Many Israelis have decided to skip visiting cultural venues as coronavirus case numbers continue to rise. However, that does not mean you cannot still get a dose of Israeli culture or history.The City of David in Jerusalem's Old City has now created “Unearthed,” a fully virtual exhibition that fits with the coronavirus-era trend of holding museum exhibitions online. In doing so, the City of David is following in the footsteps of museums such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the British Museum in London and the Vatican Museum in Rome. The exhibition is a “state-of-the-art virtual tour that presents to the public a new way to go underground and explore ancient Jerusalem in a fresh, immersive way,” the City of David said, enabling visitors to virtually walk through the site and access a range of videos, pictures and interviews with the excavators.
Another feature of the tour is the presence of animated re-creations of ancient sites such as King David's Palace, the ancient Royal Quarter and Hezekiah's water tunnels. The Israeli tech company Matter, a world leader in producing virtual sites, partnered with the City of David to facilitate the exhibition.