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The tour begins by having you enter through a tunnel believed to have been created by robbers in 820 CE.

James Felton

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The tour begins entering through a tunnel like this. Image credit: diy13/shutterstock.com

You can now take a look inside the Great Pyramid of Giza in a 3D digital tour . The pyramid, also known as Khufu Pyramid, was photographed by researchers to create the tour of the three interior chambers.

Included in the tour is the King's chamber at the top of the pyramid, the Queen's chamber in the middle, and a subterranean chamber of unknown purpose. 

The pyramid – about the size of an asteroid that NASA smashed a spaceship into earlier this year – is the largest of the Egyptian pyramids and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. 

Khufu began the construction of the pyramid, now the oldest of the seven wonders of the world, around 2550 BCE. The pyramid used approximately 2.3 million stone blocks, weighing an average of 2.5 to 15 tons each. Getting the materials there was a task in itself, with 8,000 tons of granite imported from Aswan, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) away.

Thought for years to have been built by slaves, in the 1990s discoveries at the nearby Khafre and Menkaure pyramids suggested that the pyramids were in fact built by paid laborers.

In the cemetery , workers were found in mud-brick tombs filled with beer and bread to take with them to the afterlife, while examining their remains showed that they had a meat-rich diet that would be enviable of other workers at the time, and would not have been afforded to slaves.

Further  analysis of the workers' remains found that they had been given medical treatment, from bone-setting to evidence of brain surgery on a tumor . One worker was found to have had his leg amputated through surgery, living a further 14 years after the operation.

Thousands of workers moved the blocks astonishing distances by ox and boat, and may have been dragged on sleds by workers across wet sand , reducing the amount of force they'd need to shift them. 

All to create what is now quite a neat 3D tour .

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Students wearing 3D glasses take a virtual tour of ancient Egypt in Peter Der Manuelian’s “Pyramid Schemes” class.

Photos by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

Alvin Powell

Harvard Staff Writer

Digital Giza Project lets scholars virtually visit sites in Egypt and beyond, and even print them in 3D

Four thousand years ago, a member of Egypt’s elite was buried on the Giza Plateau in an elaborate stone tomb, complete with several rooms and underground chambers.

Then, in 1912, a team from Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston excavated the tomb, of a type called a mastaba , and brought back with them a limestone wall from its chapel.

The wall, housed at the MFA, is inscribed with images of the deceased, an official named Akh-meret-nesut, and his family in various poses — sitting, leaning on a staff, throwing a lasso.

Today, more than a century later, Harvard doctoral student Inês Torres wants to know as much as she can about Akh-meret-nesut: who he was, what he did, and why he was buried on the Giza Plateau in the shadow of the pyramids long after pharaohs’ burials there had ceased.

But Torres faces a problem familiar to many scholars studying ancient Egypt: getting access to what she’s studying. With part of the tomb in Boston and part in Egypt, she’d have to time travel to see it intact. Other scholars may face different hurdles, but the problem is the same: Documents and images are held in faraway archives, artifacts and other relics of ancient Egypt have been dispersed, stolen, or destroyed, and tombs and monuments have been dismantled, weather-worn, or locked away behind passages filled in when an excavation closes.

Hurdles can also be economic: The object of study may be intact, but the plane fare and expenses of living for weeks in the field or lodged in the cities — Cairo, London, Berlin, Paris, Boston — that are home to museums with large Egyptian collections hard to come by.

It was with scholars like these in mind that Digital Giza Project was born.

The project was created in 2000 by Peter Der Manuelian , who at the time was on the curatorial staff at the MFA. A scholar of ancient Egypt, Manuelian said his initial vision was to create a digital record of the work of Harvard’s legendary Egyptology Professor and MFA curator George Reisner and the Harvard-MFA Expedition he led. The expedition was one of the major academic archaeological efforts at Giza and other sites in Egypt during the early 1900s.

Reisner, who led the expedition for more than 40 years, dug at 23 sites, and Manuelian soon realized that just digitizing material relating to the vast finds on the Giza Plateau — which includes not only the pyramids and the Sphinx, but also associated temples, nearby cemeteries, and even a workers’ village — would be a career-long challenge. In 2010, he moved to Harvard to become the Philip J. King Professor of Egyptology and director of the Harvard Semitic Museum , and he brought the Giza Project with him.

The project staff’s ambition has since expanded to include not just Reisner’s work at Giza, but that of other archaeologists at the site as well, making it a comprehensive resource for Giza archaeology. It contains some 77,000 images, 21,000 of them Harvard University-MFA Expedition glass-plate negatives, and 10,000 of Manuelian’s own images. It has published manuscripts as well as unpublished expedition records, dig diaries, object record books, and sketches and drawings made by the archaeologists doing the digging. In January, during Harvard’s winter recess, Manuelian visited Egypt and collected another 5,000 digital images — including panoramic photos — of Giza and related objects in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

A key feature of the Giza Project is the fact that the material it holds is cross-referenced online, allowing a researcher to seamlessly move from a 3D image of an object to scholarly articles about it to diary pages by the archaeologist who discovered it.

“For people who focus on this particular period, this is the main resource for them to go to,” Manuelian said. “It’s thrown the doors wide open to this material that was previously only in the publications that Reisner lived long enough to finish.”

As the work has advanced, so has technology. Manuelian’s vision has expanded to include 3D re-creations of statues and artifacts that allow researchers to view them online, rotate them, and zoom in on specific features. Looking to the future, he said, 3D models’ source codes could be made available, which would allow distant scholars with access to 3D printers to create their own physical models.

“All of this allows us to ask new questions and to put the data together in ways not possible before and to make intelligent links,” Manuelian said. “If someone gets a grant and decides to go to the MFA and look through their records, good luck. There’s just so much, it’s overwhelming. If you go to Giza today, a tomb may have been reburied or vandalized, or is in not as good shape as it was in 1916. Objects might have gone to the basement of the Cairo museum, never to be seen again.

“With our attempt to put this all together digitally, with diaries and maps and plans and things, it allows you, first of all, convenient access to the data and then you can start to notice patterns.”

The Giza Projects’ 3D modeling extends beyond artifacts to locations. Manuelian’s team has already created video-game-like 3D versions of the entire Giza Plateau, with the Khafre pyramid, the Sphinx, and several temples and tombs posted so far and more to come. Those models can be accessed from the Digital Giza website and toured using controls on a laptop or desktop computer. Other re-creations, using high-resolution photographs of tombs’ interiors, let visitors walk through virtual burial chambers using stereo headsets. Visitors can move around inside the tombs and even walk up to a wall to examine a particular relief or other detail. About 20 tombs have been modeled in detail so far, with hundreds more to go.

“My hope is eventually to fly drones over the site, documenting everything from the air,” Manuelian said. “And complementing that with walks up and down the ‘streets’ [between rows of tombs] creating 360-degree panoramic visualizations, all linked to the more-traditional archaeological data that we have already assembled.”

For someone like Torres, studying a tomb that has one room in Boston and the rest in Egypt, a virtual model is the only way to see the intact structure, so she’s planning on creating one as part of her doctoral work.

“This tomb is divided between two countries,” she said. “3D modeling is the only way we can put it back together again.”

The overarching goal, Manuelian said, is to make scholarship in Egyptology more accessible than ever. And, while digital images may not fully replace the real thing, he said, foundational study can be conducted using the wide array of material presented by the project, allowing scholars to conserve scarce resources for when they’re essential.

The project’s 3D re-creations and data visualizations, together with the capabilities of the Harvard Visualization Center, also allow the Giza Project to give students a unique educational experience. Last fall, Manuelian gathered his students in a tomb in cyber space, using the center’s virtual reality headsets, and linked the class to students in Zhejiang University in China. Students’ avatars gathered at the virtual site — in this case, the Sphinx — with the technology, allowing Manuelian to act as a cyber tour guide.

“The project is all of these diverse approaches,” Manuelian said. “It’s a traditional database and website. It’s the intelligent linking of this photo to that tomb to this diary page. It’s the 3D modeling as we try to build more and more of the necropolis all the time. And it’s ultimately intended to enable the kind of remote teaching — what I call educational telepresence — where we can all be at Giza virtually and visiting the site and having a lecture inside a decorated tomb chapel no matter where you live.”

Torres said there is an irony to studying Giza: It is one of the world’s most famous archaeological sites, but in many ways it is still unknown. While the pyramids and Sphinx are world-famous, and have been for centuries, in their shadow new tombs are still being uncovered, while known tombs, workers’ houses, and other sites are yet to be fully explored and studied.

“Giza is such a well-known site, but in some sense, it’s understudied,” Torres said. “Because the pyramids are so amazing, the things all around them fade.”

With so much work to be done, the access to digitized documents and materials might inspire scholars curious about ancient Egypt but without access to the sites themselves or a major Egyptological library to take up the job.

“I think that’s the way to go forward, to make sure everyone has access,” Torres said. “Possibly there are geniuses who don’t have a great library and could do something wonderful with the information.”

Another graduate student, Hilo Sugita, plans to study the sarcophagi found at Giza. Using the Giza Project’s data, she can examine photographs of inscriptions, find their original locations within tombs, and even create 3D models.

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“We have photographs, journals, glass negatives, letters, artifacts, publications,” Sugita said. “I think the Digital Giza Project is amazing because we’re trying to collect all the data about Giza everywhere and make it available on the website. You don’t have to go to the MFA, you don’t have to travel to Berlin.”

Technology’s advance is not without challenges, however. The digitization of archaeology, Manuelian said, is something like “the Wild West,” with competing file formats and uncertainty about how the growing data troves will be translated into next-generation software.

In addition, standards for what goes into a 3D re-creation are loose. Should a digital model reflect the state of a tomb as it was found, for example, or is it OK to color in reliefs on the walls to match paint residue found there? How far should digital re-creations go in filling in missing details, some of which are backed by scholarship, but others of which are more speculative, driven by knowledge of common practice rather than evidence at that specific site?

Early in the spring term, Manuelian gave students in his Gen Ed “Pyramid Schemes” class, which provides an overview of ancient Egypt, a glimpse of Giza using Giza Project models. The students visited the Harvard Visualization Center’s home on the second floor of the Geological Museum building, which is equipped with a curved floor-to-ceiling screen occupying one full wall and a suite of 3D and virtual reality tools.

He gave them a tour of both the technology — which can depict sites in detail — and the archaeology, showing them three-dimensional re-creations viewed with 3D glasses and letting them walk through a tomb via a virtual-reality headset.

Manuelian also encouraged students to not only soak up the experience, but to think about the challenges inherent in such an approach, where it might further education and scholarship, and what its shortcomings might be. And, with so much work still to do, he also made a pitch.

“This is a project that is waiting for people like you,” he said.

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Visit the Pyramids of Giza Without Even Leaving Your Couch

By ellen gutoskey | apr 15, 2021.

If going to the Giza Plateau in person is the ultimate way to experience the ancient Pyramids of Giza, Harvard University’s Digital Giza is at least the next best thing.

As Nerdist reports , Digital Giza is an offshoot of Harvard’s Giza Project , an international endeavor to catalog and consolidate archives and information about the Giza Plateau from all over the world. Researchers have used this data to create a digital platform with 3D models, virtual walking tours, and other free interactive resources to help people explore the region from afar.

You can, for example, amble around the largest of the three pyramids, commissioned by King Khufu around 2550 BCE and also known as the Great Pyramid . Not only is it the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it’s also the only one that still exists (That said, historians aren’t sure that some of them ever existed at all—hard evidence of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Colossus of Rhodes, for example, has proven difficult to find.) The other two pyramids that tower over the rest of the plateau are the Pyramid of Khafre and the Pyramid of Menkaure, built by (and named for) Khufu’s son and grandson, respectively.

Digital Giza offers plenty of sites to explore beyond those three edifices. The Great Sphinx , thought to have been built during Khafre’s reign, is also a must-see. While it’s currently the same sandy color as the rest of the plateau, pigment residue suggests that it might’ve once been painted red, blue, yellow, and perhaps other vibrant hues. The platform also has virtual tours of several extravagant tombs, complete with details about the art and sculptures you see inside.

If you’re interested in an immersive (and educational) virtual vacation, you can explore Digital Giza here .

[h/t Nerdist ]

360° Tour inside the Great Pyramid of Giza (Video)

• Read Later  

The BBC's 360° tour through the Great Pyramid of Giza , one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, provides viewers with an immersive virtual reality experience. The video tour starts in the heart of the pyramid, the ceremonial passage known as the Grand Gallery, and continues to the King's Chamber . The precision and architectural brilliance of the pyramid become evident as the viewers navigate through the narrow, low-roofed passages of this over 4,500-year-old edifice.

The video also explores the mysterious subterranean chamber, a feature of the pyramid normally closed off to the public. This enigmatic section is hewn out of the bedrock below ground level and, unlike the smooth surfaces found elsewhere in the pyramid, has rough and irregular walls. The purpose of this chamber and its unusual features, including a strange deep shaft and a short tunnel that ends abruptly, remain a mystery. Despite the enduring secrets it holds, the Great Pyramid , thanks to technological advances in virtual reality, now also shines as a marvel in the virtual world, giving us an unprecedented look into its fascinating interiors.

• Great White Pyramid: Did You know Giza’s Great Pyramid Was Once Dazzling White?
• The Hidden Message in Khafre’s Pyramid: What Were the Builders Trying to Tell Us?

Top image: Stairway inside the Great Pyramid, Egypt. Source:  witthaya / Adobe Stock.

By Joanna Gillan

Joanna Gillan is a Co-Owner, Editor and Writer of Ancient Origins. 

Joanna completed a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) degree in Australia and published research in the field of Educational Psychology. She has a rich and varied career, ranging from teaching... Read More

Related Articles on Ancient-Origins

Nicole Legnani

• # david hopkins
• # giza project
• # jeremy kisala
• # museum of fine arts
• # peter der manuelian
• # rachel aronin
• # virtual reality

Bringing the Giza Pyramids to Life

3D or not 3D? That is the question. Egyptologists and digital artists discuss the advantages of navigating on screen through archaeological sites in 2D, versus donning 3D glasses for an even more immersive experience. Using 3D computer animation and digital artistry to reconstruct the ancient Egyptian site of Giza, arguably the most famous archaeological site in the world, the Giza Project at Harvard is bringing the site back to life on screen. This is happening at Harvard’s Visualization Center, located in the Geological Museum. Project staff, along with partners at Dassault Systèmes in Paris, are making it possible for students and researchers alike to become “participant observers” in the burial rites carried out by avatars of ancient Egyptians, and to experience the ancient landscape and monuments in real-time as never before. Both amateurs and experts enjoy the benefits of travel in time and space, the results of a collective and ongoing effort of the team, under the direction of Peter Der Manuelian, Philip J. King Professor of Egyptology and Founding Director of the Giza Archives Project at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. From 2000 to 2011, the Project at the MFA was benefited from more than $3 million in support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Part of the beauty (both artistic and scholarly) of the team’s forays into ancient Egypt is the excitement the 3D Giza site can encourage among its viewers, from amateurs to visiting Egyptologists of international renown. Beyond visitors’ initial (overwhelmingly positive) reactions, the Giza team members are gathering detailed feedback from scholars to improve the interface and experience. The Giza model also allows us to pose new research questions and new ways of viewing the site, both from above and below ground that were previously impossible.

Egyptologists Nicholas Picardo and Rachel Aronin, Giza Project Research Associates, work closely with the team´s technical artists, Rus Gant and David Hopkins, to ensure that all the structures and objects from the Giza Pyramids, temples and tombs are represented as accurately as possible on the Giza 3D model. They are updating and cross-referencing data from more than a century’s worth of maps, photos, expedition diaries, objects and other materials of the groundbreaking excavations led by George A. Reisner (class of 1889) for the joint Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition (1905–1947). Current excavation data are also being incorporated, as are Giza materials from a consortium of international collaborative partners from institutions in Berkeley, Berlin, Cairo, Philadelphia, Hildesheim, Leipzig, Turin, and Vienna.

Avatar of George A. Reisner (1867–1942), Harvard’s first Professor of Egyptology, standing in a Giza tomb chapel. Still image from 3D animation. Image courtesy of Dassault Systèmes, Paris.

But what is an accurate digital representation for a tomb that is more than four thousand years old? Hopkins and Gant note that where a damaged column of hieroglyphs appears on the tomb chapel wall of Queen Meresankh, colleagues Aronin and Picardo could theoretically reconstruct the missing signs based on Egyptological research. What, then, should be the conventions for displaying reconstructions of hieroglyphs? Manuelian dreams out loud, raising the possibility of introducing a timeline mode that would allow users to scroll from four thousand years ago to the present and back again, displaying the site in its original and current states, with many phases in between. Moreover, Manuelian raises the possibility of “crowdsourcing” selected monuments so that Egyptologists and digital artists from around the globe could get involved in populating the site with additional data at a faster pace. Gant notes that crowdsourcing was unimaginable ten years ago when the Giza work began. Today, powerful bandwidth and widespread access to the same digital tools and formats have leveled the playing field among research centers around the globe.

Digital reconstruction of the subterranean tomb chapel of Queen Meresankh (G 7530-7540), discovered by the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition in 1927. Image courtesy of the Giza Project.

The research possibilities for the Giza 3D model have also increased dramatically. “We have now come to the point where we are no longer just using research in order to build a visual model,” adds Picardo, “but we are also reversing the process, taking the model and using it for research.” This is the “future of digital archaeology,” he contends, noting that it is “a pioneering effort in the field of Egyptology.” Already, images from the reconstructed models of selected Giza tombs grace Manuelian’s scholarly publications, including, most recently, Mastabas of Nucleus Cemetery G 2100. Manuelian and Gant also envision expanding accessibility to an even larger public, making the work available to visitors on the Giza Plateau itself, and in the forthcoming Grand Egyptian Museum, scheduled for completion a few years from now, as well as in museums at Harvard and elsewhere.

A museum visitor experiences the immersive environment of the Giza Plateau. Photo courtesy of the Giza Project.

The Giza Archives and Giza3D visualizations are at an exciting juncture in research, development and dissemination, with possibilities applicable to HarvardX and EdX as well. Aronin smiles as she acknowledges the Sisyphean task at hand; though the current crop of team members may not be able to render the entire repertoire of the Giza Plateau’s temples, tombs and artifacts in 3D, they will nevertheless set the stage for the next generation of scholars to come.

Check it out: http://www.gizapyramids.org http://giza3d.3ds.com

Virtual Travel

A Smithsonian magazine special report

Take a Free Virtual Tour of Five Egyptian Heritage Sites

The sites include the 5,000-year-old tomb of Meresankh III, the Red Monastery and the Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Barquq

Theresa Machemer

Correspondent

Earlier this month, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the release of five new virtual tours of historic sites, adding to the range of online adventures that you can now embark on from home.

The tours explore the tomb of Meresankh III , the tomb of Menna , the Ben Ezra Synagogue , the Red Monastery and the Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Barquq . Each virtual experience features detailed 3-D imagery through which users can “walk” by clicking hotspots along the structures’ floors.

As James Stewart reports for the Guardian , the tours boast “beefed up” 3-D modeling made by experts with Harvard University’s Giza Project . Unlike their real counterparts, most of which charge a small entry fee, the virtual renderings are free to all.

“The virtual tours target both [international] tourists and Egyptians, a ministry spokesperson tells Al-Monitor ’s Amira Sayed Ahmed. “They serve the double purpose of promoting Egyptian tourism nationwide and increasing Egyptians' awareness of their own civilization.”

Two of the tours—the tombs of Meresankh III and elite Egyptian official Menna —include background information accessible by clicking circles overlaid atop specific features. The former’s tomb, dated to some 5,000 years ago, is the oldest of the Egyptian sites available as a virtual walkthrough. Meresankh, a queen wed to King Khafre, was the daughter of Prince Kawab and Hetepheres II of the fourth dynasty, and the granddaughter of Great Pyramid builder Cheops, also known as Khufu.

Harvard archaeologist George Andrew Reisner discovered the queen’s tomb in 1927. He later stated that “None of us had ever seen anything like it.” Today, the burial place’s paintings and carvings remain well-preserved, showcasing hunters catching water birds, bakers making triangular loaves of bread and servants holding offerings.

In the northern chamber, along the wall furthest from the virtual tour’s starting point, ten statues of women stand shoulder to shoulder—an unusual sight among Gaza tombs. The statues “serve to emphasize Meresankh’s position among her queenly relatives,” the tour explains. Along the path to the 16-foot-deep burial shaft, users pass a pair of statues depicting Meresankh and her mother, Hetepheres II, with their arms around each other.

The path leads down a spiraling staircase into the burial shaft, where Meresankh’s black granite sarcophagus—originally created for her mother but re-engraved upon the queen’s death in 2532 B.C., according to the History Blog —was originally found. The tour includes a reconstructed image of the chamber with the sarcophagus in place, but the actual coffin is now kept at the Egyptian Antiquities Museum in Cairo.

The tomb of Menna, dated to the 18th dynasty (about 1549 B.C to 1292 B.C.), is “one of the most visited and best preserved” from the era, the ministry writes in a statement quoted by Live Science ’s Laura Geggel. The tomb’s decorations suggest the elite official was a scribe in charge of the pharaoh’s fields and the temple of sun god Amun-Re.

Menna’s tomb also includes informational blurbs highlighting such features as paintings of the scribe’s family, including his wife Henuttawy and their five children. Curiously, all of the paintings of Menna have been defaced.

“The ancient Egyptians believed that the soul of a person inhabited paintings of them and destroying the face would ‘deactivate’ the image,” the tour notes. “Why would someone want to destroy the memory of Menna?”

The tomb also served as a point of communication with the dead. It once featured life-size statues of Menna and Henuttawy that family members could make offerings to, ask for favors or visit during festivals.

The other three tours do not offer information blurbs at this time, but they still have plenty of detailed 3-D imagery for virtual visitors to explore. The Red Monastery , a Coptic church in Upper Egypt, features ornate frescoes, while the 14th-century Mosque-Madrassa is known for its immense size and innovative architecture. The Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo is alleged to be the site where baby Moses was found.

“Experience Egypt from home,” says the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on Facebook . “Stay home. Stay safe.”

Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Theresa Machemer | READ MORE

Theresa Machemer is a freelance writer based in Washington DC. Her work has also appeared in National Geographic and SciShow. Website: tkmach.com

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Giza 3D: Harvard's Journey to Ancient Egypt

Harvard University brings the Giza Plateau to life. Watch to learn more about their Giza 3D project, the Harvard Semitics Museum, and virtual reality technology of the future.

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Discover the secrets of Egypt’s Great Pyramid on this new virtual tour

A new tool gives you access to the inside chambers of one of the Ancient Wonders of the World

Always wanted have a look around an Egyptian pyramid but never quite managed to go all the way to Giza? Here’s your chance for a sneak peek. You can now take a free virtual tour of the Great Pyramid of Giza – and, even online, it’s pretty spectacular.

On a website called Giza.Mused , the tour gives viewers a comprehensive look into one of Egypt’s most famous pyramids. It renders the ‘entire interior’ in digital 3-D form, taking virtual tour attendees through the king’s chamber at the top, the queen’s chamber in the middle and a subterranean chamber, which is cut into the bedrock beneath. 

So what’s so special about the Great Pyramid of Giza – despite, obviously, it being ‘great’ and all? Well, it’s the biggest pyramid in Egypt and stands at just over 138 metres tall. Built about 4,600 years ago, it houses the tomb of fourth dynasty pharaoh Khufu and is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (and the only Ancient Wonder still standing).

In other words, it’s a pretty sweet place to get a virtual tour of. Giza.Mused doubles up as a fascinating history lesson, with facts about everything from its construction and location to the current entrance, which was apparently dug by robbers in the ninth century.

You can do the tour for yourself here – and get fantasising about just how incredible it would be to see the pyramids IRL.

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The Horizon of Khufu: A Journey in Ancient Egypt in London

Explore one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—an archaeological treasure trove and a monumental testament to Egyptian architectural genius. Embark on an immersive journey through space and time to explore Egypt's Giza Pyramid, the resting place of Pharaoh Khufu, constructed over 4,500 years ago in the 4th Dynasty and until now a forbidden realm to the public! The experience allows visitors to physically move and interact within a shared virtual reality space, providing a deeply emotional and engaging dive into the heart of Egyptian culture.

ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE

A captivating journey that transports you through time and space

Uncover the mysteries of the Great Pyramid of Giza and experience the funeral rites of an Egyptian king! This unique journey aims to make a significant part of the Giza Plateau pyramids accessible to all, unlocking a treasure trove of history for everyone to explore.

Dive into history with the immersive power of virtual reality.

Equipped with a virtual reality headset, the experience takes you on a journey through ancient Egypt and the customs of the time. This expedition is full of scientific, cultural, and ethnological references to explore the era of the pharaohs.

An Authentic and Unique Adventure

The 'Horizon of Khufu' Immersive Expedition has been designed to be as accurate as possible. After several years of research and data collection in the field, in collaboration with Peter Der Manuelian, Professor of Egyptology, and his team from the Giza Project at Harvard University, the experience has come to life. The goal is to offer you an experience based on real data, combining architecture, science, and history, for an authentic immersion.

Practical Info

• ⏳ Duration: 45 minutes
• 📍 Location: Westfield Stratford City Mall. 1, The Street, London E20 1EJ, United Kingdom
• 👤 Age requirement: 8+ with a minimum height of 1.30m
• 💵 Price: discover our different ticket options

THE HORIZON OF KHUFU: LONDON LOCATION

Any questions? Find the answers here!

THE EXPERIENCE

Yes. We invite our guests to take photos and videos for personal use only and would love for you to tag us at @horizonofkhufu_stratford .

Please note, the use of flashes and tripods are strictly prohibited. Press photography (and any other photography for professional use) is only possible if authorized by a staff member.

We recommend dressing comfortably and wearing suitable shoes. Because you will be wearing a VR headset, please refrain from wearing hats or caps.

For everyone's safety, we kindly ask you to store your backpacks and handbags in the lockers provided on site.

• Middle or Higher rate DLA for care and/or mobility.
• Receipt of Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
• Evidence of being severely sight impaired.
• CredAbility Access Card – + 1 category requirement.
• A recognised Assistance Dog ID Card.
• The Fever App, available on Google Play and Apple Store .
• The Fever website .

LOCATION & PARKING

Health & security.

Virtual reality provides a reliable and enjoyable experience, but it may be uncomfortable for some individuals. It's not recommended for those with claustrophobia.

People prone to motion sickness may also experience discomfort when using a VR headset. This might lead to symptoms like drowsiness, increasing the risk of injury during real-world activities.

Children aged 8 to 12 must be accompanied to take part in the experience.

The Horizon of Khufu experience is suitable for families with children aged 8 and above. Children under the age of 8 are not allowed to participate, even when carried by an adult, for safety reasons.

GROUP BOOKINGS

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The Pyramids

The pyramids - 3d virtual tour.

The Pyramids virtual tours can be started by clicking the preview window or by downloading the stand-alone versions. Just drag the mouse to the direction you want to look. Use the scroll wheel to zoom at the details. Press F9 to get a list of the 3D sites you downloaded (residing in the same directory). To install the listed sites as a screensaver press F5 . Our advise is to install all the sites, including The Pyramids , as a screensaver. When the screensaver starts, a random site is chosen and shown around automatically (this gives the impression of looking at a documentary in HD quality). To see the usage of other keys press F1 . Press Ecs to exit.

Panorama shootings for The Pyramids were done in the year 2010. Shooting equipment was Nikon D90 digital camera, 10.5 mm fisheye lens, panoramic tripod head and a tripod. For The Pyramids more than 800 pictures were taken. The pictures that are taken for different angles are later combined using a computer to form a full 360 degree panoramic view, surrounding the viewer both horizontally and vertically.

History of The Pyramids

The Egyptian Pyramids were built as tombs for deceased Pharaohs and their consorts. For thousands of years they were the largest structures on earth. The earliest pyramid known is that of The Step Pyramid in Saqqara. It was built in the year 2650 B.C. Near the Step Pyramid there are many mastaba tombs belonging to the Pharaohs family. Unlike the rooms inside the Pyramids, their walls are richly decorated.

The best known pyramids are undoubtedly the ones at Giza. The largest of them is The Great Pyramid of Keops that was built around 2589 B.C. It is 145.75 meters high. It is also the only remaining “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World”.

The Pyramid of Khafre (143.5 meters high) is believed to be built by Mycerinus, the son of Khafre. The Pyramid of Mycerinus that Mycerinus started building for himself is finished by his son Shepseskaf.

The Bent Pyramid in Dahshur is considered the first ‘real’ pyramid. It's limestone outer casing is largely in tact. Pharaoh Sneferu, who wasn't very happy with the Bent Pyramid, ordered the building of The Red Pyramid to the North.

Sun Boat Museum

In 1954 a real sized old Egyptian boat was found in a pit near the Great Pyramid. It took 14 years to put together the 1200 peaces using old materials like wooden nails and ropes of grass.

We would like to thank Mr. Mohamed Abdel Fatah, Mr. Ibrahim Ahmed Hussein and their family and friends for their support during our stay in Egypt.

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Graças a Harvard, agora você pode conhecer a Grande Pirâmide de Gizé em um passeio virtual 3D

Você também pode visitar a esfinge..

Você provavelmente deseja visitar alguns dos pontos turísticos mais famosos do mundo, como o Cristo Redentor, no Brasil, o Coliseu em Roma e, claro, as Pirâmides de Gizé, no Egito. Sabia que é possível fazer um tour virtual para conhece-las? Descubra abaixo como fazer isso.

Um tour virtual nas Pirâmides de Gizé

Recentemente o site Giza Mused disponibilizou um tour virtual nas pirâmides. Para isso, basta acessar este link, se registrar e aproveitar o tour. No entanto, existe outra maneira ainda mais fácil.

A Universidade de Harvard já fez a mesma coisa em 2022 e basta acessar este site. Não é preciso nem ao menos se registrar. Você pode até mesmo explorar o interior e descobrir que mistérios elas guardam.

Thanks to Harvard University, you can now virtually enter the Great Pyramid of Giza in 3D and 360º pic.twitter.com/7ZYVanpZuu — Tansu Yegen (@TansuYegen) November 11, 2022

O tour virtual das Pirâmides nos leva pelos apertados espaços da grandiosa estrutura, permitindo que todos tenham uma boa ideia de como é realmente a situação interna com uma visão não apenas 3D, mas também em 360º - ou seja, com muita imersão.

Além disso, Harvard também disponibilizou outras possibilidades de passeio, como a Grande Esfinge, templos, vales, cemitérios e outras pirâmides. Pode ser sua maneira de matar a vontade caso ainda não possa conhecer esses lugares pessoalmente.

Inscreva-se no canal do IGN Brasil no Youtube e visite as nossas páginas no Facebook , Twitter , Instagram e Twitch ! | Siga Vika Rosa no Instagram

Comentários

MESHfair 2024 virtual 3D art festival opens today

Experience new 3D installations and immersive tours by leading VR, 3D and metaverse creators.

MESHfair, the art fair for VR, 3D and metaverse creators, has opened today in the Decentraland virtual world. Until, 29 March, visitors can experience new 3D installations and live immersive tours by 32 international artists selected by leading galleries including Unit London, Vellum LA, Artcrush and OFFICE IMPART.

The fair can be accessed for free via any web browser and no VR headset is required. A program of daily live tours presents the artworks, and a special 'quest' allows visitors to claim wearable 3D NFTs that can be worn by avatars in Decentraland during and after MESHfair.

“MESHfair provides space for artists who are exploring 3D and VR to showcase their creations and engage with like-minded individuals,” said the artist Ceren Su Çelik , who was selected for MESHfair for her work at the nexus of cybernetics and art. 

“The fair enlists accomplished curators from a broad art sector, resulting in an exciting selection of projects, and a strong representation of diverse artists,” added Carla Knopp , whose XR work developed from roots in exploratory studio painting. “MESHfair showcases this work to a much broader audience.”

Other featured artists include Lauren Moffatt , winner of the DKB VR Art Prize and the I Certamen Internacional de Arte Digital; Dev Harlan , a NYFA Fellowship Finalist in Digital Media Arts and winner of the 2022 Mozaik Artist Grant; and Leah Smithson , who has previously collaborated with Apple on public art installations. “Daily tours allow MESHfair artists to talk about their work from inside their virtual installations,” said MESHfair founder, Bay Backner. “It’s a new way of experiencing art alongside its creator, and is unique to virtual worlds like Decentraland.” Full details on MESHfair and the daily programme of tours can be found at meshfair.com

For more on 3D, see our pick of the best 3D modelling software .

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Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news and features, updates buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment for creatives, from monitors to accessories and office supplies. A writer and translator, he also works as a project manager at London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives, where he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing photography, video content, graphic design and collaterals for the hospitality sector. He enjoys photography, particularly nature photography, wellness and he dances Argentine tango.

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The Americas

Virtual reality offers a chilling 3d look inside venezuela's spiraling prison.

A person standing near Times Square in New York City wears a virtual reality headset screening an immersive experience of the conditions at Venezuela's El Helicoide prison, on Sept. 19, 2023. Protesters gathered to demand the release of political prisoners and the closure of the detention center over allegations of torture. Stefan Jeremiah/AP hide caption

A person standing near Times Square in New York City wears a virtual reality headset screening an immersive experience of the conditions at Venezuela's El Helicoide prison, on Sept. 19, 2023. Protesters gathered to demand the release of political prisoners and the closure of the detention center over allegations of torture.

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — After being tortured and brutalized during 129 days at El Helicoide, Venezuela's most notorious jail for dissidents, human rights activist Víctor Navarro was determined to expose its horrors to the world.

He wrote a book, but it didn't capture the true madness of El Helicoide — which is Spanish for helicoid, named for its helix design.

But then Navarro took a virtual reality tour of the house of Holocaust victim Anne Frank. Although viewing it in Argentina, it made him feel like he was right in the secret annex in Amsterdam where Frank hid from the Nazis for 25 months before she was captured and sent to a concentration camp, where she died of typhus.

Víctor Navarro, a Venezuelan former political prisoner and developer of the "Helicoide Reality" project, shows the virtual reality tour simulating the conditions in which the prisoners live in the prison, during an interview with AFP in Buenos Aires on July 27, 2023. Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Víctor Navarro, a Venezuelan former political prisoner and developer of the "Helicoide Reality" project, shows the virtual reality tour simulating the conditions in which the prisoners live in the prison, during an interview with AFP in Buenos Aires on July 27, 2023.

"It was really moving," Navarro tells NPR. "So, I decided: This is what I'm going to do."

After working with 3D graphic designers and interviewing 30 former Venezuelan political prisoners, Navarro put together a virtual reality tour of El Helicoide. Then, he hit the road, VR headsets in hand, to educate audiences in the U.S, Europe and Latin America about the growing repression of Venezuela's authoritarian regime.

Navarro, 28, lives in Argentina where he has refugee status. Ex-inmates that he interviewed for the project were mostly inside Venezuela.

It's an intense experience. With Navarro narrating (in Spanish, with an English version also available), viewers are led into Helicoide's dark, cramped, underground cells that are fouled by human feces. Flies buzz, water drips, cockroaches scurry away.

Víctor Navarro shows on his laptop part of the virtual reality tour of Venezuela's El Helicoide prison. Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Víctor Navarro shows on his laptop part of the virtual reality tour of Venezuela's El Helicoide prison.

Then comes the accounts of former inmates. One tells of being handcuffed and shoved inside a tiny, isolation cell where he could barely move. Another describes almost suffocating when a guard pulled a plastic bag over his head.

A screen grab from the virtual reality experience created by Venezuelan former political prisoner Víctor Navarro. Víctor Navarro/Screenshot by NPR hide caption

A screen grab from the virtual reality experience created by Venezuelan former political prisoner Víctor Navarro.

"That's when the real torture began," the former inmate says. "I don't know how many times I fainted."

There's even sound, which Navarro says was secretly recorded by another prisoner on his cellphone, of a detainee screaming as guards shock him with electricity.

"The idea of doing something through virtual reality was spectacular," says Antony Vegas, an opposition activist who was detained at the Helicoide for five years and worked on the project with Navarro after he was released. "It's a way to teach what torture at El Helicoide is really like."

One fan is Javier Corrales, a Venezuela expert at Amherst College in Massachusetts who, along with his students, took the VR tour of the Helicoide during Navarro's recent visit to the campus.

"There are plenty of talks and exhibits about human rights violations, political prisoners and torture, but nothing like this," Corrales says. "And there is nothing as portable and as vivid as this technology can produce."

One of Corrales' students, Giulia Miotto, said the experience left her shaking and sweating. In a class paper she wrote: "I truly hope that this virtual reality experience of El Helicoide is able to help drive its closure. In the meantime, it is devastating that these atrocities are ongoing."

The Venezuelan government did not respond to NPR's requests for comment. But in 2022 it "categorically rejected" a U.N. report that described the widespread torture of political prisoners in the country's jails.

Ironically, the Helicoide was once a symbol of Venezuela's progress amid an oil boom.

A view of Venezuela's intelligence police headquarters, known as el Helicoide, in Caracas, Venezuela, 2018. It was the same year that Navarro was brought there. Fernando Llano/AP hide caption

A view of Venezuela's intelligence police headquarters, known as el Helicoide, in Caracas, Venezuela, 2018. It was the same year that Navarro was brought there.

Construction began in the 1950s under dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez. It was designed to be a luxury shopping mall and convention center. Its spiral design suggests a spaceship and drew praise from artist Salvador Dalí and poet Pablo Neruda.

However, Jiménez was forced out in 1958, and successive governments lost interest in the complex, which remained unfinished. At one point in the 1970s, the building filled up with squatters. Eventually, parts of El Helicoide were occupied by the state intelligence service, which added prison cells in the bottom floors.

Navarro arrived there in 2018 when he was arrested for taking part in massive protests against President Nicolás Maduro, who during 11 years in power has led Venezuela into its worst economic crisis in history. Police officers burst into Navarro's home, put a shotgun to his head, and led him off to El Helicoide.

"That's when the hell began," he says in his NPR interview.

Navarro was slapped, kicked, thrown to the floor. He recalls a guard putting three bullets into his pistol then placing it in Navarro's mouth, though he didn't pull the trigger. But he says it was even worse hearing the screams of fellow prisoners who were being tortured in nearby cells. He had been falsely accused of conspiring against the Maduro regime but after four months behind bars was suddenly released.

He is one of nearly 16,000 dissidents who have been imprisoned in Venezuela since 2014, which may be the highest number of political prisoners in Latin America, says Alfredo Romero, who heads the Caracas human rights group Foro Penal (Spanish for Criminal Forum). Although most have been released, many remain traumatized.

Andreina Baduel (second from right) joins others to protest against the taking of what they call political prisoners outside the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service building known as El Helicoide, in Caracas, Venezuela, Nov 3, 2021. Baduel is the daughter of former Defense Minister Raúl Isaías Baduel, who died in prison in 2021. Ariana Cubillos/AP hide caption

Andreina Baduel (second from right) joins others to protest against the taking of what they call political prisoners outside the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service building known as El Helicoide, in Caracas, Venezuela, Nov 3, 2021. Baduel is the daughter of former Defense Minister Raúl Isaías Baduel, who died in prison in 2021.

"When you get out, you are not the same person," Navarro says.

Behind bars he lost 40 pounds and, once at home in Caracas, had recurring nightmares, couldn't remember people's names, and sensed that he was always being followed. Eventually, he fled Venezuela, put together the VR tour, and hit the road, visiting about 20 countries.

Meanwhile, Vegas, the former detainee who worked with Navarro on the VR tour, is discreetly presenting it to small audiences in Caracas and hoping that he won't be rearrested for doing so. Indeed, as Maduro maneuvers for another six-year term in July's presidential election, his antidemocratic crackdown continues. Romero, of Foro Penal, puts the current number of political prisoners at 264, including 67 in El Helicoide.

That's why Navarro continues to spread the word — through virtual reality.

"We are exposing what the Venezuelan government doesn't want people to see," he says. "It shows the scale of the crimes they are committing."

• virtual reality
• mass incarceration
• South America
• incarceration