Soane's Portals to the Past

Bringing a Museum to Life Digitally

Sir John Soane's Museum in London — one of the world's most extraordinary collections of art, architecture, and antiquities — wanted to reach young learners beyond the museum's walls. They needed an interactive digital experience that would connect primary school students with Soane's passion for classical architecture.

The challenge: create an experience where students don't just learn about ancient civilisations, but step inside them — exploring temples, meeting historical figures, and understanding how Egyptian, Greek, and Roman architecture inspired one of Britain's greatest architects.

Three Portals, Three Civilisations

We designed Portals to the Past as a guided adventure through time. Students begin by exploring a digital recreation of Sir John Soane's Museum, where they meet Fan — Soane's beloved dog — who becomes their guide through three magical portals to the ancient world.

Each portal transports students to a different civilisation: the Karnak Temple in Egypt, the Temple of Zeus at Olympia in Greece, and the Pantheon in Rome. At each destination, they meet historical characters, solve architecture-themed puzzles, and learn about classical building techniques before returning to design their own creation in the Design Studio.

Sir John Soane's Museum

The adventure begins inside a faithful Minecraft recreation of Sir John Soane's house-museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields — the skylit galleries, the sarcophagus of Seti I, the Apollo statue, the stairwells crammed with antiquities. Students explore Soane's collection before discovering the magical portals hidden within.

The First Portal

Students step through the first portal into the Karnak Temple — a vast hypostyle hall of carved columns, hieroglyph-lined walls, and monumental gateways. They meet Egyptian historical figures, solve hieroglyph puzzles, and learn how Egyptian architecture would later inspire Soane's own designs.

The Second Portal

The second portal opens onto the Temple of Zeus at Olympia — a marble masterpiece of Doric columns and carved pediments. Students study Greek order and proportion, then soar above the model to see how classical geometry shapes the whole structure from roof to floor.

The Third Portal

The final portal leads to the Pantheon — Rome's domed temple to all the gods, and perhaps the most influential building in Western architecture. Students walk under the oculus, learn how Roman engineers built the largest unreinforced concrete dome in history, and trace the line from this one building to every dome that followed.

From Museum to Classroom

Portals to the Past extends Sir John Soane's Museum's reach far beyond its Lincoln's Inn Fields location, giving every school with Minecraft Education access to a guided architectural adventure through the ancient world.

The experience includes custom NPCs (Fan the dog, John Soane, Eliza Soane, and historical figures from each civilisation), interactive quizzes, colour-mixing activities, pillar puzzles, and a creative design studio — all supported by a comprehensive Teacher Pack with curriculum connections.

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