Hetepheres' Tomb

The Exhibition

Embark on an immersive time travel experience to the year 1925 – to the spectacular discovery of the tomb of ancient Egyptian Queen Hetepheres I, mother of Pharaoh Khufu. Her tomb, located right next to the Great Pyramid of Giza, was uncovered by a team from Harvard University and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts under the direction of George Andrew Reisner (1867–1942), revealing gilded furniture, exquisite jewelry, and a mysteriously empty sarcophagus.

In the virtual reality experience, you become part of the excavation. You retrieve finds from a 27-meter-deep shaft in front of the pyramids, recover artifacts, reconstruct a decayed throne chair, and experience a final virtual exhibition presenting the tomb‘s reconstruction. The adventure is guided by Harvard Professor Peter Der Manuelian.

The application was developed by Luca Dreiling as part of a collaboration between the Giza Project (Harvard University) and the MA specialisation Digital Humanities at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Tübingen, under the supervision of Kevin Körner. The VR application is complemented by a small analog presentation featuring objects from the Egyptological Collection of the Museum of Ancient Cultures at Hohentübingen Castle, curated by Carolina Teotino and Michael La Corte.