New VR stations in Zagreb let you travel back in time on the streets of Croatia

A Croatian start-up is transporting tourists back in time using prototype virtual reality (VR) stations on the streets of Zagreb.

VR Pole used archival materials to piece together a virtual glimpse of the city’s cathedral in the 19th century. The team then installed prototype VR pillars in front of the building, allowing passers-by to peek into the public headsets and see what the area would have looked like before the city was hit by a devastating earthquake in 1880.

They say that developing technology wasn’t a problem for the $5,000 pillars, but that finding realistic images of the area dating back some 140 years provided a real challenge. “Each historical element needs to be analysed, loaded and copied,” managing director Milan Gudeljević told Croatia’s Poslovni Dnvenik. “There is a lot of work.”

The company already has potential deals to roll the pillars out with help from the Museum of Illusions in Zagreb, as well as with partners in Austria, the United States and Malaysia.