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The Palace of Versailles has opened Light of Liberty, a location-based XR attraction that places visitors inside the diplomacy behind the French-American alliance, timed to the 250th anniversary of American independence. It has been running since June 23 in the Pavillon d’Orléans and the palace’s South Wing. Guests wear extended-reality headsets and move through the palace among figures including Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, staying in view of the rooms around them rather than being sealed into a fully virtual scene. For operators and suppliers working cultural and tourism sites, it is the second XR project to reach Versailles in under two years, after VIVE Arts’ virtual reality collaboration, and another marquee heritage venue treating on-site XR as a visitor draw rather than an experiment.
Light of Liberty is built as an overlay. The digital content sits on top of the visitor’s view of Versailles, so the historic interiors stay visible while the story of the alliance plays out around them. Visitors take part in scenes that include naval battles and the secret diplomacy that bound France to the American cause. The walk-through runs about 13 minutes, is offered in French and English, costs 7 euros, and is open to visitors aged eight and up.
“Visitors do much more than just learn about the alliance; they feel it in their whole body, in every movement,” said Udi Regonis, CEO of Yaturu, one of the studios behind the experience.
Shlomo Balas, the project’s vice president of production and content, directed it.
The experience was developed by the studios Yaturu and Yalla Digital with the French production company Firstep Production, across a six-month build that covered content creation, game design, and production. All three are new names in cultural XR, and Versailles choosing them over established heritage-XR suppliers is worth noting on its own. Staging an attraction inside a UNESCO World Heritage Site carries the constraints every protected-site deployment shares: headset inventory, staffing, and visitor flow all have to work within a monument that was not built for a queue of headset users, and to the standards a site of that profile demands.
Versailles joins a run of cultural sites putting location-based XR in front of the visitors already walking through them. Earlier in July, WeRiseUp opened The Roar of Tarraco, a mixed reality experience inside the Roman amphitheater at Tarragona, Spain. Excurio sells cultural titles such as Horizon of Khufu into museums and dedicated venues across several countries. The shared pattern is digital content overlaid on, or staged within, a physical site, aimed at tourists who are on location and looking for something to do beyond the standard tour.
For operators of museums, monuments, and tourism destinations, Light of Liberty is another reference point for what a top-tier heritage venue will put its name to, and a reminder that an anniversary can hand a cultural XR attraction both a reason to open and a marketing hook. For suppliers, Versailles selecting new studios shows the category still has room for entrants who can deliver a site-specific build on a tight schedule. LEXRA members working cultural and tourism sites compare deployment notes through the community at lexra.org.
What is Light of Liberty at the Palace of Versailles?
A location-based XR attraction, running at Versailles since June 23 2026, in which visitors wear extended-reality headsets and move through the palace among figures from the French-American alliance, including Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. It marks the 250th anniversary of American independence.
Is it virtual reality or extended reality, and does it block out the palace?
It uses XR as an overlay, so visitors keep sight of the palace interiors while the historical content is layered onto their view, rather than replacing the space with a fully virtual environment.
Who built the Versailles XR attraction?
The studios Yaturu and Yalla Digital developed it with the French production company Firstep Production, over a six-month build.
What does Light of Liberty cost, and how long does it take?
A ticket costs 7 euros, the experience runs about 13 minutes in French or English, and it is open to ages 8 and up. The coverage does not state the headset model or session capacity.
Why is Versailles doing this now?
The attraction is tied to the 250th anniversary of American independence and the French-American alliance, giving the palace an occasion-driven reason to open a new visitor experience.
