Multimedia technology and 3D environments used in the preservation and dissemination of portuguese cultural heritage

Cultural heritage is an extremely valuable set of materiality, traditions and knowledge from the Past that should be used to better understand the Past itself. However, even nowadays there are still some difficulties to manage, preserve and disseminate cultural heritage sites. The usage of multimedia technology and 3D environments in cultural heritage has reduced these difficulties; nonetheless, there are still some remaining problems. In the last years, some multimedia technology and 3D environments have been applied to the cultural heritage in Portugal. A few of them are used for scientific research purposes and others are used for dissemination purposes. In this article, the authors will refer to some representative Portuguese case studies using Virtual Environments to maintain, preserve and promote Cultural Heritage. A critical reading of these projects will be made in order to stress out their success and to point out their weaknesses and limitations.