The Role of Technological Advances in Cultural Heritage: Focus on Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality in User Experience

Innovation and technology are acquiring a central role in the management of cultural heritage. Technological advances are driving and pushing cultural institutions to innovate their traditional systems of protection, management, and enhancement of cultural heritage, thus also by changing the methods of communication and dissemination of culture. This chapter aims to analyse the role of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) in the users’ experience of cultural heritage; in fact, the immersive potential of these new technological advances seems to be particularly significant when they are applied in educational activities for cultural heritage enhancement. The general interest in the topic, also evidenced by European, national, and regional research projects, is to identify replicable practices/tools that can be used on a large scale for the valorisation of cultural heritage. Therefore, considering the complexity of the topic, also linked to the dynamism of new technologies, it seems interesting to propose a multiple case study to understand the similarities and differences between the best practices in the application of VR/AR/MR in cultural experiences and to consequently generalise conclusions.