An Audience at the Palace

A magnificent marble hall once graced the centre of Karlsruhe Palace. There, grand dukes received Europe's high nobility and held feudal feasts under the light of chandeliers, surrounded by gold and marble. After its destruction in the Second World War, the splendour that once was has been brought back to life on the original site – thanks to the magic of virtual reality (VR)!

Visitors can enjoy their own private audience, equipped with VR goggles: Entering the former Baroque hall, they are received by famous cabaret performer and entertainer Annette Postel, playing the role of one of the legendary tulip girls. As a companion of margrave Karl Wilhelm, she has plenty of anecdotes to tell about the palace and its inhabitants, turning history into an experience for the senses.

The project was created by famous Darmstadt studio Faber Courtial, which specialises in virtual animations for historical events and famous buildings. The studio's detailed reconstructions are regularly featured in major TV documentaries. For the VR film, historical photographs were coloured based on information from contemporaneous reports and inventory lists, then transformed into a three-dimensional model. A real actress was filmed in front of a green screen, then added to the 360° panorama. The film was then translated into virtual reality to create an authentic image of the former marble hall throughout the different phases of its life – as a ballroom, a ruin, and a modern museum.

The project was made possible with the generous support of the Verein der Freunde des Badischen Landesmuseums e. V. (Friends of the Museum) and the BBBank.