RIYADH — The Ministry of Culture, in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, launched Tuesday a simulation platform for the National Museum that allows touring its hallways and reviewing its contents in a virtual digital trip. During the digital trip all visitors will be able to see all the archaeological pieces inside the National Museum through a digital tour to its eight sections through certain viewing points that allow 360-degree display. The virtual tour was designed with the use of augmented reality technologies and an application that is available for smart phones and tablets, including an accurate simulation for a tour in the hallways, sections and possessions of the museum, supported by an audio content that describes the possessions or a display for a visual content on these pieces. The virtual tour also offers a space for contemplating the archaeological pieces and interacting with them through reading scripts describing every piece. The “National Museum Virtual Tour” platform is considered the first Arab platform that provides users with an interactive content that helps ease procedures for changing old Arabic alphabetic spellings into modern Arabic, which helps increase the cognitive knowledge of old Arabic scripts in the Arabian Peninsula. The platform also aims at encouraging visitors to engage in a comprehensive virtual visit to the National Museum and bring them back to its atmosphere, especially after halting the activities of the museum since the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic around 1.5 years ago. The platform also seeks to present the national heritage to the audience from all around the world in the Arabic and English languages through rich information displayed in an easy way with all information, pictures and audio and video clips that support the contents of the museum. The “National Museum Virtual Tour” is the result of cooperation between the Ministry of Culture, represented by the Saudi Museums Commission and the National Museum administration, and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, represented by the Digital Transformation Unit. This effort is in a bid to preserve the national heritage and spread it with digital tools locally and internationally, in addition to ease access to the museum from any place in the world at any time of the day to provide an opportunity to have a firsthand look at the museum’s precious archaeological pieces, pictures and documents, which represent an important aspect of the national heritage. — SPA