MAV
ERCOLANO
Would you like
to be projected directly to 79 AD to live the incredible and scary experience
of the eruption of Vesuvio? Now it is possible!
In the center of the town of Ercolano was created the first
archaeologic museum, totally automatized that introduces visitors to a 3D world
of the ancient Herculaneum, through virtual reality in a physical museum to show the ruins as
they are now. Pieces of representation of how they are now, do exist, but
mostly they are blended back into the original models, to show how the town
once stood.
The Virtual Acheologic Museum of
Ercolano, is located a hundred yards from the edge of the ruins of the ancient
Roman town of Herculaneum, situated in the South-West coast of Italy.
The creator of MAV, Walter Ferrara,
reconstructs the destroyed town that was covered by pyroclastic clouds in 79
AD, when the city was populated by the habitants of the Roman Empire.
The head curator of MAV, Walter Ferrara,
has stated that his inspiration came from seeing the ruins at night. He felt
that was the best time to see the ruins, since as he put it "Your
imagination fills in the gaps.".
The entire museum reflets the darkness of the night, in fact its rooms are
windowless, lit only by backlighting from the displays. These
are all monitors, touch screens, or backlit projections. Every single display
surface, whether horizontal or vertical has a degree of interaction within it.
Each and every one also serves a larger purpose, for the ultimate goal of MAV
is to digitally reconstruct the destroyed town and recreate what life there was
like.
A touch-screen table awaits visitors
To this end, the displays are continually changing,
evolving, and being added to as new material is discovered, new programs are written
and new models are integrated. Scans and photographs are blended in as
seamlessly as possible, and to help complete the look, the interior walls are
decorated with a chunky, ruins-like plastic effect.
There is also the possibility to live the eruption of
Vesuvio in 3D, through a cylindrical room, wearing glasses: visitors will be
plunge in the ancient atmosphere through thrilling effects, thanks to a
vibrating platform that simulates earthquake.
This new experience of museum, is an innovative system
to know the history of the Roman Empire, but although MAV is near the actual
site of Herculaneum it does not try, to show the ruins as they are now. Pieces
of representation of how they are now, do exist, but mostly they are blended
back into the original models, to show how the town once stood.
This is fundamental in order to not substitute the
real archaeological site, also because the emotion to tread on the same floor
of the Romans cannot be replace in any way!
This system allows to preserve this fragile site from the
crowd of the tourists that continuously take no authorized “souvenirs” like
stones, and that have a habit of touching. There is the very real threat now,
that the town which survived an eruption, may be destroyed by a hundred million
probing fingers. MAV hopes to be an alternative to that fate, to preserve
Herculaneum in all its glory for future generations.
Watch this video of
the 3D reconstruction of a Roman boat!
Key words: Roman Empire, 3D museum, virtual
reality, touch-screen, Ercolano
Esposito Barbara,
D’Orsi Carmine Andrea,
Nocerino Francesca
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