Armenian cultural heritage sites get tokenized on Solana blockchain

The Realm of Historia challenge lately introduced its intentions to make strides in preserving Armenian cultural heritage via leveraging the usage of blockchaintechnology and nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

In a departure from standard strategies, this initiative seeks to digitize historic artifacts and bodily historic websites, beginning with the Realm of Historia: Carahunge X digital asset assortment.

Cointelegraph spoke with the 2 creators of Realm of Historia, Ivan Grantovsky and Ivan Krylov, about how rising applied sciences can protect tradition and join new generations with historical past.

On the core of Realm of Historia’s effort is the Solana blockchain, which the 2 builders stated was chosen for effectivity and transparency functions.

Krylov stated a part of the inspiration for making a platform is the shortage of participating platforms that digitally current cultural heritage and are clear with how one can take part philanthropically.

“That is the half for expertise to unravel this downside. The expertise we’re speaking about is the blockchain as a result of it offers an answer for the shortage of transparency.”

The Realm of Historia: Carahunge X assortment goals to digitize the tangible essence of the Carahunge website, generally known as the Stonehenge of Armenia, which dates again to 5487 BC. All of the NFTs within the assortment mix artwork and digital variations of the stones from the bodily website.

Along with digitizing items of cultural heritage, the challenge additionally goals to help native artists in Armenia and has collaborations with entities just like the Yerevan Biennial Artwork Basis (YBAF), A1 Artwork House and Latitude Artwork House.

1 | Born in Yerevan, Armenia, amidst a household of artists, Lilit Eghiazaryan’s journey within the realm of artwork was predestined pic.twitter.com/LEwznJfVB5

— Realm of Historia (@RealmofHistoria) December 8, 2023

The founders of Realm of Historia stated they see this challenge enjoying a pivotal function in bridging cultural divides, empowering native artists and showcasing Armenia’s cultural richness via rising tech.

“Crucial factor is that our tasks are in regards to the real-life influence, that you simply do one thing digitally and it impacts the true world.”

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The challenge has a physical-digital side within the type of a QR code accompanying every NFT that may be scanned and redeemed in native cafes, museums and different websites in Armenia which have partnered with the challenge, they stated.

“You’re not solely serving to the world and cultural preservation, however you’re part of a group.”

This initiative aligns with a broader international pattern recognizing blockchain’s potential in cultural heritage preservation. The decentralized and clear nature of blockchain ensures a dependable report of historic belongings, guaranteeing their unaltered accessibility for future generations.

In an identical challenge in Ukraine, a neighborhood artwork museum used blockchain digitization and NFTs to doc and protect artwork and cultural heritage throughout wartime.

Extra lately, The Sandbox Web3 metaverse platform collaborated with the British Museum to deliver artwork and historical past to the metaverse in physical-digital experiences.

The workforce behind Realm of Historia additionally plans to construct “The Atrium” or a “digital museum corridor” the place customers can enter a 3D foyer devoted to cultural heritage and the websites represented by the challenge.

“You possibly can say, the digital ark for cultural heritage. The Atrium is aimed to attract the eye of the youthful era.”

In 2022, the island of Tuvalu, which is quickly sinking into the ocean, introduced related plans to construct a digital model of itself to protect its historical past because it faces erasure as a result of local weather change.

The Realm of Historia founders stated their aim is to ultimately transcend Armenia and construct collections “all over the place we will everywhere in the world.” They stated they’re in talks about potential preservation tasks in Malta, Italy, Cambodia and Georgia.