In 1917, World War I led to the collapse of the Russian Empire and eventually to a civil war in the country. Finland declared its independence on December 6, 1917, but for various reasons, it also descended into civil war. The Finnish Civil War was fought in January-May 1918 between the forces led by the Finnish Senate and the Finnish People’s Delegation. The Senate’s armed forces were also known as the White forces and the People’s Delegation’s forces as the Finnish Red Guard, or Reds.
The deciding battle of the Finnish Civil War was fought in Tampere in late March to early April 1918. Tampere, as a major industrial city, was a main stronghold of the Reds. It was also a crucial logistical hub for the Reds’ frontline. The Whites won the battle and conquered Tampere, which led to the eventual collapse of the Reds’ forces during April and May 1918. Museum Centre Vapriikki has already published several virtual exhibitions on the 1918 Civil War theme (www.tampere1918.fi/en). In the x-CITE project, the storytelling will be extended with the role of Tampere Cathedral.
Tampere Cathedral in the 1910s before the Finnish Civil War (© Vapriikki photo archives)
During the war, the cathedral served as a refuge for local people as well as for refugees from nearby rural areas. About 2000 civilians sought safety within the stone walls during the bombing of the city and fighting on the streets. Vapriikki’s new virtual exhibition will focus on the experiences and stories of these people during the Battle of Tampere. New technologies will bring the stories to life in a never-before-seen way.
Tampere Cathedral and its surrounding areas will be 3D modelled, and scenes depicting the stories of civilians will be filmed with live action actors. The scenes will be placed in the virtual 3D cathedral for the users to experience. Whenever feasible, existing 3D scans of the city of Tampere will be used as resources for the 3D model. Parts of the exhibition will also be gamified. The main development platform of the project is Unreal Engine 5. In addition to manual modelling, we will also experiment with photogrammetry, camera-equipped drones and laser scanning. The possibility of combining parts of the virtual exhibition with physical tours in the cathedral as well as the use of AR technologies is also being investigated.
Scan of the interior of Tampere Cathedral (© Tampereen Infra)
Stay tuned! In the coming months, we will publish more stories on the progress of Tampere use cases on our website and LinkedIn page.
