Summer 1939. Master Sergeant Wojciech Najsarek is a stationmaster at the Westerplatte railway station. Thanks to the 3D models we created for the Museum of WW2 in Gdansk, Poland, we can visit the Military Transit Depot at Westerplatte just weeks before it was attacked by Nazi Germany, the beginning of what turned out to be a 6-year long world war.
The Digital Westerplatte project consists of recreated 3D virtual models and scenes from Military Transit Depot art. It’s part of a larger platform – World Battlefield Museum Forum bringing together museums and institutions that serve as the custodians of battlefield heritage around the world. The VR content is a digitally reconstructed fragment of the Westerplatte Military Transit Depot from 1939. It includes details such as a tiled stove modeled on the recently excavated fragments of original tiles, or furnishings of the Stationmaster’s office. You can view and tour the virtual station building, the area in front of the railway gate, warehouses, and nearby buildings.
The VR content is a digitally reconstructed fragment of the Westerplatte Military Transit Depot from 1939. It includes details such as a tiled stove modeled on the recently excavated fragments of original tiles, or furnishings of the Stationmaster’s office. You can view and tour the virtual station building, the area in front of the railway gate, warehouses, and nearby buildings.
Introducing a voice-over for comments and storytelling adds important details to the VR presentation. You can follow and relate to the little-known, tragic story of Westerplatte’s Stationmaster sergeant Wojciech Najsarek. Individual scenes and narratives let viewers relive and participate in the attack on Westerplatte’s railway gate and in pushing back the German attack by the „Wał” outpost.
The Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk was the first in the world to launch a project that merges VR and AR technologies for digitally recreated historical events and sites. The 3D graphics uploaded onto the sketchfab.com platform are among the top 10 best projects in the world in the Cultural and Historical Heritage in the 2020 section.
Thousands of people viewed the presentation within the first three weeks of its release. It’s available for any device: computer, smartphone, or 3D VR goggles
Cultural institutions of the 21st century should follow the spirit of the times and address the needs of the younger generation. New technologies in the Museum of the Second World War answer the challenges of the COVID 19 pandemic, which calls for modern and effective ways of reaching the audience in the virtual space willing to actively engage and participate culturally.
Visit the Digital Westerplatte on wbmf.online and Sketchfab.
