TEO: Your company, Histovery, is known for its significant strides in the field of augmented visit experiences for cultural venues, with the tool you have created, the HistoPad. Could you tell us about this experience and how it has led you to creating travelling exhibitions?
B.M.: Our Histopad tool gives visitors the possibility to immerse themselves in the past and encounter historical figures in a new way, through augmented reality and interactivity. For example, visitors can meet Francis I of France at Chambord or at the Royal Castle of Amboise, discover the history of the Conciergerie in Paris where Marie-Antoinette was held during the French Revolution or the Alamo’s new installation at the Long Barracks in Texas. The Histopad has been distributed to more than three million people in 2023, in museums, castles, and historical sites, thanks to 18 partnerships in France, Germany, in the United States and soon in Belgium with our new project at Dinant’s Citadel.
Over the past four years, we’ve expanded our reach beyond permanent installations, bringing our augmented experiences to a broader international audience through temporary exhibitions. We have developed two touring exhibitions, D-Day: Freedom from Above and Notre-Dame de Paris, the Augmented Exhibition, and we are currently working on several exciting new projects slated for 2026, 2027, and beyond.
How did the Notre-Dame de Paris exhibition come to life?
The project for this exhibition came from the tragic fire that severely damaged Notre-Dame Cathedral in April 2019. The global outpouring of grief led us to ask, “how can technology allow people to still experience the cathedral while it’s being restored?”. From this question, we embarked on a project that would offer visitors a journey through 850 years of history, from the medieval construction of the cathedral to the ongoing restoration efforts.
Backed by a scientific committee composed of leading experts, the project was made possible thanks to the support of the L’Oréal Group and through a close collaboration with the Public Body responsible for Notre-Dame’s restoration, which granted our team exclusive access to the site. the content was carefully validated to ensure historical accuracy in each period.
What kind of experience does the Notre-Dame de Paris exhibition provide to visitors?
Through 20 interactive and 360° immersive experiences accessible via “time portals”, visitors can witness the cathedral’s early construction in the 12th century, the Renaissance, the French Revolution, the Imperial coronation, and the modern era. These scenes, rich in historical and architectural details, allow audiences to explore the craftsmanship of past and present builders with very precise explanations and quality 3D content. The experience integrates interactive features such as the treasure hunt and historical selfie opportunities.
While the core content remains consistent across all venues, 16 in total for now, we regularly update it to reflect the latest developments in the cathedral’s restoration. From the first presentation in Dubai to the most recent in Beijing, Tokyo and New York, we’ve continually added images, texts, and descriptions to ensure the exhibition remains fresh and closely connected to Notre-Dame’s reconstruction story.
The exhibition is available in 14 languages and integrates specific options for visitors with disabilities. For example, in Japan we work closely with the museum teams to create devices and 3D models for blind people.
Visitors can witness the cathedral's early construction in the 12th century, the Renaissance, the French Revolution, the Imperial coronation, and the modern era.
One specificity of your work is that you focus particularly on visitor feedback and experience adaptation. Could you tell us about this approach?
Each venue is unique; we work closely with local museum teams to adapt the scenography to fit their space. Whether the exhibition occupies 150 or 800 square meters, our internal scenographers tailor the design to provide a comfortable and engaging experience in each venue. This is a central component of our touring strategy, as it allows for maximum flexibility and adaptability to the venues’ prerequisites.
Also, in today’s museum landscape, understanding and engaging with visitors is more important than ever. Through the HistoPad, we provide institutions with valuable data on visitor experiences, preferences, and behaviour. Our system, developed in-house, offers both quantitative and qualitative insights, allowing museums to segment their audiences and gather feedback through post-experience surveys. This data helps institutions refine their marketing and outreach efforts. It has been particularly useful for institutions that are collecting visitor information for the first time. On our side, it helps us to continually improve the visitor experience and refine our content based on user feedback.
The exhibition has been touring to many venues internationally, from Asia to North America. Could you tell us about the tour, and the feedback you received on the experience?
The exhibition premiered at the World Expo in Dubai, where it was visited by 150,000 guests in a month. The full world tour began in Paris at the Collège des Bernardins, where more than 60,000 visitors experienced the show, before travelling to institutions such as the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., the Historic New Orleans Collection, The Grand Garden Palace in Dresden, Bund 18 in Shanghai, the Maison de France in Berlin, the Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City, the Arsenal Contemporary Art in Montreal, the Royal Saltwork of Arc-et-Senans, Westminster Abbey in London, CentroCentro in Madrid, the Museu do Som e da Imagem in Sao Paulo and the National Palace Museum in Seoul. It has just been presented at the National Museum of China, and is currently presented in Miraikan Museum in Japan and Cathedral St John the Divine in New York. And in a few days, it will open simultaneously in both Hong Kong and Melbourne.
Everywhere the exhibition has been shown, visitors of all ages, children and adults alike, have responded with enthusiasm and curiosity. Frequent feedback we receive from visitors is that they feel like active participants in their visit with the HistoPad, and that they are very pleased with both the technology and the depth of the content (see visitors reactions’ at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.). Press and social media coverage has been very positive too, recognising the work of Histovery’s artists and developers –a team of 30 people – in bringing this project to life (watch our Making-of movie to discover the behind-the-scenes effort).
Our system [...] offers both quantitative and qualitative insights, allowing museums to segment their audiences and gather feedback through post-experience surveys.
Are you planning for the development of new travelling experiences based on augmented technology and interactivity for the coming years?
Notre-Dame de Paris is a unique project, but it’s part of a broader approach we’ve developed at Histovery. Our model allows us to leverage content from our 18 partner institutions to create augmented exhibitions on-demand, expanding the reach of their stories nationally or internationally. For example, our first touring exhibition, D-Day: Freedom from Above, which was just presented at the National Museum of the U.S. Army on its North American tour, was adapted from permanent content created for the Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mère-Église, in Normandy. Our model allows us to respond to specific needs with content from different sites, which we can even combine. It would for example be possible to create an exhibition with our content from the Loire Valley castles, Chambord, Blois, Amboise, Loches and Chinon.
Following on from the success of the Notre-Dame and D-Day tours, we are thrilled to announce the launch of a new project: American Revolution, the Augmented Exhibition. Slated to debut in 2026, this project will coincide with the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, presenting a comprehensive timeline of the 20-year period that shaped the nation. Through immersive augmented experiences, visitors will explore key moments in history and meet influential figures who contributed to the birth of the United States of America. The exhibition will not only recount well-known events, but it will also shed light on lesser-known stories and perspectives, ensuring a nuanced and inclusive narrative. We are honoured to have two Pulitzer Prize-winning authors joining our scientific committee, Stacy Schiff and Joseph Ellis. Their expertise, along with that of other renowned historians and curators, will ensure the exhibition offers a historically accurate, dynamic and engaging experience. Several institutions have already shown great interest, and we’re excited to confirm that the tour will start in prominent museums.
Exhibitions mentioned
Notre-Dame de Paris, the Augmented Exhibition, by Histovery
D-Day: Freedom from Above, by Histovery
American Revolution, the Augmented Exhibition, by Histovery
About the authors & contributors
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Bruno de Sa Moreira
Bruno cofounded Histovery with Edouard Lussan in 2014, to specialize in the design, production and distribution of the HistoPad, an innovative “Augmented Visit” solution using Augmented Reality, original 3D content and Digital Data, with historical accuracy and scientific validation by committees of curators and historians.
With Bruno acting as CEO, Histovery has become the world leading provider of “Augmented Visit” solutions for the cultural industry, with the HistoPad being used in major cultural destinations by millions of visitors, mostly in France, but also in Germany. With its new Augmented Exhibitions concept using the HistoPad, the company is also active internationally, including in the USA.