Coming soon: a virtual walk through the Tunnel of Hope

The Tunnel of Hope, a Sarajevo museum, has promoted an interesting project that makes use of VR technology to present the history of the city. This has been done in cooperation with researchers from the laboratory at the Sarajevo Graphics Group from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Sarajevo.

2019/09/26

In addition to its permanent displays, the museum's offering will soon include a digital story about the Siege – a virtual reality (VR) application that will enable one to experience what it was like to pass through the full 800 meters of the Tunnel of Hope.

By using a VR headset, visitors (whether at the museum or online) will be able to watch a digital story that talks about the Siege, running across the airport runway, the tunnel entrances and its construction, and, after becoming familiar with some basic facts and passing a test, there will be an opportunity to make a virtual crossing through the tunnel, while dealing with the challenges of a low ceiling, wading through water and encountering people coming in the opposite direction. More digital stories await participants as they leave the tunnel.

Professor Selma Rizvić, PhD was responsible for the project's realization, and application programmers Ajdin Jajčanin and Tarek-Abdurrazak Chahin were joined by director Ahmed Imamović, Selma Alispahić and Boris Balta (narrators/actors), who also participated in the project, as well as many others....

During the Siege (1992-1995), the tunnel was the only link besieged Sarajevo had with the outside world, and it has been considered a key object in the city’s survival.