, focusing on complex objects like transparent, reflective, or textureless artefacts.
To achieve this, XRculture employs cutting-edge techniques such as NeRF and Gaussian Splatting, to create high-quality 3D models and enhance existing ones with improved textures, geometry, and visual fidelity. Optimisation workflows ensure these models are lightweight and ready for immersive XR experiences — including multiplayer, web-based, and holographic formats.
XRculture Middleware
Standardising Access to 3D Cultural Heritage
The XRculture Middleware provides the technical backbone for managing, visualising, and sharing complex 3D cultural heritage data. It supports the storage and organisation of diverse digital assets—like 3D meshes, textures, metadata, and geospatial data—using interoperable standards and ontologies to ensure integration across platforms and projects.
At its core is a custom Middleware protocol that standardises communication between front-end 3D web viewers and back-end storage systems, enabling flexible and scalable visualisation. This protocol is implemented in tools such as the INCEPTION BIM viewer and WEAVER 3D viewer, ensuring compatibility with the Common European Data Space for Cultural Heritage.
The solution also includes tools to support the aggregation and publishing of content, including connectors and microservices, and enables advanced XR capabilities like holographic projections through automated 3D-to-2D video conversion.
Built on standardised metadata and open technologies, XRculture’s Middleware ensures interoperability, scalability, and long-term digital preservation.
Real-World Applications of 3D and XR.
- 3D digitisation and XR in cultural heritage. The use cases apply XR technologies in real-world heritage contexts to test project tools and create immersive experiences for education, tourism, and cultural outreach.
- XR for heritage at risk. We are exploring how XR can support training and education in documenting cultural heritage under extreme conditions, building on 4CH project tools to protect heritage at risk through guided 3D capture and metadata collection..
- XR for heritage tourism. We bring cultural heritage to life through AR holograms, using the 3DWEAVER viewer and simple foldable kits to create stunning, mobile-friendly experiences—making history more engaging and accessible to everyone, anywhere.
- XR for dispersed heritage. We explore how cutting-edge mixed reality tools like Meta Quest 3 can bring together scattered cultural heritage—blending the digital and physical to create powerful, immersive experiences that deepen understanding and connect people across time and place.
- XR for education. We create hands-on activities that help educators and cultural professionals use 3D and XR tools in the classroom, making cultural heritage more engaging and accessible—especially for lost or at-risk sites—while also exploring how these technologies impact learning and emotional connection.