PlaceMUS XR (Digital Journey across Musical Places in Europe and Extended Realities) aims to bring Europe’s musical landmarks back to life through extended reality (XR), offering immersive experiences that intertwine sound, space, and culture. The project seeks to bridge past and future, enabling every visitor to explore Europe’s musical heritage interactively and to experience music within its original contexts.

Funded by the European Union as part of the ECHOES (European Cloud for Heritage OpEn Science) initiative, PlaceMUS XR develops advanced digital tools integrated into the ECCCH (European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage) platform.

The initiative aims to build a European network of “Musical Places” connected by historical, artistic, and cultural relationships. Through virtual and augmented reality applications, visitors will embark on a multisensory journey across cities, buildings, instruments, artworks, and soundscapes, discovering how music has shaped European spaces and imagination.

PlaceMUS XR pursues several key goals:

• To promote the appreciation of Europe’s musical heritage through interactive and multisensory experiences.
• To connect musical events, historical contexts, and real locations by creating interdisciplinary narrative pathways.
• To provide open and reusable digital tools for museums, researchers, students, and creative industries.
• To support new approaches to analyzing, designing, and engaging with sound-based experiences, integrating the humanities, social sciences, and digital technologies.

Expected outcomes
The project will develop design and simulation tools that will:

• Enable the creation, sharing, and reuse of interactive XR content and narratives.
• Analyze and enhance how audiences interact with museum and urban experiences.
• Foster collaboration and co-creation of new sound pathways and content through the ECCCH European platform.

The results of PlaceMUS XR will be accessible across three main contexts — museums, urban spaces, and the web — paving the way for a new, participatory, and immersive way of experiencing Europe’s musical heritage.

As a project partner, 3D Research is responsible for developing the virtual and augmented reality solutions. It also contributes to designing interactive tools and immersive experiences in collaboration with scientific and cultural partners.