The history of Milan Cathedral comes to life again with virtual reality

Almost seven centuries to relive with virtual reality: outside and inside the Duomo of Milan an immersive experience that gives body and voice to one of the richest places of culture in the world. The “Duomo Smart Experience” tour is the result of the collaboration of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano - a historic institution that has been the custodian of the inestimable artistic and cultural heritage of the Cathedral since 1387 - and Way Experience.

Outside the Cathedral, the tour begins with two immersive stops led by a cultural guide, illustrating the phases of the construction of the Cathedral, offering the public a privileged perspective on its historical and architectural origins. Then inside the Cathedral Museum: the route continues with three further immersive stops, always guided, which delve into the narration of the history and secrets of the Cathedral. Thanks to the use of virtual reality, visitors will be transported between the spectacular spires of the Cathedral and in front of the façade, in a privileged position. Inside the Museum it will also be possible to admire a life-size replica of the famous Madonnina. Finally, at the end of the guided tour, participants will have access to the interior of the Cathedral (included in the ticket price).

A tour not only dedicated to the Duomo, but that embraces the history of Milan; among the various stops of the itinerary, the reconstruction of the Laghetto di Santo Stefano comes to life, the port near the Cathedral, filled in in 1857, where, after a journey along the waterways and the network of Navigli, the barges loaded with marble from the Cava di Candoglia and destined for the Duomo landed.

The immersive contents are made in monoscopic VR 360 format with 3DoF (three degrees of freedom), at 5K resolution. A multidisciplinary team of 12 immersive production professionals worked on “Duomo Smart Experience”. They were joined by a creative team of six people exclusively involved in pre-production and design of narrative and visual contents.

For this project, eight historical buildings were reconstructed in three dimensions, an urban area of ​​17 square kilometers was modeled, and 114 human characters were inserted to populate the various scenes.