The historic wooden model of Solomon’s Temple: 3D recording, modelling and immersive virtual reality visualisation

Purpose Recent advances in contemporary virtual reality (VR) technologies are going to have a significant impact on everyday life. Through VR it is possible to virtually explore a computer-generated environment as a different reality, and to immerse oneself into the past or in a virtual museum without leaving the current real-life situation. For such an ultimate VR experience, the user should only see the virtual world. Currently, the user must wear a VR headset which fits around the head and over the eyes to visually separate himself from the physical world. Via the headset images are fed to the eyes through two small lenses. The purpose of this paper is to present the generation of a virtual 3D model of the wooden model of Solomon’s Temple, located at the Hamburg museum (Museum fur Hamburgische Geschichte), and its processing for data integration into the two game engines Unity and Unreal. Design/methodology/approach Cultural heritage (CH) monuments are ideally suited for both thorough multi-dimensional geometric documentation and realistic interactive visualisation in immersive VR applications. Additionally, the game industry offers tools for interactive visualisation of objects to motivate users to virtually visit objects and places. Findings The project has been carried out by the Photogrammetry & Laser Scanning Lab of the HafenCity University Hamburg, Germany to demonstrate an immersive and interactive visualisation using the VR System HTC Vive. Originality/value The workflow from data acquisition to VR visualisation, including the necessary programming for navigation and interaction, is described. Furthermore, the use (including simultaneous multiple users environments) of such a VR visualisation for a CH monument is discussed in this contribution.