International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

This study presents a framework for the digital profiling and online representation of traditional Bulgarian belt buckles (pafti) through the integration of structured cultural data and accessible 3D visualization approaches. The research is positioned within the context of Industry 4.0, where digital transformation, data-driven methodologies, and virtual representation increasingly influence the preservation and interpretation of cultural heritage. Traditional ethnographic artifacts are often documented through fragmented textual descriptions and static photographs, limiting their accessibility and analytical potential in digital environments. The proposed approach combines ethnographic documentation with data structuring and digital visualization techniques. Cultural attributes such as regional affiliation, ornamentation, material composition, decorative elements, and object form are organized into a structured descriptive model suitable for digital analysis and presentation. In parallel, the study applies a low-cost photogrammetry workflow for creating a digital representation of selected artifacts, supported by online visualization through a web-based environment and QR-based access. The results demonstrate how traditional cultural objects can be transformed into structured digital entities that support visualization, accessibility, and interactive exploration. The study highlights the potential of combining cultural heritage research with digital technologies in order to create accessible models for the preservation and presentation of ethnographic artifacts within contemporary digital ecosystems.

This study presents the development of an AI-assisted digital guide designed to support cultural and religious tourism through the integration of interactive mapping and text-to-speech technologies. The project focuses on the cultural heritage of the city of Svishtov, Bulgaria, where several historically significant temples and monasteries are organized into a structured digital cultural route. Historical and descriptive information about each site was collected from local historiography and field observations and subsequently transformed into a digital format suitable for web presentation. An interactive map created in Google Maps allows users to visualize the spatial distribution of the sites and navigate the cultural route. In addition, an AI-generated audio guide based on text-to-speech technologies provides accessible audio narration for each location, enhancing the interpretive experience for visitors. The platform integrates visual content, geographic navigation, and automated voice narration within a single digital environment. The proposed approach demonstrates how artificial intelligence tools and interactive mapping technologies can support the interpretation of cultural heritage, improve the accessibility of historical information, and create engaging digital experiences for visitors. The study highlights the potential of combining digital humanities approaches with modern AI technologies for the promotion of local cultural heritage and the development of innovative tourism applications.

Ultimately, digitizing cultural heritage is not just about preservation; it is about enriching the cultural narrative, making it inclusive, and ensuring that knowledge and appreciation of our shared history are passed down to future generations. Digitization involves advanced techniques such as 3D scanning, high-resolution photography, and digital modeling. These technologies help create accurate and detailed representations of cultural assets, ensuring that the digital versions retain the original’s integrity and details. Ensuring high reliability for small-sized objects is a crucial challenge in digitizing cultural heritage sites, especially when dealing with objects that lack movement, transporting, low ambient light conditions, reflective material, etc. By incorporating three-dimensional models into the research and dissemination process, cultural heritage institutions can make their work more appealing and accessible to a wider audience, fostering greater appreciation and understanding of our shared cultural heritage.

The topic of digitalization of heritage is one of the pressing issues regarding the protection and development of culture. Digitalization is making Europe’s cultural resources an important pillar of the digital economy and improving public access to the various forms of heritage and interaction between heritage and public. Heritage stored into the memory institutions with the advancement of digital technologies and communications, require a new “read”, in expanded historical, geographical, scientific, but already and technological context. In this sense, the research perspective that defines the present study views the world of digitalised cultural artefacts as a technologically mediated way not only of documenting, but also as a new way of telling stories and disseminating cultural knowledge in the form of virtual heritage (VH).

Cultural heritage often becomes a victim of armed conflicts either by collateral damage or by deliberate destruction and looting. As a consequence of the terrorist attacks of recent years – especially the large-scale and widely broadcasted iconoclastic destruction perpetrated by ISIL/Daesh in Iraq and Syria – their protection gradually became part of the international security policy agenda. Proving the symbolic significance of these attacks, they have been often claimed both as acts against the peaceful coexistence of different religions and cultures in the region and as an insult against Western civilisation and multilateral bodies which the meticulously drawn-up discourse of the terrorist group strongly underpinned. Using the securitization theory as a framework, the aim of this paper is to analyze through discursive means the reaction of different international political actors – especially France, Italy, UN and UNESCO – over the attacks of the terrorist organisation, arguing that a continuous securitization process has been taking place as regards the safeguarding of cultural heritage.