A new ‘virtual museum” that will enable visitors to see the Temple of Apollo in a completely new light is underway by the Didim Chamber of Commerce.
Chamber of Commerce President Hilmi Erbaş said the “Apollon VR Project” – allowing the Temple to be seen with the help of augmented reality – will be centred at the Knackfuss House.
The two-story Knackfuss House was used as a home by the descendants of those who settled in Didim after the population exchange between Turkey and Greece in 1924. It was later used as a storage facility by the German excavation team conducting archaeological excavations around the Temple of Apollo.
The historic building was transferred to the Miletus Museum Directorate in recent years, but a wall of the building, which is over 100 years old, collapsed in 2020 due to heavy rainfall. It has been under restoration since August 2023,
Erbaş said: “We have an augmented reality application project for the Temple of Apollo, which we had previously worked on and reached the tender stage for, but which we couldn’t start due to delays in the restoration of the Knackfuss house by our Governorship.
“We previously presented demos of this to the District Governor. The project was accepted. There will be two modules. One will give adults the chance to experience the Temple of Apollo in 3D with VR glasses. They will be able to have dialogues with the oracles of that period and see the rituals in the temple.
“There will also be a game module related to the Temple of Apollo that children can experience.
“We will plan the tender process for this in the coming days. The completion of the restoration project of the Knackfuss house, for which a suitable area on the 2nd floor was planned to be allocated to us, has been delayed.”
He added: “We have received verbal approval from our Governor. For this augmented reality application project for the Temple of Apollo, which we can also call virtual museum work, our Governor has allocated that area to our chamber through our Provincial Directorate of Tourism.
“That’s how it will be. The Chamber has no commercial expectations from this project. Our chamber can’t engage in commerce anyway, but we will be implementing a sustainable project that contributes to tourism and then handing it over.
“In other words, its operation and operating revenues will be channeled to tourism through our Provincial Tourism Directorate or another organization.”