Lithuania Builds Futuristic Virtual Portal To Connect To Poland In Real Time.
What previously seemed a mirage – something sci-fi, futuristic, and visible only through a screen glass – appears to be reality. Someone had already speculated about it, a director made him the protagonist of films and TV series, but Lithuania managed to make it a reality: a portal was built to connect Vilnius – the capital of Lithuania – and Lublin, a city in eastern Poland. The objective is to reduce the distance between the inhabitants of these two cities: a project to say the least surprising.
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The portal has a circular shape and represents the wheel of time: a real virtual bridge, reminiscent of the Stargate movie or the Dark television series. We do not travel in time or space, but through the portal, we can observe the other city and its inhabitants . In Vilnius, the portal is located near the train station. But why was it necessary to connect these two cities? Because there is a historical link between them: the union of Lublin, between Poland and Lithuania, was signed on July 1, 1569, and ratified the merger of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into a single entity which took the name of Republic of the Two Nations.
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But behind this portal – which seems to link two different dimensions – hides a strong symbolic message: that of being united, and not divided. The portals in both cities are equipped with screens and cameras to transmit in real-time what is happening on the other side. The sight is reminiscent of what astronauts see when they observe the world: it recreates an incredibly evocative “panoramic effect”.
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For now, the portal is silent, but there are plans to activate the sound during special events. The project was immediately successful: people greet each other enthusiastically, send kisses, and bow to those on the other side. They are involved, they have found a new way to communicate, and the initial goal seems to have been achieved and the psychological barriers seem to be gradually disappearing.
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image credit: vilniustech
Designed by engineers from the Creativity and Innovation Center of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, the portal is a collaboration between the Benediktas Gylys Foundation, the City of Vilnius, the City of Lublin, and the Crossroads Center for Intercultural Creative Initiatives. The realization of such an ambitious project was very complex: it was a question of creating an aesthetically simple and electronically efficient portal. The construction, 3 meters wide and weighing 11 tons, is made of concrete, stainless steel, and tempered glass. The creators of Vilnius Tech have been working on the portal for 5 years: they are sure that the portal connecting Lithuania and Poland is the first in a long series of “bridges” and we wonder if in the future it will be possible to “cross” the portal and enter new dimensions …
source used: vilniustech