Never before has the history of the Great Northern War been comprehensively delved and presented as at Museum Gottorf Castle, Schleswig. A further highlight of the exhibition that has just been opened is the auto-controlled visitor support via tablet PC. This is based on a modern technology that is used here for the first time to this extent in the museum sector.
In 1715 the Swedes, involved in the northern war, were in a desperate situation. They had to sink their hors de combat flagship »Hedvig Sofia«, named after the Princess of Gottorf. In 2008, the ship was rediscovered in the Baltic Sea, which gave opportunity to revive the complex history about the war, power, and life of that time, as well as the current archaeological efforts. All this can be experienced in the exhibition »Von Degen, Segel und Kanonen« (Aboutswords, sails, and cannons) at Gottorf Castle in Schleswig until October 4th, 2015.
References between the events of the past and their effects on the present play a significant role in this exhibition – and demand an equally lively presentation. We were entrusted with this challenging task, and Carsten Dempewolf and his team relied on the use of multimedia support and simple recognition technology, which is in the context of a museum rather unusual.
Near Field Communication (NFC) enables the tablet PC carried along to always find the visitor’s location in the exhibition. At the entrance of the exhibition you only have to select one out of six languages to get started and to wise yourself up at specially marked exhibits. The selection of, for example, exhibit numbers is omitted. The linking of exhibit and further information material is carried out almost automatically by the recognition of the NFC system.
Equipped with the tablet PC, the exhibition visitors become underwater archaeologists and explore all contents on their own from the baroque court and life at sea to today’s unclaimed relics at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Another advantage of the system is the improved usage by the museum staff. Rapid tablet activation and low maintenance will save valuable time. In addition to this, the content is easily integrated into the Content Management System (CMS). Updates and changes can be implemented at any time by the staff.
After just four weeks, the courage to use NFC technology has been rewarded with a positive visitor resonance. And the exhibitors are also satisfied. »It is an intelligent solution for the separation of information and object levels,« says Carsten Dempewolf, adding: »For us, an exhibition is a closely linked experience of exhibits, content, multimedia, and scenography.«