"Assassin's Creed comes to life: Ancient Egypt exhibition opens at Dortmund's Phoenix des Lumières

The exhibition uses 3D reconstructions from 'Assassin's Creed: Origins' to recreate pyramids and temples.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF JANUARY 26, 2025 10:30

Assassin's Creed brought to life: immersive ancient Egypt exhibition opens at Dortmund's Phoenix des Lumières. (photo credit: Eric Spiller/Culturespaces)

A new immersive exhibition titled "In the Realm of the Pharaohs - An Immersive Journey into Ancient Egypt" has opened at the Dortmund art center Phoenix des Lumières, allowing visitors to wander among pyramids and tombs of Ancient Egypt. Starting Friday, January 24, the Sphinx and temple complexes appear in elaborate 3D reconstructions behind the walls of a former Dortmund gasworks, where impressive light worlds await.

The exhibition features light installations and vibrant colors, creating the impression that visitors are walking through pyramids, tombs, and temples, enhanced by music. Visitors can see monumental pyramids, gold jewelry, and ancient paintings, providing a visually powerful time journey to the era of the pharaohs. In the exhibition, colossal limestone blocks crash to the ground and assemble into the legendary Pyramids of Giza.

Fans of "Assassin's Creed" will particularly enjoy the exhibition, as some representations are based on 3D reconstructions from "Assassin's Creed: Origins," a game with an ancient Egypt-inspired world. Game developer Ubisoft and Culturespaces, the company behind the immersive exhibition, worked closely together on this project.

"We have compiled a soundtrack for the exhibition, further enhancing the sensory experience for visitors," said Andreas Richter, the director of Phoenix des Lumières, according to Focus Online. He described the use of state-of-the-art technology, including around 100 projectors and 28 speakers, contributing to the immersive experience.

At the Dortmund art center, visitors stand before the gate to a massive burial chamber. The venue itself adds to the experience, blending industrial architecture with state-of-the-art visual displays.

In addition to the main cultural-historical exhibition, visitors can also view two additional exhibitions. One of them is titled "A Journey Between Mathematics and Magic," providing an experience that merges the worlds of numbers and illusion. The other is the contemporary exhibition "Foreign Nature" by digital artist Julius Horsthuis, which offers insights into hidden, almost supernatural worlds.

The exhibition "The French Orientalists: Ingres, Delacroix, Gérôme" presents the work of 19th-century European painters and their adventurous vision of the Orient. This exhibition allows visitors to delve into the romanticized perceptions of Eastern cultures through the eyes of Western artists.

Culturespaces manages other immersive art centers besides Dortmund, including in Paris, Seoul, and New York. An opening in Hamburg, called Port des Lumières, has been planned for some time, but delays in the construction of the Überseequartier in HafenCity, where the art center is located, have prevented it. There is no new date yet for the opening.

The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.