On Wednesday, not just any state parliament passed Germany’s first digital law, but the Bavarian one, which one else? Because even when it comes to digital, i.e. a reality of ones and zeros, the Free State is once again ahead – Bavaria: one, others: zero. As far as the digitization of its built heritage is concerned, Bavaria is already finished for the time being. Because the Ministry of Finance also announced on Wednesday that the Walhalla near Donaustauf, the eighth of eight sights nationwide, can now be “visited true to the original and in 3D on the Internet via the BayernAtlas”. In the thus completed project “Bayern 3D – Heimat Digital” you can even see things that unfortunately don’t exist in the analog homeland.
In the throne room of Neuschwanstein, for example, the throne on which Ludwig II would have liked to sit if he had been able to experience it can be displayed with a click of the mouse or a tap of the finger. The throne was then neither made during Ludwig’s lifetime nor at some point later. Today it’s practically child’s play with a tap, and it’s a pity that such possibilities weren’t yet available to the somewhat childish Kini. But then again, no one would probably have gotten him off the screen to rule the country.
The Venus Grotto of Linderhof Palace appears in “Heimat Digital” to be even more unreal than the analog non-existent throne. Where the interior of the simulated castle looks like the scenery of an almost up-to-date computer game, the grotto is reminiscent of those electronic dungeons of the 1980s, in which some pixelated dragon could appear around the corner at any moment. It’s no wonder, because even the real grotto is no longer in a condition in which it could be scanned with a laser and then used to create a digital model. The fragile structure made of quarry stone, brick, wire and plaster has been renovated since 2016, the costs recently rose to 60 million euros, the opening date was postponed from this year to 2024. Perhaps the digital “Heimat Bayern” offers completely different possibilities. Because what is scanned in good time can then be restored inexpensively from the 3D printer.