SAINT PETERSBURG.- At the end of 2017, the State Hermitage Museum and CROC’s Virtual Reality Center unveiled a virtual simulation of the State Hermitage Museum’s Jupiter Hall. The joint project was demonstrated to the public for the first time during the opening of the Hermitage Days in Vladivostok, at the Primorye State Art Gallery. Visitors to the building, where the future Hermitage-Vladivostok Center will be located, will be able to take a virtual tour across the St. Petersburg Hermitage Museum and walk through the Jupiter Hall.

The Jupiter Hall is one of the most magnificent halls in the New Hermitage building and currently displays Ancient Art exposition of the State Hermitage Museum: Roman marble sarcophagi and one of the world’s best collections of Roman sculptural portraits, comprising more than 100 exhibits, including world famous masterpieces, such as the Portrait of a Roman Woman (known as A Syrian Woman) and the portraits of Emperors Lucius Verus, Balbinus and Philip the Arabian. The Jupiter statue, which gave the name to the hall, is one of the biggest Ancient sculptures on display in a museum anywhere in the world.

The richest Ancient Art collection exhibited in the State Hermitage Museum can now be demonstrated using Virtual Reality (VR) technologies. Having put on VR glasses, visitors can walk through the Jupiter virtual hall and, using a joystick, approach any masterpiece, and listen to information about the history of its creation, creator and art style, thus feeling like visiting a real museum. The virtual model comprises exhibits and interiors digitized in 3D and kept in a high-performance workstation. In addition, CROC specialists developed a new photogrammetry data visualization technique for VR environments to ensure a highly realistic experience.

“While the Hermitage-Vladivostok Center will host temporary exhibitions on various topics, with the Hermitage exhibits demonstrated, visitors cannot see the Hermitage museum halls, in which exhibits are usually located and which are true masterpieces in themselves. We would like to offer the center guests the opportunity to feel like they are actually in the Hermitage. Virtual reality makes this possible and enables us to become even closer to our audience and introduce both ancient works of art and one of the best Hermitage collections with the help of advanced technology. During the collaboration with CROC, we managed to create a unique product demonstrating sculptures and interiors in every detail and in a highly precise manner. We are currently experimenting and welcome feedback from all guests regarding this technology,” says Alexey Bogdanov, Deputy General Director, the State Hermitage Museum.

In this project, CROC employed photogrammetry technology — a technique to visualize physical objects and unite photos into a single 3D image. After special processing, such photorealistic 3D images can be demonstrated in virtual reality. Using this technique, CROC reconstructed a total of 46 exhibits, including sculptures, scenery and interiors of the hall. The combination of photogrammetry technology and virtual reality makes it possible to see the finest sculptural details and admire the delicate workmanship of Ancient craftsmen.

“The joint project with Russia’s largest and one of the world’s largest museums, which has been globally recognized for decades, is both a great responsibility and opportunity to contribute to the retention of the country’s cultural heritage for future generations. Such state-of-the-art approaches to artwork demonstration will soon become a great help for museums, expanding their exposition capacity. Today, we can create highly realistic copies of museum halls and particular exhibits to be demonstrated using high-performance desktops. I am convinced that technological evolution and the improvement of mobile device capacity will one day enable art lovers to walk through the Hermitage halls without even leaving their homes,” comments Alexander Leus, VR Center Director, CROC.

The new technology solution is to be used in the exhibition centers and other events of the State Hermitage Museum.