Eloise Appleby, UK | ISBN: | Submitted: Jul 8, 1998

The Abbey of St Edmund Rises from the Ruins

The great Abbey of St Edmund is set to rise again, in the Suffolk market town of Bury St Edmunds, England. For the first time in 450 years it will be possible to visit this Mediaeval Abbey, as a new virtual reality model is unveiled. This is the first project of its kind in the United Kingdom, and marks a new era in heritage interpretation in this country.

The brainchild of St Edmundsbury Borough Council, the virtual Abbey has been developed with the support of local brewers Greene King as part of the latter's bicentenary celebrations. A programme of research and consultation over the last year has provided the information to enable computer modelling to be carried out by high technology company PERA of Melton Mowbray, UK. From blank screen to Mediaeval masterpiece, the Abbey of St Edmund is now open for visitors.

What can be seen is the very raison d'etre of the town of Bury St Edmunds - the shrine of the martyred Saxon King Edmund, killed by marauding Danes in 869 AD. For centuries after his body was laid to rest in the town, pilgrims from throughout the world came to worship and the Abbey grew in strength and wealth. As a destination for pilgrims, the town was second only to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain. On the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in the 16th Century, the Abbey was raided and reduced to ruins. The current day St Edmundsbury Cathedral and its elegant neighbour, St Mary's Church, are all that remain of the mighty complex of church buildings that once stood alongside Angel Hill - or they were, until now.

During the summer of 1998, the Abbey will be 'housed' within the town's Moyse's Hall Museum, a Norman town house that saw the Abbey and its community rise and fall.Projected onto a large screen as part of an exhibition on the future of 'real time' technology in heritage tourism for Bury St Edmunds, the Abbey will also be opening its virtual doors on a stand-alone, joystick-operated unit, allowing for interactive investigations by the public. Although there are still many aspects of the model which are to be enhanced during the next phase of the project, the visitor is staggered by the grandeur, detail and size of the Abbey. Morphing from today's remains to the great church of Mediaeval times enables the visitor to make sense of the Abbey Ruins that now provide an unusual backdrop to the public gardens in the centre of the town.

The exhibition and initial displays are the first phase of a large-scale project. The Borough Council has high hopes for the virtual Abbey, which is set to become a major visitor attraction for Bury St Edmunds. Once the model is built, the potential applications are apparently endless, from real time cinemas to total immersion headsets. Discussions are now underway concerning the feasibility and siting of a VR cinema. Naturally, the pros and cons of each location will be considered by examining it on screen as a virtual model.

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Abbey of St Edmund, UK Heritage