West Catalan geopark to debut VR museum to show history of dinosaurs in Catalonia 

A new initiative from the University of Barcelona (UB), VIGEOCULT, is aiming to create a virtual reality (VR) museum to let visitors discover 550 million years of Catalonia's history in Geoparc Orígens, a natural space with UNESCO recognition.

VIGEOCULT is a project born from the idea of making the north-western Pallars Jussà county's natural, geological and palaeontologic patrimony more accessible to the public.

The project will combine "rigorous avant-garde geological and paleontological reconstructions with the most modern technologies of virtual reality and digital cinema," the team, led by UB's Professor Josep Anton Muñoz, said.

The aim is to turn the simulations "into spectacular images with great informative potential," they added.

Discovering dinosaurs 

Geoparc Orígens has been the site of some important discoveries in the past and the project wants to shine a spotlight on the importance of this historical site.

Paleontologists have discovered bones from a pararhabdodon, one of the last dinosaurs known to have been alive, approximately 66 million years ago.

The VR-based museum will include those dinosaurs known to have walked around Catalonia, as well as fossils of distinct species and rock formations that have changed due to tectonic and environmental changes.

The project is financed by NextGenerationEU funding, while the Catalan institute of paleontology, the Geoparc Conca de Tremp Monsec association, and Recursiva SL, a production company, are participating in the virtual reality aspect.