Exploring contexts of use of cultural objects in virtual museums

This paper presents a system which facilitates discovering knowledge about cultural objects. The system is based on semantic modeling of a virtual museum which consists of cultural objects placed in a virtual 3D space. The article describes an extension to the concept of cultural objects which includes information on the use of these objects. This extension enables to place objects in an appropriate context in a virtual museum. Therefore it is possible to restore the true appearance of antique interiors and other spaces. On the basis of the information sorted in the system new facts concerning the objects can be discovered. This system is an IT tool designed to facilitate humanistic research.