RETOLD

In 2022 we developed banners which explained the project goals and the partners. In 2023 it was time to start working on (one of the) the topics, which is Documenting Houses. The last step - in 2024 - was showing the crafts of RETOLD museums members.

We are developing methods to document crafts in museums. We like to share online what is happening out there as there are some pretty amazing craftspeople showing very cool stuff.

In September, the six RETOLD partners met in Germany. With a little over 12 months to go, we realised there were some issues. Our biggest challenge is to make an app which works for open-air museums. The technique on the one side must fit with the museum reality on the other.

In the museum village Düppel (Berlin, Germany), we are currently carrying out a structural damage assessment to evaluate the condition of our reconstructed houses. The 13 houses were built using methods from experimental archaeology, in the years between 1976 and 2008 according to the model of medieval farmhouses. Care was taken to retain the floor plans of the houses found during excavations and to rebuilt the reconstructed houses in their original locations. As the buildings are exposed to the weather and are often used in the museum, their condition is regularly checked and repairs are carried out.

RETOLD will last four years only. In December 2022, the third year commenced. We did a lot, but ended the year, knowing which challenges were left unsolved.

With the RETOLD project approaching its last year and our product (the App for documenting) expected to be ready by March 2024, we decided to design a communication plan until the end of the project. Through all platforms and by reaching our audience and target groups, we provide weekly explanations about the project, its necessity and the app.

We will show various aspects, which will make it interesting for many. The big launch is scheduled for September 2024 in the Netherlands. So if you are wondering what is happening, keep an eye on our social media. Every week you will find a short blog explaining what we have done, and what is going on right now!

During the RETOLD conference at Steinzeitpark Dithmarschen (September 2023), XYZ Technical Art Services continued their series of photogrammetry training sessions for museum partners who want to digitally capture their museum inventory.

During the workshop, volunteers and museum staff gained hands-on experience of taking photos suitable for photogrammetry. These photos are then processed in commercial or open-source stitching software, which “reads” the visual features in the photos and reconstructs the camera angles from which the photos were taken. The resulting point cloud can then be further processed into a textured 3D mesh.

It has been a busy year for the RETOLD project. We work with documenting, digitising and sharing stories of open-air museums. After having met in the ASTRA museum in Sibiu, Romania, in spring 2023, and in Museumsdorf Düppel in Berlin, Germany, in summer, we met in Steinzeitpark Dithmarschen, Germany in early autumn. 

EXARC is looking for a few open-air museums willing to test our new app in the coming weeks. The app is to document buildings: you mostly use photos and a sequence of questions for the initial setting up of a house, which then is followed by for example notes on maintenance. In the end, this app is meant to manage a digital documentation of the stories of both archaeological open-air museums and historical, skansen-type, open-air museums.