Virtual Touring Dark Heritage Sites:
Can They Replace an In-Person Visit?
Museums and heritage sites are responsible for telling a story that does not always follow a straightforward or linear narrative. Walking through buildings or looking at pictures and videos of a site online is not always enough for a visitor to understand the complete picture. Places of dark and painful heritage often cannot be understood at face value.
Stylianou-Lambert et al. (2022) explain that when visitors receive information through text and pictures, they may not gain an emotional understanding of what is being presented. For that reason, many dark heritage sites require a guided tour, so that visitors may better understand and process the trauma that occurred on the grounds they walk on.
Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp is one example of a dark heritage site that heavily suggests using a guide “for better understanding the history of Auschwitz.” Reynolds (2018) describes a visit to Poland and how he was told not to visit Auschwitz because many tourists at Auschwitz “were poorly prepared for the visit and thus unable to appreciate either the spiritual or historical import” of the site. By utilizing guided tours, dark heritage sites confirm that their visitors will gain a greater understanding of the site.
As many museums and heritage sites move into the 21st century, they are more often using the internet to share their story. In the case of a site like Auschwitz, their virtual tour allows an online visitor to click through the site from a ground-level view and a bird’s eye perspective (Figure 1). However, when a site offers a virtual tour, it cannot always offer the same context that would be found in person.
This virtual tour allows for great views of the site, at many different times of day, with and without visitors (Figure 2). At the bottom of each area is a toolbar with the camp’s name, area, and a button that says “read more…”
When the button is clicked, the toolbar expands to describe the panoramic view the online visitor sees. This page also includes publications and online lessons offered through the Auschwitz website (Figure 3).
This supplemental content helps give the online visitor more context about the site, but accessing this information is not required of the online visitor. If Auschwitz suggests using a guide for an in-person visit to the site, how can they ensure that the online visitor receives the necessary information?
Virtual tours can vary from just introducing a site to someone virtually or it can give them the full museum experience without ever visiting a site. In the case of a place like Auschwitz, is it ever possible to effectively visit virtually? The website explains that the virtual tour presents “the authentic sites and buildings of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, complete with historical descriptions, dozens of witness accounts, archival documents and photographs, artworks created by the prisoners, and objects related to the history of the camp.” The description makes it seem like the virtual tour can stand alone and possibly even replace a site visit.
A virtual visit, especially to a site of dark heritage, can never replace a site visit. The virtual tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau utilizes technology to make the site and the history of the Holocaust more accessible, especially since not everyone can visit the site. Still, a virtual tour, at least the one available at present, cannot and should not be expected to replace an in-person guided tour at the site.
