Free audio tour about Jelgava's history launched
Jelgava resident Guntars Gulbis has used artificial intelligence tools to create a free audio tour about the history of Jelgava and its role in the founding of the Latvian state. The route has 16 historic stops and is available on the Tours Across Baltics platform.
A free audio tour titled "Jelgava – the Cradle of Latvian Statehood" has been created in Jelgava, a city in Latvia. It covers the city's history and its role in the formation of the Latvian state. The tour was produced with artificial intelligence (AI) tools by Jelgava resident Guntars Gulbis, with the support of the Jelgava municipality, which announced the project.
What the route includes
The tour has 16 historic stops. They include the railway station, Jelgava Palace, Duke Jacob Square, the tower of the Holy Trinity Church, Academia Petrina, the Latvian Society House, Lielā Street and the Brothers' Cemetery. At each stop, visitors can listen to a narration in Latvian and watch a short video with visualisations of the historic places and events.
In the videos, historic photographs have been animated, the earlier appearance of some buildings has been reconstructed, and figures linked to Jelgava's history are shown, including Jānis Čakste, Ādolfs Alunāns and Kārlis Ulmanis.
How the idea came about
Gulbis got the idea after serving on the jury of the Baltic AI film festival "No Title" in February this year. He has been creating audio tours for several years on the platform Tours Across Baltics, and decided to use AI tools to visualise historic sites. The project received co-funding from the municipality through its Culture and Tourism Project Competition.
Gulbis created the content himself, working as screenwriter, director, cinematographer and editor. The Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, the Ģederts Eliass Jelgava History and Art Museum and the Jelgava Regional Tourism Centre collaborated on the project. The executive producer is Lauma Gulbe.
How to use it
The audio tour is free on the Tours Across Baltics platform. No additional app needs to be installed; a smartphone and headphones are enough. Using GPS, the narration plays when the visitor reaches the relevant stop on the route.
