SALISBURY’S heritage will be brought to life through augmented reality in a new mobile app.

It is one of twelve English cities that collaborated to develop the augmented reality (AR) product, which consists of an app and videos to transport the user back in time.

The app will unveil the hidden lives of some of history’s most fascinating characters at Salisbury Cathedral and look closer at the Magna Carta.

In Salisbury Cathedral visitors will hear the tale of Countess Ela of Salisbury, a towering female figure from the mid-13th century, and how she laid one of the cathedral’s foundation stones and buried her husband after he died in mysterious circumstances. Ela unveils the hidden histories and tells her incredible story of mystery, political intrigue, war, murder, faith and the freedom women, like her, gained from the Magna Carta.

VisitWiltshire’s application for Salisbury to join English Heritage Cities, a collection of unique and fascinating historical cities across England, was successful last year.

It is set to transform Salisbury Cathedral’s appeal by introducing it to a new, more technologically motivated and younger audience. In a rapidly changing and competitive tourist environment, the use of AR technology will offer a point of difference that will attract visitors and showcase the best of the city.

David Andrews, CEO of VisitWiltshire said: “We are delighted to be working on this project as the city has so much to offer visitors to the area. We want to ensure our Visit Salisbury website is a top-of-mind resource for visitors to the county and embracing technology in this way can only be positive for Wiltshire’s tourism economy going forward.”

Jane Morgan, director of development and communications at Salisbury Cathedral, said: “Allowing visitors to encounter our cathedral using digital technology is something we have long wanted to do. This app brings to life people who were intimately involved in the construction of this extraordinary building and the story of our 1215 Magna Carta. It allows visitors to ‘meet’ characters from our past and ‘visit’ spaces in the cathedral that are not readily accessible to the public.”

The app ‘England’s Historic Cities’ is available to download for free in Google Play and on the app store or at historic-cities.com/stories.