While there is nothing comparable to seeing the world's beauty through your own eyes, technology nowadays allows one to visit many places virtually. Alexander Welscher, reporting for Baltic Business Quarterly, takes you on VR tour across the Baltics.
The coronavirus lockdown has brought almost the entire world to a halt. People have been advised to stay at home and uphold social distancing as well as self-isolation. Avid travellers and keen explorers are having a hard time adjusting to a life of confinement at home but there are still many ways to explore various destinations and venues. New technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are opening up a whole new way of immersing oneself in history, art and travelling, and enabling to enjoy interactive and entertaining content.
Both allow you to virtually travel to far away countries, explore cultural and historical sites from the comfort of your own four walls and dream about all the joy you might be having there in reality once the pandemic is over.
What is VR and AR?
– Virtual Reality (VR): immerses the user in a 360-degree digital environment, most commonly using a headset such as Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard.
– Augmented Reality (AR): integrates the physical, real-world environment with computer-generated digital content such as sound, video or graphics, most commonly via an app on a mobile device
All you need to do is to put on your VR glasses headset, sit back, and set sail on these virtually reality tours and experiences that let you move around in every direction and naturally communicate with the digital world.
Just make sure that your stationary or mobile device is sufficiently charged, as the computing effort for the VR and AR display requires often a lot of power. Many of the sites are also available without VR glasses on various devices such as smartphones, tablets, mobile phones and computers. So visit virtually now – and get inspired to go physically when you can.
Take a virtual vacation
You might feel sad about not being able to travel and get a first-hand experience but technology at least puts the whole world within your reach. Explore the world in high-definition virtual reality through Google Earth VR.
This free desktop application compiles satellite and aerial imagery to reconstruct a simulated globe. You can use it to teleport virtually anywhere in the world. Browse any spot you want to visit – and you are going to be there instantly. Stroll down Broadway, fly over the Alpes or soar along the Chinese Wall. Start your journey now!
Digital explorers can also head on to the Baltics where you can enjoy the virtual experiences offered by local tourism operators. Use your VR headset to stroll around Tallinn Old Town or do a virtual island hoping tour. Or learn about the story of e-Estonia by a collection of virtual reality videos narrating the birth and rise of the digital nation. You can even have a personal audience with both the current President Kersti Kaljulaid and the previous head of the state Toomas Hendrik Ilves.
Along with its official website, Lithuania.Travel boasts a 360° journey experience on its YouTube Channel. You can use your VR headset to watch a variety of videos presenting the natural and cultural heritage of Lithuania.
Also Virtual Vilnius has much to offer: Hop on a canoe and float through the city along the Neris river, tour around the best spots with a personal guide on foot, scooter or bicycle, or sail on a yacht on the lake around the Trakai Island Castle. The special tour Inside the Vilnius Ghetto explores arts, education and creative endeavours within the former Ghetto in the 1940s and the people behind them.
In Latvia also many interesting places have been made available through virtual tours and 360° panoramas. Just set up your goggles and start the application to visit Riga and numerous other places across the country throughout the seasons, travel along the Baltic sea coastline or immerse yourself into historical reenactments of different epochs.
Or join video livestream explorations of the Gauja National Park that allows remotely attending traditional cooking lessons, history classes, and participating in walks or boating tours. Other virtual tours without VR lead along the never build metro in Riga or repeat the legendary performative walks along the Bolderāja railway. Indulge and enjoy!
Explore museums from home
When have you been the last time in a museum, art gallery or cultural site? Most of them have currently closed their doors for visitors, but that does not mean their treasures are lost. Museums, heritage sites, famous landmarks and hidden gems across the world are now at your fingertips and can be accessed from anywhere with Google Arts And Culture. The website and app of Google’s free initiative has made culture available online to everyone through high-resolution image and immersive technologies.
One can enjoy full virtual museum tours at a click of a button now. You can easily zoom in and out of paintings, sculptures and artworks of renowned artists. Or get a new perspective and explore some of the masterpieces in 3D or 360°. Discover artworks and artists alphabetically, by time or in a playful way with art trivia, visual crossword, artistic jigsaw puzzles and colouring books. You can also be creative with arts and culture: Take a selfie and transform yourself into an artwork or discover your artistic twin.
AR allows you also to project 3D models into the real-world through your phone camera and lets you decorate your home with famous paintings, ancient artefacts or contemporary art. The stunning visuals will even keep your little ones entertained – and there are plenty of interesting facts to pick up along the way. You can explore physical and contextual information about artworks, compile your own virtual art collection and discover iconic cultural heritage sites from the Pyramids to Pompeii.
Alongside the world’s most prestigious exhibition hall, also museums and galleries in the Baltics have made their collections available online in 3D and on virtual platforms. Explore history, art and educational information from home at your own pace without being disturbed by other visitors, and get as close and often there as you want. Check our list with tips and recommendation – and step inside!
History, art and miscellaneous: Online experiences in the Baltics:
– Explore the online exhibits and virtual tours of the Tallinn City Museum, find out how Riga looked about 100 years ago or stroll through the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania
– Find out why Estonians the way they are at the Estonian National Museum, feel like an aristocrat in the Rundale Palace or a head of state at the Historical Presidential Palace of Lithuania
– Learn about the freedom fight of the Baltics in an virtual visit of the 1991 Barricades museum in Riga, an archive photo collection from the January 1991 events in Vilnius and online exhibition about the Baltic Way
– Take a virtual tour of the Kuressaare Castle, check out the Turaida Castle from bird's eye view and explore the Medininkai Castle together with a knight
– Explore the collections of the Kumu Art Museum, discover the masterpieces of Latvian National Museum of Art and get to know the works of one of Lithuania`s greatest artist at the M.K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art
– Delve into unique medieval altarpieces in Tallinn, visit the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Liepaja or go inside Lithuania's Hill of Crosses
– Learn more about Estonian literature online at the Under and Tuglas Literature Centre, browse the Latvian National Library’s digital collection of books and periodicals or discover the treasures of the Vilnius University Library.
– Take a journey of discovery to places with a German connection in Latvia, tour the House of the Blackheads in Tallinn or use an interactive guide to explore the regional heritage of Klaipėda
– Inspect a 1930s submarine at the Seaplane Harbour in Tallinn, take a virtual tour through the former KGB headquarters in Riga or learn about the “Baltic gold” in the Palanga Amber Museum
– Visit the interactive exhibitions of Estonian National Museum of Natural History, tour the Latvian Puppet Theatre or join an excursion through the Lithuanian Energy and Technology Museum
– Peek into the lives of Tallinn's zoo animals, follow the Latvian Fund for Nature’s live streams from birds' nests or enjoy the Lithuanian Sea Museum’s dolphin performances
– Step into the historic farm-houses at the Estonian Open Air Museum, join a virtual tour of the Lithuanian Clock and Watch Museum or check out the unique cars of the Riga Motor museum
– Fly into the Lithuanian Aviation museum, drive down the Sigulda bobsleigh track or discover the story of the Estonian War Museum
– Listen how Estonian folk instruments sound like, visit the historic Žaliūkai Windmill and sneak into the radio telescope in Irbene
– Take a preview of the new Rail Baltica Riga Central Station, explore The Hill of Witches in Juodkrantė in the Curonian spit or see Tallinn from above with the Skywheel of Tallinn
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
