The development of an interactive virtual environment for Hisham Palace in Jericho, Palestine

Abstract

This study aims to introduce Virtual Reality (VR) techniques as a tool to develop an interactive environment for cultural heritage sites in Palestine; these sites have their own specific problems and challenges, which have significantly affected most of the existing sites and cause their continuous deterioration. The virtual replicas of these sites and landscapes can act as a medium for their preservation, documentation, interpretation and intervention, assisting in education, tourism and an increase in public awareness regarding their significant value. For this purpose, Hisham Palace in Jericho was chosen as a case study. The historical layers of Hisham Palace were studied and visualized using advanced 3D visualization techniques by applying a five-step approach to analyze and model different elements of the palace to assemble them at a later stage. This approach was implemented due to the critical condition of the physical remains and the insufficient literature on the history of the palace. As a result, a initial 3D virtual reality model was obtained, presented and discussed in a 3D immersive  environment at the Virtual Reality Lab (VR Lab) at Birzeit University.