Virtual reality museum offers summer escape in Istanbul

While summer is often associated with travel, leaving the city is not always an option. For those spending the season in Istanbul, immersive cultural experiences are becoming an increasingly popular alternative.

Müzeverse, Türkiye’s first virtual reality museum, invites visitors to explore different eras and civilizations without leaving the city. Located at Galataport Istanbul, the venue has welcomed nearly 60,000 visitors since opening, offering a collection of VR experiences that blend history, culture and science through immersive storytelling.

The museum’s experiences transport visitors from the construction of Egypt’s Great Pyramid and medieval Europe to the origins of life on Earth and a vision of the future, providing a unique cultural destination for summer visitors.

Inside Great Pyramid

One of the museum’s newest experiences, “Mystery of the Pyramids – The Ancient Legacy of the Masters,” takes visitors behind the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Unlike the earlier “Journey to the Pyramids: Discover Ancient Egypt” experience, this production focuses on the people who built the monument rather than the mystery surrounding it.

Visitors follow the construction process from the Dahshur necropolis to the Tura limestone quarries, witnessing how massive stone blocks were extracted, transported and assembled. Drawing on recent archaeological discoveries, including newly identified voids within the pyramid, logistical details from the Diary of Merer and competing construction theories, the experience combines scientific research with advanced VR technology to recreate ancient Egypt.

Cinematic journey

Another featured experience, “The Last Stronghold – Discover the Middle Ages,” places visitors at the center of a cinematic story set in 14th-century France. As they travel through the fortified city of Carcassonne, participants experience the atmosphere and daily life of medieval Europe through immersive storytelling.

Developed using advanced virtual reality technology by Excurio, the experience allows visitors to move through the city’s streets and ramparts as active participants rather than passive observers.

From origins of life to future

Created in collaboration with the French National Museum of Natural History, “Roots of Life” traces the 3.5 billion-year history of life on Earth. The experience takes visitors from the depths of the ancient oceans and the age of dinosaurs to the emergence of the first mammals before projecting forward to the world of the year 2223.

Combining scientific content with immersive visual environments, the production offers a sweeping journey through Earth’s past, present and imagined future.

Müzeverse is open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Galataport Istanbul for visitors ages 7 and older. Experiences are available in Turkish, English, French, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese and Korean.

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