User Experience Evaluation of an Immersive Virtual Reality Experience: The Case of the Palmela Dukes' Mausoleum in Lisbon's Prazeres Cemetery

All over the world, there is a lot of our history that is still inaccessible to everyone. From historical facts, cultural patterns, and music, to paintings, sculptures, and buildings, many of these cultural and architectural heritages have restricted access or are hidden behind private patrimony. In this context, this applied research is focused on developing technology-based resources to engage users with cultural heritage, mainly those related to cemetery heritage. Thus, it investigates the prospective role of VR as a vehicle for unveiling one of the prominent heritage sites within the Prazeres Cemetery, namely the Mausoleum of the Dukes of Palmela. In this way, this paper aims to present part of larger project that has as main goal the development of an Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) experiences for cemeterial tourism. The project was developed considering three main phases, the exploratory phase, the generative phase, and the evaluative phase, but for this paper purpose, only the last one will be detailed. The main objective is to present the pilot tests made with the prototype developed for the Dukes of Palmela Mausoleum VR experience. The tests were made mainly to evaluate Use experience (UX) while interacting with an IVR experience. The primary findings indicate that the three emotions most experienced by the participants after the interaction were: Interest, Astonishment, and Fear. Additionally, the performance test showed effective memory retention among participants, indicating the potential of VR experiences to evoke meaningful engagement and learning.