Beijing Ancient Observatory: Preservation, Communication, Exploitation

The present study address the goal to improve scientific communication, it introduces a “layered” approach to the preservation, communication and exploitation of the Beijing Ancient Observatory. This means that we foresee different levels of intervention, with different phases and consequently a set of goals. Single levels or phases may be implemented separately. The main goal of the proposal is to improve scientific communication, as clearly stated in the title the three main action lines of the project are: Preservation: how to protect the astronomical instruments in order to transfer them to future generation. Eventually restore them fixing minor and major damages getting closer to their original status. This only pertains to the rehabilitation of their own functionalities or the restoration of the physical aspect. Communication: define a communication strategy by integrating real and virtual objects in order to reach a global improvement of the communication both related to the history of the observatory and to the astronomical instruments. One of the goals is to enable the direct experience of the main functionalities of such instruments in a virtual environment. Explain how they work, positive achievements and limits in the field of the astronomical observation. Exploitation: exploit such relevant cultural and scientific assets without any risk to jeopardize their conservation. Define an exploitation strategy addressing both local and international markets. This strategy may include a close link to the new observatory and the planetarium. Expand and extend the experience of the visit from the pre-tour phase, direct fruition and post tour phase. Generate new opportunities to came back and visit again the exhibit. The exploitation strategy will include the opportunity to develop specific merchandise both generic and educational (simulators, tools, dida box etc).