“Spies Amid the Siege: Šibenik 1647” – A Virtual Tour of Šibenik’s Fortresses
11/09/2026
“Spies Amid the Siege: Šibenik 1647” is a virtual tour of Šibenik’s fortified heritage, designed as a multimedia guide for a self-guided visit to Barone Fortress and St. John’s Fortress. It is available in Croatian and English, Croatian Sign Language (HZJ), and International Sign (IS).
The tour focuses on the Ottoman siege of Šibenik in 1647, during the Cretan War (1645–1669). Visitors take on the role of spies who help defend the city by sabotaging the enemy army.
The content is presented through audio guidance and augmented reality (AR). The tour consists of ten content points connected through a single narrative—five at Barone Fortress and five in the upper, star-shaped section of St. John’s Fortress.
The tour was developed as part of the FORTIC – From Remains of the War to the Architecture of Peace in the Cross-Border Area of Italy–Croatia project, co-financed through the Interreg Italy–Croatia Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021–2027.
THE BEGINNING OF THE SIEGE – BARONE FORTRESS
The first part of the tour takes place at Barone Fortress and includes five content points:
1. The City in Danger
2. Meeting Baron Degenfeld
3. The Strategic Situation
4. Danijel Divnić and the Secret Mission
5. Mission: Find the Letter
In the first part of the tour, visitors follow the events from the perspectives of both opposing sides—the Ottoman army attacking Šibenik and the city’s defenders. From the very first point, visitors are placed in the position of the Ottoman army, gaining insight into its plans and the course of the attack.
The tour begins with the appearance of Pasha Tekelija, commander of the Ottoman army that launched the attack on Šibenik in 1647. At this point, more than two weeks of the month-long siege have already passed. Tekelija’s forces have captured the lower section of St. John’s Fortress and are preparing an attack intended to secure the entire fortress and subsequently the city.
At the next three points, visitors meet the commanders responsible for the city’s defence: Baron Christoph Martin von Degenfeld, a German military commander in the service of the Republic of Venice and commander of Šibenik’s defences, and Danijel Divnić, a Šibenik nobleman, professional soldier and commander of the Šibenik district. Through their narration and 2D animations of historical maps, visitors learn about the strategic situation in Dalmatia and Šibenik and receive a secret espionage mission.
At the fourth point at Barone Fortress, visitors participate directly in the story through the interactive game “Steal the Camel.” In this way, they learn about the role of different animals in warfare in this region and begin their mission towards the Ottoman camp.
The fifth and final point at Barone Fortress takes place in the Ottoman camp. As at the beginning of the tour, visitors are again placed in the position of the attacking Ottoman army, representing a considerably different approach from previous methods of interpretation. This directly involves them in understanding the events of the war and making decisions. After Pasha Tekelija addresses the Ottoman soldiers, visitors enter a virtual representation of the Ottoman camp, where they must find and retrieve a secret document.
This concludes the first part of the story. Visitors are then directed from Barone Fortress to St. John’s Fortress, where the story continues.
THE DEFENCE OF THE CITY – ST. JOHN’S FORTRESS
St. John’s Fortress played a crucial role in the defence of Šibenik during the siege of 1647, making it the natural setting for the second part of the story. The multimedia content allows visitors to learn about and understand the site of the siege at the very place where the historical events occurred, connecting its historical and architectural significance with the interpreted narrative.
The second part of the tour includes the following five content points:
6. Repair the Fortress
7. Delivering the Letter
8. Charge!
9. The Turning Point and Victory
10. The Ceremonial Salute
At the first content point at St. John’s Fortress, visitors once again participate directly in the story. In the interactive game “Repair the Fortress,” they must reconstruct a section of the wall damaged by a cannonball by placing scattered stone blocks in the correct positions within the opening.
At the seventh point of the tour, or the second point at St. John’s Fortress, visitors deliver the secret letter to Danijel Divnić and learn about the final plan for the city’s defence.
The story reaches its climax at the eighth content point, entitled “Charge!” Two virtual scenes with a sense of depth and space—2.5D panoramas—depict the Ottoman army’s final assault. Visitors first find themselves on the ground, at the centre of the battle, and then observe the events from a bird’s-eye view, with the narration hinting at the outcome.
The penultimate point depicts the turning point in the battle and the complete liberation of the city.
At the final, tenth content point—or the fifth at St. John’s Fortress—visitors activate a 3D model of a cannon, fire a ceremonial salute and receive instructions for downloading a digital certificate of appreciation.
All content points are locked and can only be accessed in the designated chronological order.
MULTIMEDIA CONTENT AND LANGUAGES
The tour is designed as a multimedia guide combining audio guidance, augmented reality (AR), 2D animations, 3D models, 2.5D virtual panoramas, interactive games and video content featuring costumed historical characters.
Audio guidance leads visitors through the story, while augmented reality displays digital content within the real setting of the fortresses through a tablet screen. The 2D animations present historical maps of Dalmatia and Šibenik and explain the strategic situation at the time. The 3D models allow individual elements to be displayed and activated, such as the cannon used for the final ceremonial salute.
The virtual panoramas were created using a 2.5D technique, in which two-dimensional visual elements are arranged in multiple layers and enhanced with depth and movement. This creates the impression of a three-dimensional space, such as the Ottoman camp or battlefield, although it is not a fully developed 3D environment. The interactive games allow visitors to influence the progress of their espionage mission directly by completing various tasks.
Baron von Degenfeld, Danijel Divnić and Pasha Tekelija—three historical figures associated with the siege and defence of Šibenik—are portrayed by three costumed actors. Their scenes were filmed using chroma key technology, in which actors perform in front of a single-colour background, usually green, which is later replaced with a historical or digitally created setting.
The story places visitors at the centre of the siege, allowing them to follow the events from the perspective of both the defenders and the attacking Ottoman army. Through a combination of audiovisual content and interactive tasks, visitors take part in understanding the events of the war and making decisions during their espionage mission.
The content is available in Croatian and English, Croatian Sign Language (HZJ), and International Sign (IS).
HOW TO USE THE TOUR
The virtual tour application runs on a tablet. Visitors collect tablets with the application installed from the gift shop at Barone Fortress, where the first part of the tour begins. After completing the five content points at Barone Fortress, visitors continue to St. John’s Fortress, where the second part of the story takes place.
HOW THE TOUR WAS DEVELOPED
The tour was developed as part of the FORTIC – From Remains of the War to the Architecture of Peace in the Cross-Border Area of Italy–Croatia project, co-financed by the European Union through the Interreg Italy–Croatia Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021–2027. It was based on a guided tour of Šibenik’s fortified heritage. The content was also translated into sign language to provide people with hearing impairments with access to the virtual tour and Šibenik’s fortified heritage.
The script and content of the virtual tour were developed by Karla Papeš, PhD, from the Heritage Research and Interpretation Department of the Public Cultural Institution Fortress of Culture Šibenik. The technical and multimedia production of the tour on the N3-GUIDE platform was carried out by Novena d.o.o.
To ensure historical accuracy and the credibility of the narrative, the development team consulted printed books in Croatian and Italian, archival documents, historical maps and illustrations, as well as other visual and written materials collected during the research and revitalisation of the fortresses.
The development of the content required the precise identification of locations on maps of Europe and Dalmatia from 1647, as well as research into the assumed dimensions of St. John’s Fortress, which was considerably smaller at the time than it is today. It was also necessary to identify the materials used in individual sections of the fortress and in objects located there, as well as to research the appearance of soldiers, their costumes and uniforms, weapons, ships and the surrounding landscape.
To create the 2.5D virtual panorama from the perspective of Šibenik’s harbour, research was conducted into the appearance of Šibenik during the siege. This included the appearance of individual buildings in 1647 and the locations of the demolished city wall and towers.
Artificial intelligence was not used to write the script. Croatian and Italian literary and historical works concerning the siege of Šibenik served as sources. Due to its original length, the script was shortened several times before the final version was completed, translated and proofread.
