It’s Behind You!
It was a damp and rainy day. Just as it was when we first went to Pompeii.
In May 2023 we wrote:
‘Impossible to sum up Pompeii in a few words, but brick loving Terroir revelled in some of the construction and design details, and the wall art was unbelievably impressive. And the gardens, and the amphitheatre, and the town planning and the occasional glimpse of Vesuvius’ foothills, once the early morning rain had stopped.’
In February 2026, we sampled ‘Pompeii - The Immersive Experience’ located at the London Excel Waterfront. As we left, the early morning rain had stopped and we had a stunning view of the conical peaks of Victoria Dock’s sculptural but redundant derricks, tethered to their dockside rails, and attempting to rise above (figuratively at any rate) the faux warehouse architecture behind them.
So at first glance, there seemed little more than the weather to provide a common link between the warmth, colour and antiquities of southern Italy and a digital re-enactment inside a modern shed in London’s re-purposed docklands. Roman ruins versus accessible interpretation? Classic drama versus digital pantomime? Let’s see.
Two things became clear very early on: you will get more out of the ‘The Immersive Experience’ if you are a) a child and b) never been to Pompeii. So top marks for bringing Pompeii to the huge audience which is in easy reach of East London. Sadly Terroir didn’t qualify on either count.
In addition, if you like a carefully choreographed tour rather than the serendipity of wandering at will then, again, Immersive Pompeii is for you. And, if virtual reality is your thing, then this will give you a real buzz and entertain kids big and small between the more static displays.
The huge poster-cum-interpretation boards are bright, informative and relate easily to visitors’ experience of modern life. Well maybe not: starting the day at 8am and taking your shoes off as you enter the house is not yet universal, just as not all of us are strangers to eating breakfast standing up.
The Romans may not have invented scribbling on walls (see below), but they do seem to have provided the linguistic base which inspired Italian speakers to invent the word graffiti (though the singular ‘graffito’ seems to have long since fallen into disuse). The immersive experience embraces both the old and new versions of illicit wall messages.
And there are more comparisons between posters and recent-ish observations:
But the unique selling point for the London immersive experience of Pompeii is, of course, the re-anactment of Pompeii life through the medium of virtual reality. Taking photographs while actually experiencing a bout of VR is, of course, tricky as this image to the right demonstrates, so we will do our best to describe our experiences in words.
Our first Virtual Reality session consisted of a journey through a countryside dotted with over-fluffy stone pines, vineyards, clear views of the mighty Vesuvius and meadows of such a bright and verdant green that they look as though they have been well doused in chemical fertiliser.
Above: the fluff-free pines that we actually saw and the realistic view of Vesuvius, buried somewhere in that cloudscape.
Back in VR land we pass though a mighty wall and enter the amphitheatre to watch chariot racing and gladiators beating each other up, only for the victor to be devoured by a sabre toothed tiger. It all feels like a Hollywood animation, particularly when the tiger walks through you and vanishes from view.
We move on to what appears to be a huge hall draped in variegated ivy (really?) with the face of perhaps Domenico Fontana, the 16th Century architect who is credited with re-discovering the remains of Pompeii. This four ‘walls’ are used as a screen on which to articulate Pompeii life and art before it was destroyed by the cataclysmic eruption. One of us is particularly taken by the animated mosaic family (below left) which wanders out onto the terrace before the eruption occurs.
It was here that the continuous background music really started to get to us. Scenes from classical Italy accompanied by Hollywood adventure music just doesn’t work for us. Something a little more close to home would have been welcome.
Once more we don VR goggles. This time I appear to have no identity or spatial form at all. It is seriously unnerving and totally disorienting. Everyone else in the room is represented by a floating classical roman head with a large white number pasted on it. Where am I? I eventually learn that my companion is number 23 and that it is unwise to clutch at any other number for comfort or support. We are looking at the ‘domestic offices’ of a Roman house, but I have scant visual memory of what we experience; at least I feel that I am lost in a Roman villa not a huge shed in London Docklands.
By now we are experiencing our third? (to be honest I’ve lost count) eruption of the mighty Vesuvius and each one feels less realistic than the last. We can understand why it has been dumbed down to accommodate a young audience but it is so unfrightening as to be funny. We keep wanting to shout ‘it’s behind you’ whenever the whole process starts.
Yes, there is certainly an air of pantomime in ‘Pompeii - the Immersive Experience’. But don’t let that put you off. Just make sure you see the VR before you visit the real thing.