Rome Reborn: A virtual voyage

Those who have seen Rome, either live or on media might be wondering how the historic city looked when it was in its peak of its power. Well, you no more have to imagine things; experts have revived the Roman city, virtually at least and have unveiled the largest and the most completed simulation of a historic city.
The concept is similar to that on online virtual world complete with avatars that explore the monuments and even the villa of Livia, wife of Rome’s first emperor, Augustus. Visitors can wander through these rebuilt monuments and interact with the characters virtually to get the feel of the historic place. The avatars can even fast forward to the 21st century and show you the monuments as they look today.

How did they come up with it? Experts made use of satellite imagery and satellite images, and studied ancient texts to digitalize over 1.8 million hectares of the terrain and reconstruct the roads and monuments as they looked in first century A.D. The virtual reconstruction hosted in downtown Rome at the Museum of the Diocletian Baths cost more than US$1.1 million.

What can you expect? You enter the darkened room of the museum wearing 3D glasses and four visitors pick their avatars and control them with the joysticks and computer screens while the rest of the audience follow them on the movie screen. As you visit the monuments, you get to interact with the characters like the empress and the emperor, as well as a gardener of those times explaining the monuments and the history of the city.
Sadly, you need to know Italian language to understand what they have to say but it sure won’t stop you from enjoying the virtual tour.

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