The laboratory is officially opened in March 2005. It is established within the framework of the biennial project Encouraging the Use of the New Methodology in the teaching, Preservation and Promotion of Cultural and Environmental Heritage, funded by British Council Bulgaria through the British Council Cultural and Environmental Heritage Fund for South East Europe. The project is implemented by a team of specialists from the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, the Association for Cultural Tourism and ICOMOS / Bulgaria, in partnership with the British Council Bulgaria, under the leadership of prof. arch. Todor Krastev, DSc. In 2008 its technology platform is developed within the project Heritage: ESPRIT. The Laboratory is equipped with new specialised technology supporting the processes of the cultural heritage conservation – technological kit for laser measurements; digital spherical camera.
The entire base of the Multimedia Laboratory for Cultural Heritage is actively used for education of students in Architecture and Urbanism in subjects related to cultural heritage at the "History and Theory of Architecture" Department.
The Multimedia Laboratory for Cultural Heritage implements specialised surveys of cultural heritage sites with a spherical camera (Spheron VR). It provides fully synchronous photo documentation of the objects’ interior and exterior spaces. The spherical photo documentation possesses many advantages and offers numerous opportunities for practical application:
• improved completion of the documentary archive for the site for the needs of scientific knowledge;
• effective and accessible means of systematic scientific monitoring of the site – it can be used for a comparative analysis of the site’s condition before, during and after the conservation intervention, to track degradation processes and their control, to carry out public monitoring of its conservation;
• creation of a popular form of presentation of the site to the general public;
• accumulation of information resources as a basis for future creative solutions for virtual and interactive representation of the site (in a museum or other environment).
The Multimedia Laboratory for Cultural Heritage is actively involved in various projects related to the conservation of cultural heritage in partnership, the most important of which are:
2005: Multimedia Exhibition “The Heritage of South East Europe” within the Regional Forum "Cultural Corridors of South East Europe", Varna;
2006: Creating a website and multimedia product "Children and the Cultural Heritage of South East Europe" (Treasure Quest – www.heriquest.com), developed with the support of British Council Bulgaria, The Grand Prix of the international web festival in Albena, 2006;
2006: Developing a website "Cultural Corridors of South East Europe" (www.seecorridors.eu), with the help of the Luxembourg Government, the European Institute of Cultural Routes and the Ministry of Culture;
2007-2008: Cultural Heritage: Education – Science – Preservation – Integrated in Tourism (Heritage: ESPRIT), selected in a competition of the Ministry of Science and Culture, Second prize at scientific and educational expo 2008.