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The colorful history writing is on the wall in these Hanseatic towns

Tribute to the past with an augmented contemporary twist 

You don’t need to visit a museum to see some exceptional art. Occasionally you run into it on the streets. A talented street artist transforms a mundane gray wall into a painting fit for admiring at an art gallery. Fourteen Hanseatic towns in the Netherlands and Germany cranked it up a notch with the creative help of Dutch Rose Media and 4DR Studios. Now, these walls are literally radiated with the glorious past, some even come to life. Thanks to augmented reality. 

Let’s refresh. During the early Middle Ages, merchants in, among others, the Netherlands and Germany formed the Hanseatic League. Affiliated cities jointly purchased merchandise, thus enforcing favorable terms. Also, they transshipped the merchandise by troops, minimizing the risk of piracy. The Hanseatic towns gained fortune and stature through these advantages, slowly changing into influential, thriving trade centers filled with gracious merchant houses and impressive trade offices. Artists flocked to these promising towns, bringing them also to artistic bloom. 

Wall sized murals

In 2023, 800 years after the first cooperation, a variety of Hanseatic towns in the Dutch-German border region pay a modern homage to this history. Funded by the European subsidy scheme INTERREG that enables spatial planning and regional development. Tourism Veluwe Arnhem Nijmegen received a subsidy to strengthen the regional Hanseatic cooperation. To this end, fourteen Hanseatic towns were adorned with wall-sized murals looking back on yesterday, with a modern-day twist. All different, all unique, but all bearing distinct family resemblances.

De Strakke Hand (The Steady Hand) is the well-chosen name of the artists’ collective behind the unique murals in the Hanseatic towns. All works of art are based on a picture of two current residents dressed in period clothing. In Cake city Deventer, a young supporter of Go Ahead Eagles tucks into a piece of Deventer cake. In Maasbommel basket weavers practice their skills at the recreational lake De Gouden Ham. 

Reluctant chair

In their two-dimensional state, the murals are intriguing eyecatchers. Still, the Hanseatic towns sought to enhance and enliven the experience through augmented reality. Work cut out for Dutch Rose Media and 4DR Studios to develop a dynamic augmented reality experience, including a smartphone app. We filmed two German and two Dutch actors and the various props needed for the stories at our volumetric video stage. The professional actors made work pleasant and filming relatively easy. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for all props; some called for extra creativity. Take that beach chair in the Emmerik aan de Rijn experience. The fabric turned out to be too thin, creating optical holes during filming. In the end, a strategically placed towel worked wonders.  

After all the footage was filmed and polished, we added the final shots to the app, ready for use. And using the application couldn’t be easier. While visiting the site, the user scans the mural, and promptly holograms of the Dutch or German actors pop up. Sharing wonderful tales of the city’s history. Stories of the renowned bed manufacturer Auping in Deventer, for instance. Once back home, the app allows you to relive the scenic murals and storytelling over and over again. New, surprising experiences and information are also unlocked about all other Hanseatic towns. A nice trigger to discover those cities as well! 

What’s your story? 

This creative experience perfectly shows how volumetric video allows us to bring the past back to life in an urban setting. Opening the doors to unique city marketing that pulls users in through augmented reality and storytelling filled with unexpected encounters. Triggered to tell the story of your city or organization in such a compelling manner? We love to brainstorm with you!