Project

Researchers and students at the Department of Media (Media Lab Helsinki) in Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, have created an interactive, real-time, virtual reality simulation about the Vrouw Maria shipwreck. The Vrouw Maria was a 18th Century Dutch vessel that sank in Finnish waters on its way to Saint Petersburg bearing a precious cargo destined for the Empress Catherine the Great of Russia.

The simulation has been created as part of the exhibition Spoil of Riches – Stories of the Vrouw Maria and the St. Michel to be held at the Maritime Museum of Finland located in the grand Maritime Centre Vellamo in Kotka. The dates of the exhibition are 25 April – 02 December, 2012. The exhibition seeks to portray trading in the Baltic Sea area during the Age of Enlightment.

The work on the simulation is a continuation of work began by the Vrouw Maria Underwater Project in 2009. It is also part of the research done by the Media Lab Helsinki Systems of Representation research group on the theme of digital cultural heritage.