Virtual Tour through the Library of Ancient History

09/23/2025

15,000 books are housed in the library of the Chair of Ancient History at the University of Würzburg. A digital application is now intended to provide students in their first semesters with better orientation.

Students of ancient history can access the digital library tour in the virtual classrooms on WueCampus. (Image: Christoph Naumann-Zimmer / Universität Würzburg)

The Chair of Ancient History at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) is located in the Würzburg Residence. The offices, seminar rooms and even the secretariat house a total of 15,000 books, divided into 20 departments. This means that more than 1,500 years of history can be found in the departmental rooms.

It is particularly difficult for new students to get an overview. "When you come into these rooms for the first time, you're a bit overwhelmed by the mass of books," says Jorit Wintjes, Professor at the Chair of Ancient History. He can well understand that there is an inhibition threshold, especially at the beginning of the degree programme, to ask for help and have the library explained to you.

A Digital Path to the Bookshelf

This problem gave rise to the project to make the structure of the library visually accessible. With funding from WueDive, the JMU project for the further development of digital teaching, and technology from the JMU Centre for Education and Teaching's equipment lending service, nothing stood in the way of implementation. Together with Teresa Ó Dúill, student assistant at the chair, project manager Wintjes filmed 360° shots of the library rooms.

From the forecourt of the residence, students can virtually follow their way to the right shelf. Between the books, they will also find short videos in which Teresa Ó Dúill introduces the individual departments.

Students can now find out what the library shelves look like, where the books are located and what the signatures mean from the comfort of their sofa at home. "Now students have this visual aid where they can simply click through and find their way around more quickly," explains Ó Dúill.

The 360° tour is already being actively used and can be integrated directly into WueCampus course rooms. The tour is available to all interested parties in the WueDive toolbox. This means that other departments for which the library rooms are relevant can also use the explanatory material.

Thinking ahead in Teaching is Worthwhile

For Wintjes, teaching has the task of making different perspectives on the subject and its tools accessible. This was also the primary motivation for the project. "A library is more than just a place to store books. It serves to broaden your own horizons," he explains. As new generations of students are constantly coming to university with new horizons of experience, it is also worthwhile to constantly rethink teaching.

Music of the Future

The team is also thinking ahead with the 360° tour. It is planning to integrate key work tools such as reference works and standard literature into the virtual tour.

The tour could also be extended to other specialised libraries in the south wing of the Residence: "Here in the Residence, we have the special situation, which is very rare in Germany, that all the institutes of ancient studies, research and teaching institutions, are each represented by their own institute libraries," says the professor.

If you would like to take a look at the results, you can find the tour, an introductory video and information on the procedure as good practice in the toolbox for digital teaching.