Virtual Angkor – Reverse Engineered

Virtual Angkor is a groundbreaking collaboration between Virtual History Specialists, Archaeologists and Historians designed to bring the Cambodian metropolis of Angkor to life. Built for the classroom, it has been created to take students into a 3D world and to use this simulation to ask questions about Angkor’s place in larger networks of trade and diplomacy, its experience with climate variability and the structure of power and kingship that underpinned the city.  Virtual Angkor was awarded the the Roy Rosenzweig Prize for Innovation in Digital History by the American Historical Association in 2018.

Chandler, T., Clulow, A., Keo, B.,, Yeates, M. & Polkinghorne, M. (2018). Virtual Angkor. Retrieved from virtualangkor.com.

The project is a collaborative efforts from Sensilab, University of Texas: Austin, Monash University and Flinders University of Australia. Pooling together their vast resources (all 3 of these institutions boast well over 20,000+ students each), they were able to compile a visual representation of lives surrounding the Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world.

Built in the in the first half of the 12th century (113-5BC), the Angkor Wat resides in Krong Siem Riep, Cambodia, and is considered a must-see destination of South East Asia. Even in the 20th centuries, this historic monument still stands even after 900 years since its inception. Arguably the Khmer Empire’s greatest architectural feat, the Angkor Wat has outlasted many of its inhabitants, conflicts, and even entire civilizations. This remarkable piece of history has truly stood the test of time, cementing itself as one of the greatest monument to ever have been built.

Sources for the projects:

Since the temple predates most human settlements, historical records on the temple itself and the Khmer Empire is very limited. As such, the Historian Team (UT: Austin and Monash University) has quite the task ahead of them. Though the architecture and other geographical rendition of Angkor Wat could be recreated and study with modern technologies, it is extremely difficult to find accurate depictions of life surrounding the temple. As such, much of the rendering done on the lives of inhabitants is based on A Record of Cambodia by Zhou Dagann: a Chinese diplomat who lived in Angkor between 1296-1297. However, since Zhou was not a native of Angkor, his experiences in the region could have been different than that of true locals…of which we have no written documentations of.

More details about the sources of this project can be found here.

Compiling the sources:

Through the power of Computer Aided Drafting and some very talented folks, a complete renderings of the Angkor Wat is made available to view through the project’s website. Pulling from the extensive archeological and textural sources of the partnered organizations, the VA team compiled a complete rendition of a 24-hours day in the 12th century surrounding the temple. Through animation, mapping, and 3D scanning technology, VA was able to capture and replicate the live-rendition the historical Angkor. They even have free-flowing vegetations! Furthermore, with the implementation of VR techs, users could now obtain modules (splices of the huge renditions) in the form of panoramic 360-degree views of the surrounding area.

More information on the implementations can be found here

Web Layout:

There’s not much to say regarding the layout of the VA page. It’s fast, it’s easy to navigate, and it’s simple. This is what I would expect out of a web-hosted DH project.

Since the project doesn’t bother uploading their entire schematic/renditions onto the web, it prevents the website from being super clunky like a lot of the other projects on the lists. By “compressing” the renditions into video clips and *beautifully angled* pictures, the VA team maintains the core essence of what they’re trying to do without committing any additional resources that could slow down the site. This way, users with less powerful computers could still grasp the essence of the project.

They also went ahead and provide a semi-interactive teaching module built onto the web. Not only is this super easy to run, it also expands their projects to allow users without a lot of time at hand to learn about Angkor.