3D Interactive Tour of Stonewall National Monument

Last year, CyArk, a nonprofit that specializes in heritage and the 3D mapping of history, took on the challenge of creating a space to remember the history of Stonewall. This was the first project of its kind and a major historical breakthrough for the history of the LGBTQ movement. This year, CyArk partnered with NYC LGBT Historic Sites project to develop an interactive, 3D tour of the Stonewall National Monument. 

The 3D model of the area, developed last year, has been used as the basis for an audio tour conducted by Ken Lustbader, co-founder of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. The tour takes visitors through nine different locations within the model, and the corresponding audio commentary depicts the events of the police raid in the early hours of June 28, 1969, and the resistance of the community in the days that followed.

“I think it is even more relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic, with few being able to visit the site and bar today as normally would happen during Pride,” says John Ristevski, CEO of CyArk.

With the interactive tour, the mapping of Stonewall is pushed to another level. The extensive history included in each point of the tour offers the queer community a place of remembrance and offers a lengthy history lesson to those who aren’t familiar with the riots. As stated in a previous OUT FRONT article, since sites where marginalized people gather are often overlooked, this presents a unique opportunity to preserve a piece of history.

“Stonewall is the embodiment of gay rights in this country in a sense. Its a place that was a place of oppression and control, it was a mafia-run bar, it was one of the few avenues to participate and meet people and dance. So today, Stonewall is a place of celebration. It’s a place that shows resistance and activism can serve a purpose,” says Lustbader in the introduction video to the interactive tour. 

The tour goes through nine points: Overview, Stonewall Inn Uprising, Stonewall: A Seedy Mafia-Run Bar, Oppression of LGBTQ People, The Uprising on the Streets around Stonewall, Christopher Street and the Waterfront, New York City’s Frist March: June 1970, Post World War II LGBTQ Organizations, and the Gay Liberation Sculpture. 

The Stonewall National Monument is a historic site that, through CyArk and NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, has been preserved for years to come.