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Visit ancient Jerusalem during the time of Jesus with a VR tour

Lottie Casas September 5, 2018

Visit ancient Jerusalem during the time of Jesus with a VR tour

Visit ancient Jerusalem during the time of Jesus with a VR tour of ‘how the city would have appeared 2,000 years ago’

  • The high-tech expedition offers 360-degree simulations of ancient Jerusalem 
  • It shows how palaces, streets and Jewish temples looked 2,000 years ago
  • Tour is being hosted by the Tower of David Museum around the Old City
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A new virtual reality walking tour lets you explore ancient Jerusalem as it would have appeared during the time of Jesus.

The high-tech expedition offers 360-degree simulations that reveal what Jerusalem’s citadel, palaces, streets and ancient Jewish temples looked like 2,000 years ago.

The city enjoyed its heyday under King Herod during the first century BC, building many of the ancient monuments it is famous for today.

The Tower of David Museum, which is housed in the Old City’s ancient stronghold, is launching the attraction this month ahead of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

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Pictured is a temple presented as it would have looked 2,000 years ago. A new virtual reality walking tour lets you explore ancient Jerusalem

The virtual reality guide, ‘Step into History,’ offers visitors a chance to ‘walk in the streets of Jerusalem and enjoy the present and take a look back to the past,’ said Tower of David Museum director Eilat Lieber.

Working with archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority, Lithodomos VR created the tour to show what life was like under the famed King Herod.

Herod, a Roman vassal who ruled Judaea from 37-4 B.C., invested heavily in large construction projects across his realm.

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He oversaw a major expansion of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and the fortress and palace where the Tower of David stands today.

His monuments, including the mountaintop fortress at Masada and the port city of Caesarea, are among the most visited sites in Israel.

‘Especially with Jerusalem, I think the biggest challenge was getting it right,’ said Simon Young, founder of Lithodomos VR, an Australian startup.


The high-tech expedition offers 360-degree simulations that reveal what Jerusalem’s citadel, palaces, streets and ancient Jewish temples looked like 2,000 years ago


Pictured is an ancient temple seen through the tour’s virtual reality guide. The city enjoyed its heyday under King Herod during the first century BC, building many of the ancient monuments it is famous for today

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AR AND VR?

Virtual reality is a computer-generated simulation of an environment or situation

  • It immerses the user by making them feel like they are in the simulated reality throughimages and sounds
  • For example, in VR, you could feel like you’re climbing a mountain while sat at home

In contrast, augmented reality layers computer-generated images on top of an existing reality

  • AR is developed into apps to bring digital components into the real world
  • For example, in the Pokemon Go app, the characters seem to appear in real world scenarios

‘There’s a lot of different opinions about how Jerusalem looked in the ancient world … of course, we want to do justice to Jerusalem and to make it as accurate as possible.’

Lithodomos VR’s team of archaeologists and artists has produced similar projects in London, Rome, Athens and other cities.

Accompanied by a guide, visitors will be able explore nine different vantage points in the city.

The tour starts at the citadel – an Ottoman-era fortress built atop remnants of several earlier bastions – before meandering through the Old City’s Jewish Quarter down toward the remains of the Second Jewish Temple.

In order to keep from crashing into modern Jerusalem, visitors carry the goggles between sites, then put them on once they are stationary.

At each point, a narrator explains the historical significance of the structures they can see in the goggles.

The VR tour around the Old City takes approximately two hours, the museum said.

Young says the Lithodomos VR team would be interested in adding additional historical layers to the virtual reality guide that would allow people to explore Jerusalem during other periods, such as the Crusades.

Judy Magnusson, an Australian tourist who previewed the tour on Monday ahead of its launch, said the virtual reality-enhanced experience ‘brings history to life’ and makes the stories about the city ‘more real.’


This image shows the virtual reality goggles used as part of the tour. The Tower of David Museum, which is housed in the Old City’s ancient stronghold, is launching the attraction this month ahead of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot


In order to keep from crashing into modern Jerusalem, visitors carry the goggles between sites, then put them on once they are stationary


This image shows a visitor using goggles on the new virtual reality tour, which allows visitors to experience how archaeologists believe Jerusalem looked 2,000 years ago

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