The exhibition Inside Out: Pompeian Interiors Exposed at the
Italian Cultural Institute includes a virtual-reality model of
the Villa dei Papiri (Villa of the Papyri) in Herculaneum that I
recently developed at UCLA’s Experiential Technologies Center
with support from the Friends of Herculaneum Society. The model
presents a digital walkthrough of the grand ancient villa, which
was located by the sea and decorated throughout with mosaics and
frescoes. Named after the collection of papyrus scrolls found on
its premises, the Villa dei Papiri is famous for inspiring the
design for the Getty Villa, though the Getty Villa’s groundplan
is adapted to its narrow canyon site. The VR model incorporates
data from both past and recent excavations and proposes a
scientifically documented reconstruction, as opposed to
commercial reconstructions that are influenced by the Getty
Villa. I developed the model in discussion with the excavators
of the site with the purpose of making it available as a
research tool for archaeologi