An Immersive Journey to Ancient Egypt From Atlanta, Courtesy of French Innovators

For those who dream of seeing the Great Pyramid of Giza but can’t make it to Egypt, an immersive experience crafted by French companies offers a new way to experience it right here in Atlanta. 

“The Horizon of Khufu,” showing at the Illuminarium on the Atlanta Beltline, transports visitors on a virtual journey to one of the seven wonders of the world built by Pharaoh Khufu 4,500 years ago. Using virtual reality headsets, the pyramids can be viewed not only as they exist today, but as they were in ancient Egypt. In just 45 minutes, guests can witness mummification during a burial ceremony and experience a funeral boat ride down the Nile.

A female avatar leads the VR tour with humor and playfulness. She brings guests into the pyramid at night and straight to Pharaoh Khufu’s tomb, which, like many Egyptian crypts, was long ago raided of its riches and is now a large stone room with an empty sarcophagus.

This is only the beginning of a tour that feels so real that you might crouch making your way through narrow tunnels or step up as the pyramid’s stones begin to move. It helps to remember that you are always on solid ground, circling a large room a couple of times with other groups of people.

The exhibit is the brainchild of two innovative French companies, Emissive and Eclipso, who joined forces to bring cutting-edge immersive experiences to audiences worldwide. They first launched their virtual reality exhibits in Lyon, France, two years ago, before expanding to Paris, Bordeaux and London. Another exhibit in those cities transports participants to the age of dinosaurs. 

While Emissive was formed in 2005, a museum pop-up launched the current experiences under a new brand, Excurio. Eclipso was established to replicate the exhibits in other locations, making their immersive experiences accessible to a broader audience.

“We loved the experience and proposed them to open permanent venues to make the experience live longer. We then created Eclipso, a network of permanent immersive centers to diffuse the best virtual reality content available on the market,” said Antoine Lieutaud, CEO of Eclipso, the Paris-based company that distributes the productions. 

With popularity has come expansion. In two years, Eclipso has grown from 10 temporary employees to 115 staff. And the company has transitioned from solely distributing content from other producers to also producing its own, with the first production scheduled for release at the end of 2024.

Atlanta was selected as the first U.S. host city this past spring largely because of its Illuminarium venue, which is large enough for participants to roam uninhibited, Mr. Lieutaud said.

“We think Atlanta is a very interesting city,” Mr. Lieutaud said during a phone interview from Paris. “There are not a lot of immersive places at the moment. So we thought, OK, the market is open for us.”

“Horizon of Khufu” will remain at Illuminarium until April 2025, and will open next in New York and Minneapolis with additional content. Meanwhile, discussion is underway to make it permanent in Atlanta, and include a dinosaur exhibit, Mr. Lieutaud said. 

While virtual reality isn’t new, its possibilities are endless, Mr. Lieutaud added. It brings history to people who are unable to travel. And “Horizons of Khufu” might even inspire a real-life visit to the pyramids.

“As a kid, I think I would have loved this type of content and I would have been more interested in my history class, geography class,” Mr. Lieutaud said. “I would have asked my parents to get tickets to Egypt.”

He also notes that these types of experiences create dialogue in an era where kids are more engaged with their phones than their parents. He has observed that as families enter the venue, Mom and Dad are typically walking in front with their kids trailing behind, glued to their screens.

During the exhibit, they don’t speak to each other, but as they exit, he has seen them in animated conversation. 

“It creates such a feeling people want to speak and debrief,” Mr. Lieutaud said. “This experience is creating some emotion, and it helps to create some human link.”

The exhibit is part history lesson, part entertainment. One of the highlights is being taken to the top of the pyramid, a space off limits to tourists, and viewing the modern high-rise towers of Cairo at your feet as the sun rises. This can feel so real that afterward, some participants ask how organizers were able to create the wind they felt, Mr. Lieutaud says. 

“I say there is no wind, it was in your head. But people feel such immersion that their brain makes such a thing happen.”