Cultural Heritage Interpretation through Extended Reality in Museums: A Systematic Thematic Review of Meaning-Making, Narrative, and Authenticity

This systematic thematic review examines how extended reality (XR) mediates cultural-heritage interpretation in museums and comparable displays. It analyses English-language journal literature published in the seven complete calendar years 2019–2025, searched in Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus in October 2026. Following PRISMA 2020, 372 records were identified; 120 duplicates and 155 title-and-abstract exclusions left 97 reports sought. Four full texts were unavailable; 93 reports were assessed, 22 excluded, and 54 primary reports synthesised. Seventeen reviews or conceptual accounts informed context without entering theme counts. Four themes describe reconstruction and contextualisation, narrative mediation, embodied and social participation, and authenticity and interpretive responsibility. The reports document design approaches, engagement and perceived learning, but comparable evidence for sustained cultural understanding and causal effects remains limited. The synthesis identifies questions for museum learning and curatorial decisions, including provenance, narrative perspective and accessibility. Because the evidence window ends on 31 December 2025, the conclusions do not assess studies published in 2026.