You can now take virtual tours of historic Egyptian archaeological sites

Google Arts & Culture and the American Research Centre in Cairo have collaborated to bring virtual tours, videos and stories to the masses

Preserving Egypt lets viewers take a 3D tour of the tomb of Menna. Alamy

If you fancy a tour of an Egyptian tomb or a visit to a Mamluk mosque, it's now possible from the comfort of your own home.

A new digital platform titled Preserving Egypt's Layered History has launched online, thanks to the Google Arts and Culture organisation and its collaboration with the American Research Centre in Cairo.

The project brings together a rich collection of videos, stories and tours, from the world's oldest Coptic monastery to exploring Egypt's Jewish cemeteries.

The site also allows a 3D tour of the tomb of Menna, an 18th-dynasty field scribe in the Theban Necropolis in Upper Egypt.

There are also interviews with four leading Egyptologists who share the secrets of their field, including Louise Bertini. Bertini is the executive director of the American Research Centre in Egypt, and according to The Art Newspaper, she has overseen the project's content with Chance Coughenour, the head of preservation at Google Arts and Culture.

This isn't the first time that such a project has been made available specifically in Egypt. In April last year, the Egyptian Tourism Authority launched a number of virtual tours of prominent historical sites from different parts of the country, including the 5,000-year-old ancient tomb of Queen Meresankh II, who was the queen of Egypt.

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