Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt. Over 200 of them, crammed into the ancient capital of the Kushite Kingdom. You probably didn't know that. Neither did most people, which is partly why Google EMEA Brand Studio built this: an interactive deep-dive into Meroë that unfolds as you scroll, pulling you through 3D pyramid interiors, illustrated royal portraits, and the still-undeciphered Meroitic script. The pyramids are steep and narrow, built with wooden cranes anchored in the center of the structure itself. The queens sometimes ruled alone. The whole thing feels like discovering a Wikipedia rabbit hole that happens to have world-class production design.
This is a collaboration between Google Arts & Culture, UNESCO Sudan, and Draw & Code (the Liverpool-based XR studio behind the 3D and AR). Illustrations by Louise Zergaeng Pomeroy. Narration by Emi Mahmoud, a Sudanese-American slam poet and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador. Historical advising from Dr. Shadia Taha and Dr. Khaled Elgawady. It won a Webby for Best Use of AR.
Technically, it's a showcase of how far Three.js and WebXR have come for cultural storytelling. The pyramid models started as drone-captured photogrammetry, then got aggressively optimized for mobile. The interior chapel scenes are hand-built geometry with photographic textures and normal maps to make sandstone feel like sandstone. On supported devices, you can drop a pyramid into your kitchen via AR. But the real trick is pacing: it knows when to let you explore a 3D cutaway and when to let the illustrations breathe.
Try the audio narration for the full experience, and check out Draw & Code's case study for the behind-the-scenes on the 3D pipeline.
