Golden Temple features in ‘Incredible India’ virtual-reality video of Google Arts and Culture

From a close view of the Guru Granth Sahib in Amritsar’s Golden Temple to a tranquil beach in Goa, Google Arts and Culture’s has brought India’s spectacular heritage, festivity, spirituality and adventure to users in form of a new 360-degree video.

Created in partnership with the ministry of tourism for its international tourism campaign ‘Incredible India’, the video takes viewers on a journey to some of the most iconic destinations in India such as Hampi’s Vitthala Temples and Qutub Minar in Delhi.

Talking about India as a destination of diverse experiences, Union tourism minister KJ Alphons said, “India is an iconic destination that offers unique experiences of climate, geography, culture, art, literature, and food. We want to give people in India and across the world an opportunity to immerse in our country’s rich heritage. Through our partnership with Google, we want to engage new and global audiences and offer them immersive content in a never-before-seen manner.”

The Google teams visited Hampi, Delhi, Goa and Amritsar over 12 days to capture “stunning slices of life that typify each place” using the best of 360-degree video capture technology, including Google’s Yi Halo camera.

“After 12 days in India, and over 40 hours of travel, we had transverse the country. The music is inspired by the rhythms and melodies of the regions depicted in the video,” the company said in a blog post.

For Google Cardboard users, the experience will be even more gratifying as they can turn the 360-video into a fully immersive virtual reality (VR) experience.

“Google Arts & Culture brings the best of travel experiences from the world at the fingertips of culturally curious people and travel enthusiasts. We want to bring new and global audiences to India’s rich heritage and history,” Luisella Mazza, head of operations at Google Arts & Culture, said.