Using Virtual Reality to Explore 15th Century Illuminated Manuscripts

This project is directed by Professor Lynn Dodd (USC Dornsife School of Religion, and the Archaeology Program) and Dr. Sabina Zonno (USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute. They were recently awarded an Advancement Grant – Level I from the NEH Digital Humanities Advancement Grants Program (DHAG), in order to create an immersive, interactive experience focused on a 15th-century lavishly illuminated manuscript held by USC Libraries’ Special Collections.

With the collaboration of USC’s Archaeology Research Center, School of Cinematic Arts, and Special Collections, Dodd and Zonno lead a team that will create a virtual reality experience of a Renaissance-era Book of Hours that belonged to a lay religious woman (in other words, she was not a nun) who lived in a still-standing and well-preserved enclosed female community in Ghent, Belgium.

Using digital photography and 3D modeling, we will provide access to a virtually reconstructed, private, gendered space in early modern Belgium, enabling users to engage with the contents of this manuscript and also to gain appreciation for rare materials.

This collaborative project brings together specialists of history, art history, immersive experiences, photogrammetry, 3D modeling, and game design to provoke learning through an embodied experience that allows interaction with—and encourages proper handling of—the virtual version of a very rare Renaissance manuscript purchased by USC Libraries’ Special Collections in 2014.

Here is the link to a demo recorded by VR Designer/Creator Mats Borges: