At the Museum of Oriental Art in Turin, you can visit the Forbidden City of Beijing thanks to augmented reality. To experience life as it was during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
In Turin, visitors can experience the thrill of augmented reality at the Museum of Oriental Art (Mao) inside the Forbidden City of Beijing. Until 28 March, it is a unique experience to fully immerse oneself in the ancient Chinese Ming and Qing dynasties.
This is the world's first application of virtual reality of its kind, and it will be possible to experience it at the Museum of Oriental Art in Turin to walk through and explore the Forbidden City of Beijing: something absolutely new for visitors to Italian museums. The latest-generation technologies, unusual in the world of exhibitions and the arts, are certain to make a strong impression. To enter this reality, visitors must wear Ld multimedia headsets paired with platforms and joypads similar to those used with video game consoles, but wireless. Nothing complicated. An innovative project (whose technology is called Oculus Rift) between the Fondazione Torino Musei and Ld Multimedia, a Turin-based startup and European leader in the production of virtual reality scenarios, which will allow visitors to explore the Mao in an exciting way.
In the virtual room set up in the Mazzonis hall on the first floor of the museum, visitors will be able to take a journey through space and time into the "purple" Forbidden City of Beijing — the seat, both actual and symbolic, of the imperial power of the Ming and Qing dynasties, an architectural masterpiece and China's most iconic monument. Visitors walk across the square, climb the stairs leading to the terrace where the Palace of Supreme Harmony stands, and make their way to the throne, walking across the imperial carpet of the elixir of the nine dragons. These are places closely linked to the ongoing exhibition Il drago e il fiore d'oro. Potere e magia nei tappeti della Cina imperiale, at the Mao until the end of March.
The project unfolds within the Forbidden City, Forbidden City VR (where VR stands for virtual reality), but the Mao is well worth visiting and discovering in its entirety: one of the most comprehensive and visited museums for lovers of oriental art. The Museum of Oriental Art aspires to the broadest possible representation of the artistic production of the various countries of Asia, and houses the most important cultural and artistic traditions of that continent. The museum's collection comprises around 2,200 works from various Asian countries. The rooms dedicated to the permanent exhibition are spread across five distinct galleries corresponding to as many cultural areas: South Asia and Southeast Asia, with works from the Indian subcontinent and Indochina; China, the cradle of a centuries-old and multifaceted artistic civilisation; the Himalayan region, a fertile meeting point for Indian and Chinese cultures; Japan, home to original developments born from contact with the cultures of Asia and Europe; and the Islamic countries, witnesses to an extraordinary artistic flourishing stretching from Central Asia to the Mediterranean.
Museum admission costs 10 euros; it is worth noting that entry to the permanent collections is free on the first Tuesday of the month, provided it is not a public holiday. Closed on Mondays.