Oman’s heritage showcased at Muscat Nights
Use of Virtual Reality technology at Heritage Village Al Naseem Park drawing huge crowds
Oman’s treasure trove of rich heritage and culture were in sharp focus at the Muscat Nights, a celebration of diverse cultural spectrum, fun and frolic at the four major venues.
The 17-day long festival got under way on Thursday and has been a major crowd puller over the weekend and more so on Saturday with more people teeming into the parks.
Unlike in the past festivals, when Oman celebrated Muscat Festival till 2019, the heritage village vows to offer a kaleidoscopic view of the historic and cultural aspects without losing its amusing factor.
Muscat Municipality, the organisers of the Nights, has presented a different experience in reviewing the Omani heritage and showcasing the identity and cultural heritage to the world.
The distinguished corner has an exclusive array of authentic artifacts and the participation of leading Omani institutions in the field of technology and virtual reality brings rare facts and figures, monuments and historic landmarks to the audience that makes up for a huge difference at the heritage corner.
The three Omani organisations, Shizka for organising events, Azm Programming company, and Manafeth company that specialises in 3D drawing have spared no stones in presenting the country in virtual mode without losing the charm at the corner in the heritage village of Al Naseem Park.
“We hope the visitors would get a unique and extraordinary experience as we aim to introduce visitors to Muscat Nights by using virtual reality technology and simulating it for six sites in the Sultanate of Oman,” said a Muscat Municipality spokesperson.
“We further hope that this would allow visitors to Muscat Nights experience the virtual reality of these places through lenses that reflect the sense of time and history and makes you feel at the historic place and time while at Al Naseem Park,” he added.
He further said that the interest in introducing this corner as one of the eye-catching corners of the heritage village stems from the Muscat Municipality’s interest in adopting emerging technologies in presenting the features with live images. This has altered the stereotype which was previously in use about the heritage village that includes our popular legacies and regions.
The idea of the corner is to promote virtual reality technology and the possibility of enhancing it for tourism, and to provide a virtual experience around some places, depending on modern programming and the addition of new world that depict scenes in accordance with the VR technology.
A visitor to this corner can see six tourist locations in the Sultanate of Oman through the (VR) glasses, such as Wilayat of Sur, Nizwa Market, Muttrah Market, Qasr Al Alam Landmark, Royal Opera House, and Misfat al Abriyeen and walk around as if he in the same spot.