What might artificial intelligence offer to the interpretation of one of Vietnam’s most important historical sites?

We would like to share this video featuring an interesting experiment with AI at Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám (Temple of Literature) in Hanoi.

In recent years, Văn Miếu – Quốc Tử Giám has increasingly experimented with digital technologies as part of its efforts to make cultural heritage more accessible and engaging to contemporary audiences. These initiatives include augmented reality (AR), digital reconstruction, interactive interpretation, and AI-assisted experiences that allow visitors to encounter historical spaces and figures in new ways.

One recent example is “Việt Nam diệu sử”, a digital heritage experience combining AR and AI. Rather than encountering the site only through objects, architecture, and conventional interpretive texts, visitors can interact with digitally reconstructed historical environments and personalities associated with Vietnam’s educational and scholarly traditions.

For Digitizing Việt Nam, experiments like these raise an important question: How can emerging technologies help us not only preserve cultural heritage, but also create new ways of encountering, interpreting, and learning from it?

They also invite us to think critically about the relationship between technology and historical knowledge: What sources are used to construct an AI-generated historical figure? How should interpretation, uncertainty, and reconstruction be communicated to visitors? And what role should historians, curators, and cultural institutions play in designing these experiences?

Watch the video here.