• Queen Nefertari is said to have been Ramses II's favorite wife, and had a massive tomb built in her honor
• While well-preserved, it's susceptible to damage from fungus and bacteria, and only open to those who pay
• The stunning VR experience uses 3D scanning and photogrammetry to capture it in unprecedented detail
• Nefertari: Journey to Eternity is now available for free on Steam Store and Viveport, for the HTC Vive

A breathtaking new virtual reality experience will transport you right into the 3,000-year-old tomb of the Egyptian queen, Nefertari.

She’s perhaps best known as the favorite wife of Ramses II, who had a sprawling tomb built to guarantee her a royal place in the afterlife – but, Nefertari was no trophy wife.

Experts say the queen was a revered intellectual in her time, and made major diplomatic and strategic contributions to the kingdom, according to the team behind the new VR project. 

The new experience recently launched on the Steam Store and Viveport, and combines 3D scanning and photogrammetry to capture the inside of the tomb in unprecedented detail.

Nefertari: Journey to Eternity is now available for free, though you’ll need an HTC Vive to get the full experience.

Experius VR teamed up with Curiosity Stream to document the ancient tomb that lies in Egypt’s Valley of the Queens.

Photogrammetry requires thousands of photos and scans to create more realistic 3D models, Experius explains.

Using this technique, the experts were able to document the incredibly well-preserved artwork throughout the tomb, which has come to be known as ‘the Sistine Chapel of Ancient Egypt.’

From vivid paintings of the guardians of the underworld, to countless hieroglyphs and the ancient gods, the stunning VR tour captures the site as the ‘original artists and architects created.’

Nefertari: Journey to Eternity is now available for free, though you’ll need an HTC Vive to get the full experience. It includes interactive options (shown left). Given its fragility, the tomb is only open to those who can pay a hefty fee.

Photogrammetry requires thousands of photos and scans to create more realistic 3D models, the Experius explains. Using this technique, the experts were able to document the incredibly well-preserved artwork throughout the tomb, which has come to be known

All lighting was done in-engine in real-time, and optimized for VR at 90 frames per second, the team explains.

‘This means that you’ll never see any shadow or light variations ‘burned’ into the textures, allowing the environment to be used for countless different projects and lighting scenarios,’ according to Experius VR.

‘We’re also running extremely high texture qualities using some advanced techniques and softwares, which allow us to really push the limits of what we can achieve visually.

‘This also means that the environment asset is future proofed through the next generations of VR.’

Given its fragility, the tomb is only open to those who can pay a hefty fee.

Experts say the queen was a revered intellectual in her time, and made major diplomatic and strategic contributions to the kingdom, according to the team behind the new VR project. Ramses II, had a sprawling tomb built to guarantee her a royal place in th

From vivid paintings of the guardians of the underworld, to countless hieroglyphs and the ancient gods, the stunning VR tour captures the site as the ‘original artists and architects created’

The new experience recently launched on the Steam Store and Viveport, and combines 3D scanning and photogrammetry to capture the inside of the tomb in unprecedented detail

WHO WAS QUEEN NEFERTARI? 

Egyptologists believe Nefertari was the favourite wife of Ramses II, who lavished her with a beautifully ornate tomb in the Valley of Queens after her death.

Her ancestry is unknown, but historians believe she was not of royal descent.

Evidence suggests that she would have been the around the same age as Ramses the great who lived from 1303 to 1213 BC.

She is thought to have been a royal wife for at least 25 years, giving birth to four sons.

During this time she played an important role in foreign affairs of the dynasty.

It is unclear how she died, but records indicate her health may have failed over a period, before she died around age 40 in 1255 BC.

Nefertari was the favourite wife of Ramesses II, who lavished her with a beautifully ornate tomb in the Valley of Queens after her death

In 1904, archaeologists excavated Nefertari's tomb in the Valley of the Queens – thought to be the favourite wife of Ramesses II – finding only remains left by looters

Though it was restored by the Getty Institute and Egypt’s Supreme Council for Antiquities in 1986-1992, it’s susceptible to damage from bacteria and fungi.

‘When I started the project with the Getty, we all agreed that we cannot open the tomb to the public. But we can open it to groups who would pay a high fee,’ Zahi Hawass, an archaeologist and former Minister of State for Antiquities, told Live Science.

Visitors must pay an entrance fee of 1,000 Egyptian pounds ($56).

According to Hawass: ‘A virtual tour will save the tomb.’

In addition to threats from fungus and bacteria, the tombs are also always at risk of earthquakes and other natural disasters in the Luxor desert, the Experius team explains.

‘Now, because of this project, regardless of what happens to the real life tomb, we'll always have a fully explorable version that can be appreciated for generations to come,’ the team wrote on Facebook. ‘And that's the thing that makes us the most proud about this project.’