Rome's Ara Pacis revived in virtual journey

(ANSA) - Rome, October 10 - The Ara Pacis, an altar built between 13 and 9 BC to celebrate the peace achieved by Augustus across the Roman Empire, will starting on October 14 include an immersive tour throughout the Rome museum housing it. Visors will enable visitors to take part in a multimedia narration enabling better understanding of what the monument originally looked like and observe the transformations of the area of the capital that Augustus chose to celebrate his power. The 45-minute tour will be open to the public from 8 PM to midnight on Friday and Saturday from October 14 until April 15 and every evening from spring until autumn and during holidays.
    Scenes will include a virtual re-enactment of a holy rite that required the innards of an immolated victim to be interpreted and then offered to the gods. Visitors will be able to watch as the altar underwent transformations and eventually ended up under layers of earth on which medieval and Renaissance Rome were built.
    The altar will also be shown in the bright colours in which it was originally decorated. The project aims to be entirely self-financed. "An initial investment of 250,000 euros will have to be amortized over the next three years," said Albino Ruberti, head of the Zètema project, "and management costs of about 240,000 euros per year will have to be covered by visitors."