Light of Liberty: passthrough XR at the Palace of Versailles

The commission

For the 250th anniversary of American independence and the Franco-American alliance, Versailles wanted its visitors to do more than read about the moment France changed history — it wanted them to stand inside it. The palace selected Yalla Digital to deliver a museum-grade passthrough XR experience that preserves the physical space entirely while making 1778 walkable, delivered in collaboration with French production company Firstep Production.

The experience

Inside the Pavillon d'Orléans, visitors wearing lightweight headsets move through several rooms as the palace of 1778 assembles around them — the period of Benjamin Franklin's reception at court. They encounter Lafayette, Franklin, and Washington, witness naval battles and the diplomacy that decided a war, and take part in the story rather than observe it. The experience runs approximately 15 minutes, in English and French, and is recommended for ages 8 and up.

• Period accuracy as a discipline. Furnishings verified against historical inventory records; figures dressed, positioned, and animated from historical accounts.
• The palace stays the protagonist. Passthrough XR layers the reconstruction into the real rooms — no dark room, no structural change to a UNESCO World Heritage interior.
• Built for Versailles-scale throughput. Free-roaming, multi-visitor sessions designed around one of the highest-traffic cultural sites on earth.

Early results

Light of Liberty anchors Versailles' America 250 programming through January 2027, including the anniversary celebrations of July 4, 2026. Tickets are available here.

Why it matters for other institutions

Versailles is among the most scrutinised heritage institutions in the world — conservation, curatorial, and reputational standards operate at their maximum setting. Its selection of passthrough XR, and of Yalla Digital to deliver it, is a working demonstration that immersive reconstruction can meet the strictest institutional bar: zero structural change, full curatorial control, and historical accuracy verified at the source.

For the commercial mechanics behind deployments like this — including capex-free structures — see how Yalla's commercial models work, or the Davidson Center case study for a deployment with published ROI figures.

Bring institution-grade immersion to your venue

Yalla Digital funds and builds a fully operational first scene in your venue. You make the stop/go decision after standing inside it — the same validation logic that satisfied Versailles.