Artefact is a multimedia guide that enables you to interact with art objects from famous Russian museums in augmented reality format, without leaving your home. All you need now to learn details about an artwork just turn on the mobile application and point the camera at the exhibit you are interested in. Artefact will tell you a lot of interesting facts, as well as show the restoration process and previous versions of the selected piece of art. All that you can do from the comforts of your own home, without travelling far and spending on paid excursions and guides. 
The content of the Artefact application is created by the museums themselves - they can upload information about exhibits from their collections, and Artefact converts it into AR-format. The platform was developed with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the national project "Culture" 

Russian Art for the Whole World
Artefact will be most useful for foreigners. Museums can post information on exhibits in English, French, German and other languages. The Artefact mobile application turns your smartphone into an interactive guide that is ready to tell interesting facts about works of art and acquaint with the history of their creation. To start the tour, you just need to point the smartphone camera at the exhibit. You do not need to read the QR code or enter the exhibit number. Your personal guide will start working as soon as your smartphone recognizes a work of art thanks to computer vision technology. Special marks will appear on top of the image. Click on one of the selected areas, and then you will see detailed information about the author, the plot of the work and the stages of its creation. For example, the guide will tell you who is depicted in the painting, demonstrate how it looked before restoration, and show even the backside of the canvass. If another painting is hidden behind the paint layer, the application will show the canvas in the ultraviolet light range.



Stay Home and Enjoy Art
To use the application, you do not have to go to any museum. You can scan the image of an artwork in an art catalog or a postcard, select any museum from the list in the application or from a computer, find the exhibit you are interested in and read its history.
iOS users have even a greater opportunity: they can not only study works of art at home, but also place them at home as part of the interior with the help of Artefact.
Today, thanks to this platform, anyone can go on an individual excursion without leaving their homes. You can visit not only large and world famous museums such as the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the Tretyakov Gallery and the Hermitage Museum, but also unusual regional museums: the Kalashnikov Museum, the Museum of the Family of Emperor Nicholas II and many others.



How to use Artefact: Brief Instruction
To start a personal tour of the museum, you need only a few simple steps. Download the Artefact app for free on the App Store or Google Play and install on your smartphone. Launch the application and download the exhibition you are interested in. If the museum does not have Wi-Fi, you can download information about the exhibition in advance. Click the Augmented Reality button. Point the camera at the exhibit that you want to learn more about, or select it from the museum catalog. Read the history of the exhibit and interesting facts about it. 
Find more details about the Artefact mobile application on the site.