When people worldwide think of the great monuments of the ancient world, more often than not the top of that list is the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Visitors today can visit the UNESCO World Heritage site to visit that pyramid, and others, and hear the stories of what the society of the Old Kingdom was like.

But imagine for a moment that you could, in between doing some Christmas shopping, step into a time machine and travel back and see—really see what life was like.

That is what the presenters of Horizon of Khufu, PHI Studio have promised with their virtual reality installation at Chinook Centre this winter.

“You should see the smiles on people’s faces during the experience, but also when they’re removing the headset, because they really felt they went on a trip,” said Myriam Achard, Chief of New Media Partnerships and PR at PHI Studio.

“You’re going to learn how people were living then, and you’re going to attend some ceremonies. You’re going to be on the boat, on the river, and you’re going to learn a lot, but you’re going to have fun. It’s this balance between entertaining, but also learning that is really at its peaks during this experience.”

Part of delivering that experience was ensuring that what audiences see is authentic, she said.

Excurio, the creators of the show, consulted with Harvard professor Peter Der Manuelian, who is also the Director of the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East.

Enter the ancient world, from the comfort of a shopping mall

Visitors to the experience put on VR headsets, and then move around a large indoor space painted in images, not unlike QR codes, to tell the headset where the visitor is in real time.

That black-and-white world is then replaced with the virtual representation of ancient Egypt, other visitors included—some 80 to 100 people per hour.

“We see each other in virtual reality as avatars so that you don’t bump into other people that are doing the experience. It was the first experience I did that allowed me to walk freely with a virtual reality headset,” said Achard.

That evolution of the technology has taken VR from a passive, content-watching experience into something more interactive, she said.

It also differs from other shows, which use projectors to put images onto walls, like the interactive Van Gogh exhibit or the immersive Disney shows that were presented at the BMO Centre.

“I’m not saying those are not good, they are a different experience. But I think Horizon of Khufu, as I said, has it all. That’s why it’s had such success, not only in Montreal, it’s been shown in Paris, in New York, in London, and Shanghai,” Achard said.

“It ticks all the boxes, I would say: interactivity, free-roaming, learning, entertaining for the entire family. So to me, Horizon of Khufu is a great example of how interactive pieces can be, when they can be made in the best way.”

The experience is playing at Chinook Centre through Decemeber and January 2025. Tickets are available at horizonkheopsexperience.com/calgary.