Challenge
The Koknese castle ruins are one of Latvia's most significant medieval monuments, yet only ruins remain of the original castle. Visitors often arrive with great enthusiasm but leave confused:
what did it look like? What happened here? What was daily life like?
Visit Koknese wanted to change this experience, making the visit memorable and informative without altering the ruins themselves.
Solution
In collaboration with historians and animators, we created a digital display with an 8-minute animation that visually reveals the castle's evolution over more than 800 years. The animation covers four key historical chapters: the castle's heyday and daily life, the courtyard and interior, historical events, military attacks, collapses and flooding, and the castle's transformation from a wooden fortress to a stone structure and finally a cultural heritage monument.
The display makes history visually compelling and accessible to all audiences, available without a guide, at any time, independently. The solution is suited to on-site ruins as well as exhibition halls and tourism centres.
Technologies
The castle's 3D model was created based on archaeological excavations, historical documents and analogous European castle structures. The finishing and lighting reflect medieval interior research.
Result
The experience was installed at the Koknese tourist information center and made available to visitors during the season. In the first season, it was used by more than 1,000 visitors, with overwhelmingly positive reviews, especially from families with children and foreign tourists.
The project received media attention and was presented at Latvian tourism industry events as an example of best practice.
