Using state-of-the-art photogrammetry technology with millimeter accuracy, Simon Che de Boer of Reality Virtual and Experius VR have digitally scanned Nerfertari’s tomb, letting owners of Vive, Rift, and Windows VR headsets step inside the fabled burial site and learn about the over 3,000 year-old Egyptian queen’s life, religion, and culture.
Nefertari was an Egyptian queen who died around 1255 BCE, and as the first of the Great Royal Wives of Ramesses the Great, her death was commemorated in the same way many Egyptian nobles were at the time: entombed in a lavish underground structure tucked deep into the hills of the Valley of the Queens in southern Egypt.
The VR tour shows you Queen Nefertari’s tomb in a way no other person has seen it in a century, lit by oil lamps and devoid of artificial lighting—except for your hand-held flashlights, giving you the sense that you’re truly discovering the 520 square meter tomb far away from modern-day tourist groups.
While the 360 video below is actual footage captured from within the tomb, VR users are treated to a decidedly more realistic version, replete with textured walls that appear so real you might actually be able to accidentally chip away the 3,000 year-old paint. As you teleport around the tomb, you can also activate a helpful guide who explains the more important images of both the gods and Nefertari and what they meant in her culture.
Nefertari: Journey to Eternity (2018) is free on Steam and Viveport, offering a prescient glance at what the future of photogrammetry can provide VR users.