This paper introduces a case in which cultural

heritage is communicated by combining historical narrative with

Mixed Reality (MR) technology. The art of representing

intangible heritage and making abstract and complex

transformations comprehensible with MR technology is being

discussed through a case example. MR application Sanan seppä

(“Wordsmith”) represents the history of the Protestant

Reformation in Finland (1527 onwards). The application has

been implemented inside the Turku Cathedral in Southwest

Finland.

The application offers a set of short scenes appearing in

different places inside the Cathedral. Technically, the app runs in

a tablet computer, and it is based on a 3D game engine. Bluetooth

beacons are used for coarse positioning, and 3D point cloud

technology is applied for markerless tracking. The app supports

social media services and includes links to background

information about the characters and events within the story.

We argue that MR technology is more than well suitable for

communicating both tangible and intangible cultural heritage. In

our case example we examine how different kinds of cultural

heritage connected with the reformation can be visualized and

made more comprehensible. In practice, this means combining

the Turku Cathedral, objects within it and digital elements with

MR enables showing how the reformation has affected both

Finnish culture and material surroundings.

The changes inside a church space – the tangible proof of

changes brought by reformation – are rather easy to depict but

even more immaterial things like customs or opinions can be

made visible. With the help of the 3D characters the Sanan seppä

application shows how the reformation could have affected the

everyday life of people from different backgrounds. Thus the MR

application makes the past appear more polyphonic than in more

traditional ways of mediating the past. Reference material from

various sources has been used when creating the application, and

users of the application are provided with information about the

sources used.