A Virtual Reality Experience for the Hypogeum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Hal Saflieni, Malta

A VR experience for a prehistoric temple that is highly sensitive to fluctuations in its internal ambient conditions.

Visiting the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum

The sacred space inside the Hypogeum is very sensitive to minimal fluctuations in its internal ambient conditions, which, if not curated well, may result in the loss of some of the temple’s main attributes.

In an attempt to achieve an adequate balance between humidity, light and air temperature, the curators have restricted visiting hours. Allowing a large number of visitors would inevitably alter the ambient conditions inside the temple. Thus, normally, for one to visit the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, one would need to book months in advance. Only a small group of visitors is allowed inside the temple in a day.

The primary objective of this project is to allow more people to be able to virtually visit the temple without compromising its conservation.

VR Experience Accessible in Three Ways

Full Virtual Reality Experience - Oculus Rift Headset & Controllers

The first means of virtually accessing the Hypogeum is by wearing the Oculus Rift headset and by using the Oculus hand controllers. The user is immersed in a full-fledged VR experience with autonomous movement inside and around the virtual prehistoric temple. The user is in control of a virtual drone-like camera moving through the virtual temple; the user’s movements with the headset and the inputs with the hand controllers are reflected and mirrored as movement inside the virtual Hypogeum.

A full VR experience encourages visitors to experience the Hypogeum in its entirety, with no boundaries. It also allows people with limited mobility to visit this World Heritage Site for the very first time.

Moreover, the VR experience enhances the visitors' experience with plays of sunlight and sound, an experience that is not possible to visitors who visit the temple in person. For more information about the latter, please click here.

This VR experience has been put on display in an installation at the National Museum of Archeology in Valletta; it has also made the news on national television.

Footage from tvm.com.mt

Virtual Reality Video Tour - YouTube

As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the curators of the National Museum of Archaeology have shut down the installation with the Oculus headset and hand controllers as it was difficult for this installation to adhere to official health guidelines. It was not an option to move this installation online because it would still not be accessible to the general public. The need, therefore, arose for this VR experience to be simplified and made into a video that would be accessible through YouTube.

A script was created to tell the story of the site thus creating an engaging 360-degree narrative and providing some context to the virtual environment. The video was produced for YouTube but was also developed to work with Google Cardboard.

For more information about this experience please follow these links:

Lightweight Virtual Reality Experience - Mobile Application

Even though the virtual reality video tour provided a lightweight implementation of the Hypogeum VR experience, it does not offer much control to its user. Although one is able to pan around the video while watching it, the movement around the virtual sacred space is predefined. This spurred the team to develop a third way of virtually accessing the Hypogeum, with the creation of a mobile application that allows users to move in between defined virtual markers; thus enhancing user interaction within the virtual space.

The application was developed for Google Cardboard; thus capabilities are limited when compared to the full virtual experience offered by Oculus. To enhance accessibility, a system was devised whereby one would be able to move from one defined marker to another using the gaze-to-click mechanic: if one focuses on a marker for a few seconds, the user would be teleported to a new location inside the virtual Hypogeum.

Download the APK here