Our first tour

Aquae Sulis: Roman Bath, AD 205

A guided virtual-reality journey to the sacred spring of Sulis Minerva, built from the archaeology of Roman Bath. Visitors arrive as travellers on the London road and walk into the town, the temple precinct and the Great Bath.

Length: About 15 minutes
Languages: 7, with captions
Controls: Gaze only
Headset: Meta Quest 3

Riding on a wagon behind a driver and two horses along the Roman road into Bath, in the VR tour — Arriving by wagon on the London road

The journey

The tour follows one traveller's arrival, about AD 205, when Aquae Sulis was one of the most famous sanctuaries in this corner of the Roman Empire.

The London road and the Avon valley

A wagon carries visitors along the road, with the river Avon in the meadows below, farms and villas on the slopes, a ploughman at work and the tombstones of real people of Roman Bath beside the road.

Walcot, the roadside suburb

Shops, a smith at his anvil, a potter's kiln, bakers and wine sellers, with street cries in Latin. Archaeologists found workshops, kilns and a cobbler's pit full of shoes here.

The north gate and the main street

Visitors climb down at the town's earthen bank and walk through the gate, past shops, a hot-food stall and stone carvers at work.

A theatre for the goddess's festivals

A reconstruction: no theatre has yet been excavated at Bath, but great sanctuaries like this one often had one. The narration says so.

The temple of Sulis Minerva

The temple with its famous carved pediment, the great altar and the statue base of the haruspex Lucius Marcius Memor, the only one known from Roman Britain.

The sacred spring and the Great Bath

Coins and curse tablets thrown into the steaming spring, then the vaulted hall of the Great Bath, lined with lead from the Mendip Hills.

Inside the tour

The main street of Roman Bath with colonnaded shop fronts, in the VR tour — The main street, lined with shops and covered walkways

The seating of a reconstructed Roman theatre with an audience, in the VR tour — The reconstructed theatre

A cook selling hot food from a brazier to customers including a Roman soldier, in the VR tour — Street food on the way to the theatre

A ploughman with a pair of oxen in a field in the Avon valley, in the VR tour — A ploughman and his oxen in the valley

Built from the evidence

The buildings follow the excavated plans and published reconstructions of the temple, the spring and the baths. The people in the narration are real: their names come from tombstones, altars and inscriptions found in Bath. Where the evidence runs out, as with the theatre, the tour says plainly that it is a reconstruction.

This tour is our own demonstration of what MuseumVR can build. It is not currently offered at any museum or heritage site.

A wayside shrine with a woman praying beside the Roman road into Walcot, in the VR tour — A wayside shrine at the edge of Walcot

Want a tour like this for your site?

We will build one for your museum and trial it for a week, at no cost.

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