Museu da Lourinhã in Portugal introduced virtual reality to help visitors explore dinosaurs as part of its cultural and paleontological heritage offering. The experience was implemented by Cycloid in partnership with Vodafone Portugal, within a wider modernization programme intended to make the museum more interactive, attractive and accessible.
Vodafone’s release dated 18 May 2021 stated that the museum’s VR experiences were available from that day. A subsequent Dinheiro Vivo report in April 2022 described the operating dinosaur experience and the equipment used.
Exploring dinosaurs in VR
Cycloid modelled the animals in 3D at life size. Visitors use a Meta Quest 2 headset and a hand-operated controller to enter the virtual environment, approach dinosaurs and rotate them for closer inspection. This gives visitors an interactive way to experience the animals’ scale alongside the museum’s other interpretive content.
Wider modernization and attendance
The broader museum modernization included VR, digital kiosks and a mobile app. Its total cost was €50,000, covering the wider package. Funding came through PDR 2020, Portugal 2020 and FEADER under the Leader programme’s village-renewal operation.
In April 2022, GEAL board president Vital Rosário reported that museum attendance was increasing towards pre-pandemic levels. The museum expected to exceed 10,000 visitors in 2022; this was a forecast for overall museum attendance, rather than a count of VR users.
