Tickets are now available for immersive exhibition exploring the people, places and final hours of Pompeii
TORONTO, ON (October 5, 2026) – Back to Pompeii, the groundbreaking immersive exhibition that transports visitors to the ancient Roman city in the hours leading up to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, opens in Toronto on October 30, 2026.
Presented by Exhibition Hub, curator, producer and distributor of large exhibitions and family edutainment globally, Tempora, a Belgian cultural agency dedicated to making culture accessible to the widest possible audience, and in collaboration with leading global live-entertainment discovery platform, Fever, Back to Pompeii invites visitors to step back in time and explore the people, places and everyday life of Pompeii. Through interactive installations, meticulously recreated sets, a virtual reality experience and an immersive video-mapped room, the exhibition offers a vivid look at life in the ancient city before it was buried in AD 79.
“Back to Pompeii brings history out of the museum and places visitors directly inside the world of ancient Pompeii,” said Hamza El Azhar, CEO of Exhibition Hub. “We wanted to create something visually spectacular while remaining deeply human, giving audiences a new way to connect with the people who lived there.” “Our aim was to make the archaeological research tangible and engaging for a wide audience, while helping visitors understand the spaces, routines and stories that shaped everyday life in Pompeii,” said Raphaël Remiche, COO of Tempora.
Visitors can walk through a Pompeian house and city street, exploring spaces such as a bakery, a thermopolium, ancient Roman commercial snack bar,, school, tavern and baths. Guided by an original audio narrative, they can interact with reconstructed environments and everyday objects while discovering Roman water systems, medicine, food, fragrances and graffiti.
In this 200 sq.m immersive space, Pompeii appears in a new light. Over around twenty minutes, the four walls and floor transform into landscape, city, matter and memory, drawing visitors into a journey where human time meets the time of the Earth.
The journey begins with rock, heat, water and the first landscapes. Then people arrive to observe, measure, draw and build. Roads appear, houses rise and Pompeii takes shape. Soon the city is alive: streets fill, shops open and people go about their daily lives. Pompeii becomes a vibrant, bustling and deeply human place.
But beneath the city, the Earth keeps moving. Tremors grow stronger, the sky darkens and buildings begin to collapse. Ash, rocks and smoke fill the space as the eruption reaches its climax. Familiar landmarks disappear, and matter takes over.
Over time, the seasons returned and vegetation gradually covered the city. Pompeii receded from view, while traces of its inhabitants remained beneath the layers: colours,, objects and impressions left by everyday gestures. The Earth that shaped the city’s landscapes and provided its riches also buried it, preserving evidence of its past. Nearly two thousand years later, those traces offer a glimpse into the lives of the people who once lived there.
With Walking VR, visitors do more than imagine Pompeii’s past: they step into it. Wearing a virtual reality headset, they can walk through the heart of the ancient city, explore its streets and encounter its people. The ten-minute experience leads them through daily life in Pompeii and toward the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
The journey begins in a quiet landscape, where few ruins emerge from the ground. An object among the remains draws visitors into the story of the life that once filled the city. In the next moment, they find themselves on a bustling commercial street, passing lively shops and stalls, a baker selling bread and a laundry house filled with vapour, as Pompeii’s inhabitants go about their day.
Visitors then rise above the city for a view of Pompeii and its coastline from the slopes of Vesuvius. As signs of the eruption grow, they return to the city and arrive at its amphitheatre, where a gladiatorial spectacle is suddenly interrupted. Smoke and rocks fill the sky. Ash, debris and thunder sweep across Pompeii as buildings collapse and the city disappears beneath the eruption.
The experience resumes centuries later, in the same place. Nature has reclaimed the landscape, and a few ruins emerge from beneath six metres of ash and rock. A view beneath the surface reveals the remains of the buried city and the extent of the Pompeii hidden below.
From everyday life to catastrophe, and from burial to rediscovery, Walking VR takes visitors on a journey through Pompeii’s past.
Back to Pompeii will be presented from October 30, 2026, for a limited engagement at YZD, 30 Hanover Road. The exhibition is appropriate for guests of all ages. Tickets are now available for purchase through Fever.
Admission prices start at $28.9 for general admission, $21.90 for children (children three years and under can enter free of charge).
For further information and tickets, please visit: pompeiiexhibit.com/Toronto and follow along on Instagram and Facebook, using #BackToPompeii #PompeiiToronto and #PompeiiImmersive to join the conversation.
European producer and distributor of major exhibitions worldwide, Exhibition Hub offers edutainment in a world where digital experiences shape people's interactions and perceptions. The art of storytelling has evolved into immersive journeys that captivate, educate, and inspire. Exhibition Hub stands at the forefront of this transformation, setting new benchmarks for what it means to engage audiences through immersive exhibitions. Since its inception in 2015, Exhibition Hub has embarked on a mission to push the boundaries of edutainment. With over 350 experiences - Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, Mind of a Serial Killer, Bubble Planet: An Immersive Experience, Titanic - An Immersive Voyage, Art of The Brick, and Dinos Alive: An Immersive Experience, and many more - and over 45 million visitors worldwide, Exhibition Hub's impact is undeniable. Exhibition Hub combines the flawless integration of in-depth research, elegant design, and cutting-edge technologies. Each experience is meticulously crafted to be interactive, engaging, and deeply memorable, leaving a lasting impression on audiences.
Tempora is a Belgian agency specializing in the design, realization, promotion, and management of museums, exhibitions, and cultural facilities. Founded in Brussels in 1998 by Benoît Remiche, the company now employs around a hundred people and operates several cultural sites across France and Belgium. Tempora has established itself as a major cultural operator whose exhibitions are exported throughout Europe and across the globe. Backed by an in-house team - historians, scientists, curators, architects, scenographers, graphic designers, multimedia specialists, engineers, and technicians - the company oversees the entire chain, from conception to management, including production in its Brussels studio. Tempora’s approach is built on strong values: Respect for the venues and their history; The enhancement and showcasing of collections; The pursuit of a balance between entertainment, aesthetics, and strict adherence to established scientific knowledge; Accessibility to the widest possible audience and a commitment to education.