Pompeii was officially closed for business on the 8th of this month and will reopen–providing COVID-19 community spread has been limited–on April 3rd. If you just so happen to be “jonesing” for a visit to Pompeii, but the limitations of the quarantine and mitigation efforts have kept you out, you can very easily visit Pompeii (at least a small part) virtually through our applications available for download on Oculus Rift and Oculus Go. The cost of visitation is less than the price of a doppio espresso, and if you’re coordinated enough, you can drink espresso whilst touring the ruins!
This (image below) represents probably one of the silliest applications of Virtual Reality (VR) that I have encountered in its brief history, that is, a donning a headset in what is arguably the most remarkably preserved Roman forum in existence. While VR has very important use cases, this doesn’t appear to be one of them. There is no substitute for experience, and if you happen to be in a scenario like this, I’d be the first to encourage to take the headset off and take a stroll. That said, for those that have, for whatever reason, limitations (physical, financial, or temporal) that preclude them from going to such an archeological treasure, this is an excellent way to get a sense of place without the throngs of tourists, tricky cobbled roads, pricey tickets, and risk of communicable disease.
Visit a small sample of the Pompeii VR experience here (the Forum Baths). (adapted for your laptop or applicable tablet).
