Virtual Reality Platform Takes Travel Back in Time

Traveling back in time has taken a giant leap forward thanks to an Indiana University professor’s high-tech app and online platform. Bernard Frischer is a professor of informatics and digital archaeologist who studies and writes about ancient times.

He founded Flyover Zone in 2016 to take his study of virtual heritage from an academic setting to a broader international public.

Frischer explained in an interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick, his concept is rooted nearly 50 years ago when as a student studying in Rome, he became fascinated with a model-sized layout of Paris in a museum.

“I thought coming there with a background in photography, in electronics. And with a Ph.D. in classical studies and archaeology, I thought there’s got to be some technical way to get this marvelous monument out of this obscure museum,” said Frischer.

Flyover Zone creates tours of cultural heritage sites that help virtual travelers to explore a destination that has been virtually reconstructed to look as they originally did thousands of years ago.

His digital format allows users to take a virtual reality tour of ancient ruins in Greece, Egypt, Mexico, and beyond.

The newest tour is to Lebanon and the historic city of Baalbeck. Frischer says a philanthropist, who traveled to the ancient city as a child, supported Frischer’s work for the VR tour called Baalbek Reborn.

“He always wanted to see what it really looked like in antiquity. You’ve got the sandy ruins of some of the biggest temples the Romans ever built, but they’re just ruins. So, we put the flesh back on the bones and show you the way it looks today,” said Frischer.

Click here to learn more about Baalbek Reborn.