Courtesy ETT S.p.A.
A new virtual reality program at the Ara Pacis fills in the color and missing friezes digitally.
Historical monuments are introducing tours and shows that use innovative technology to recreate the past.
“I always thought this was the perfect place for this,” says Dr. Marina Piranomonte, brandishing a headset that looks like it belongs to a member of Daft Punk. “This is one of the most cannibalized sites in Rome. So when you’re taking people around, you have to do this tiresome explanation of, ‘What was here is now in Naples; this part is in Pisa. And people don’t understand—it’s just too much for them to grasp.”
Piranomonte is the curator of the Baths of Caracalla, the 100,000-square meter complex built by the third-century emperor, which lies beyond the Circus Maximus. Just off the main tourist map of Rome, it’s rarely visited; and although details like mosaic flooring, fragments of decoration, and a board game chiseled into the pool deck remain, there’s little to see here—compared to the more famous sites, at least—other than the extraordinary hulking brick shell of the complex.
So when Piranomonte really wanted to increase visitor numbers, she knew where she would start.
Last month, the curator and her team debuted a virtual reality tour of the baths. Instead of the standard audio guide, the headsets—which conceal a tablet—recreate what things looked like in Caracalla’s prime, when 6,000 guests at a time would pile into the baths. Select the room you’re in and you’re immediately transported into a world of painted walls, lush mosaic floors, and hulking sculptures which have long since been removed. The headsets are intuitive, so as you move your head, the set moves with you, allowing a 360-degree view of the rooms as they were.
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Source: Condé Nast Traveler