One of the world’s most visited museums, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, has transcended its physical boundaries and entered a new era. For the first time, the institution has launched two comprehensive VR exhibitions that bring some of its most iconic spaces into the digital realm – completely free of charge:
the Temple of Dendur and the newly redesigned galleries of the Oceania collection.
Whether experienced through a VR headset or simply navigated on a computer screen, these new digital exhibitions draw visitors inside the museum using meticulously crafted 3D scans, interactive tasks, and a spatial design that creates a genuine sense of walking through the galleries.
1-Temple of Dendur: From the 1st Century to the Digital Universe
One of The Met’s best-known spaces, the Temple of Dendur, now returns in a stunning digital reinterpretation.
The VR experience, rich with references to Egyptian and Nubian history, weaves together:
- The story of the temple’s transfer to the United States in the 1960s
- The conservation work carried out in the 1970s
- Newly compiled images from UNESCO and archival sources
- A digital “reconstruction” simulation
Visitors move through the different sections of the temple exactly as they would in a video game, discovering information along the way and completing the tour by leaving a voice note.
2- Oceania: Galleries Where Time and Space Are Reimagined
The newly renovated Oceania section of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing is now explorable in VR as well.
The exhibition creates an intense atmosphere both spatially and through its ritual aesthetics.
The digital tour opens with the “Female Ancestor Figure” from the Inyai-Ewa culture.
The Ceremonial House Ceiling overhead transforms into a visual narrative composed of hundreds of painted shell panels.
The VR scenario follows a game-like logic:
Users must discover 16 artworks hidden throughout the gallery.
Some are concealed among plants, others appear in unexpected places.
In this way, the tour becomes more than a simple exhibition visit – it turns into an exploratory journey that activates spatial memory.
A New Use of Technology: Creating VR Exhibitions Without Writing Code
The Met’s Digital and Emerging Technologies Department developed the project in partnership with Atopia, a culture-focused VR platform.
The most significant aspect of this collaboration is:
The same infrastructure will now allow other cultural institutions to produce their own VR exhibitions without any coding required.
This could soon become one of the new standards for remotely experiencing museums and archives.
A New Threshold in the Art World
Met Director Max Hollein describes the VR projects as “an accessible cultural experience for everyone, no matter where they are in the world.”
This approach is a powerful signal that art institutions want to open up not only to physical crowds but also to global digital communities.
In the words of No:26, initiatives like these:
- democratize access to cultural heritage,
- draw the next generation into museum practice,
- carry the future of exhibition-making beyond physical walls.
Even for someone who has never seen the Temple of Dendur or the Oceania halls in person, this tour offers an alternative that conveys The Met’s unique spatial atmosphere remarkably well.
