Улаанбаатар
VR creation of Karakorum made publicly available
Society
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Professors and students of the National University of Mongolia have created the city of Karakorum in VR (virtual reality) using modern advanced technology.
Scholars highlight that the work was based on archeological discoveries and historical facts, and created in aims of promoting national heritage, history, and culture and passing it onto the future generations.
Project initiator, Professor at the National University of Mongolia, Dr. A.Enkhbayar said, “The youth tend to imagine the city of Karakorum as the Erdene Zuu Monastery. Thus, in order to show how our ancient empire’s capital looked 800 years ago along with its development and way of living at the time, we created the city in virtual reality. With this, university students majoring in Mongolian history, school children, and foreign tourists interested in our country will also have the opportunity to become acquainted with the way of life during the time using VR.”
Per the decree issued by Chinggis Khaan in 1220, the capital city of the Great Mongol Empire was moved from the basin of the Gurvan Gol (Three Rivers) to Karakorum. It was officially recognized as the capital city from the reign of Ogedei Khaan, with skilled craftsmen from all corners of the world being gathered by the Khaan.
Historical sources note that Karakorum served as the hub for global civilization, gathering travelers, officials, nobles, and scholars from Asia and Europe in the 13th century. It is also noted that the city had 12 Buddhist temples, 2 mosques, and a Nestorian church.
Having it set in the year of 1254, a team of over 20 members consisting of scholars and graphic designers worked on creating the city in VR over the course of two years. Some of the future plans for the project team include creating Luut - the ancient capital of the Khunnu Empire, Khar Balgas (Ordu-Baliq) - the capital of the Uyghur Empire, the capital Khuree prior to the revolution as well as the capital city in the years of 1960 and 1970 in VR.
The virtual tour of the city is available at www.tuuhsoyol.com.
