Empire Retold: Augmented Reality Guided Walk

Discover untold stories of people and places affected by the British Empire with this augmented reality guided walk.

In 1938, a huge British Empire Exhibition took place in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. This was the last Empire Exhibition and an important but less well-known part of British history. The 'Empire Retold' augmented reality guided walk showcases new research about this 1938 event.

This guided walk will use an Augmented Reality app within Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. Bring your mobile phone and headphones (or borrow ours) [Phone and headphones, or just headphones available to borrow?] to experience one of three narratives which reveal the colonial histories of places within Bellahouston.

Please download the app in advance:

• Apple phone users: https://apps.apple.com/uk/app/empire-retold-bellahouston-ar/id6747273755
• Android phone users: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hauntedplanet.branded.bellahouston

1. Meet opposite the Palace of Art at 10.45am for help setting up and using the app. Exact location is https://maps.app.goo.gl/D3t1LnqJKSfyQscq6
2. The guided walk will begin promptly at 11am.
3. We will walk as a group, listening to one story. This will take around one hour.
4. You can return to Bellahouston to play through the other two stories at another time.

The tour has been created as an experience to go alongside the Empire Retold exhibition, which is also free to visit.

This event is part of Being Human Festival, the UK’s national festival of the humanities, taking place 6 - 15 November 2025. Led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, with generous support from Research England, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. For further information please see beinghumanfestival.org.