Disabled visitors to learn about Georgia’s reserves, monuments through virtual reality

Travellers and locals visiting Georgia's protected areas will soon be able to explore the museums and natural reserves using virtual reality (VR) technology and audio guides.

The new project will involve setting up VR stands at the museum venues and reserves under the umbrella of the National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation of Georgia.

The stands will host visitors looking for detailed information on the venues and areas they are visiting, with an interactive navigation system and built-in audio guides introducing them to the sites.

Visitors of the first completed VR stand at the Uplistsikhe cave city complex explore the site. Photo: Cultural Heritage Agency press office.

[These systems] are being set-up with inclusive tourism in mind — [they will benefit] those who do not have the ability to actually visit sites like rock monuments due to physical reasons", said Nikoloz Antidze, General Director of the agency.

In an "internationally unprecedented" move, the state agency will also provide adaptive VR stands for the disabled at the venues set up at parks and near monuments.

The first example of VR corners at protected areas has already been installed at the Uplistsikhe cave city complex near the central Georgian city Gori.

It hosted beneficiaries of the Gori-based Centre for Welfare and Development in the first presentation of the agency's VR initiative.

We studied the history of Uplistsikhe — this [technology] is important for those of us who cannot move, and will allow those at our centre to learn about this site", said one of the first visitors of the newly set-up corner.

The agency also said it planned to install the stands at all protected areas under its management. This involves 15 sites ranging from the Vardzia Historical and Architectural Museum Reserve to the high-lying Medieval towers of the Mutso village in Georgia's north-east.