November 9, the Riga Motor Museum opened a unique interactive exhibition which allows visitors to see for the very first time a legendary vehicle used at one time by the Latvian armed forces, the Imanta armoured carrier.
The study about this “iron knight” is based on 30 original spare parts from the vehicle that were only recently discovered. After using state-of-the-art 3LCD laser technologies and 3D holographic project, the museum has found a way to bring the vehicle back to life, allowing visitors to see it during four specific periods of time.
The armoured carrier did have four lives, two during war and two during peacetime. It stood witness to Latvia's freedom battles. Visitors of the exhibition will be able to take part in the machine's historical adventures – participation in battles, reconstruction, change in ownership and functions, etc., over the course of more than two decades.
“The interactive exhibition “Legend of the Iron Knight” will allow people to travel in time, seeing visions about the vehicle over the course of time and feeling a sense of presence in the distant beginning of the 20th century. As Latvia anticipates its centennial, the legend about the armoured carrier helps us to tell the saga of Latvia's history, including several wars, periods of peace and changes in governance,” says the creator and main curator of the exhibition, Agris Šmits.
The spare parts were found at a farm in Liepna during an expedition organised by the Riga Motor Museum in 2017. The father of the owner of the farm, Daumants Bijons, saw the armoured carrier when it was burned up. Today the Imanta is the only one of six types of armoured carriers in Latvia to have remnants that have been discovered. Other ones, as far as specialists at the Riga Motor Museum know, were destroyed in battle.
“More than 30 spare parts and a few historical photographs are the only evidence of what the machine looked like. Sadly, I have not been able to find any precise designs for Imanta in archives, but modern technologies can create a miracle that allows to have a fairly precise sense of the model's appearance and technical parameters whilst also being witnesses to historical events,” Agris Šmits says about the interactive aspects of the exhibition.
The interactive exhibition “Legend of the Iron Knight” will be open to visitors from November 9, 2018 till the end of year 2019 .