Horizon of Khufu: An Immersive VR Expedition to Ancient Egypt...

Last night Stuart and I ventured to glitzy Stratford to immerse ourselves in a spot of Egyptian VR. Horizon of Khufu: An Immersive VR Expedition to Ancient Egypt is a headset experience with 3D video and role play. 

 

The floor is a flat surface with black and white shapes.  Which is worth remembering later as the vertigo kicks in. 

 

We received the VR equipment - goggles with dials to get images in focus and control the volume.

 

With the goggles on I could see Stuart had transformed into a purple digital avatar with his name hovering above his head.

 

Suddenly I saw our virtual tour guide Mona, who led us to the Great Pyramid of Giza.

 

This breathtaking pyramid served as the tomb of the Pharaoh Khufu some 4,500 years ago.

 

Mona shone a light on its entrance half way up, suggesting we go and have a look.

 

I won't lie, my excitement turned into sheer terror. I took tiny steps with my arms out to balance because I thought I'd fall over.

 

The block we were standing then started rising, as I muttered to myself "this is a flat surface, this is not real, I cannot fall" and missed much of the historical information. 

 

In short, the experience was magnificent. Mona took us into tunnels and chambers in the interior, unveiling the ancient secrets and tomb of Pharaoh Khufu.

 

In one of the King's rooms, Mona dropped her torch and vanished to go and find another.

 

We were plunged into darkness, but a mystical cat, Bastet, goddess of protection, appeared and the adventure went up a gear.

 

Treading carefully over stone bridges that appeared magically, we stepped into areas in the pyramid's substructure inaccessible to any human. Vertigo was high as we floated way up high.

 

Our platform then took us up the outside of the pyramid and eventually way above the apex.  I had to remove my goggles at that point! 

 

Thankfully soon the Giza plateau shrank and we became giants looking over a magnificent landscape, with a birds-eye view of how the temples were connected.

 

In a magical moment the King's boat floated into view and we were invited to step on board to visit the land of the dead. 

 

We had a "return ticket" the cat purred, which was a relief.

 

I expected the River Styx(!), but blue skies and fishermen and water lilies near the banks indicated this was the River Nile. 

 

We alighted at a temple where funeral rituals including the embalming process were explained, and attended the funeral of the Pharaoh Khufu, led by his son.

 

There was quite a crowd, with historical figures I didn't recognise and several avatars indicating fellow visitors.

 

We then left the temple and said our goodbyes.

 

The whole experience - created by virtual reality studio Excurio in collaboration with Peter Der Manuelian, an Egyptology professor at Harvard University - was great fun.