Representing Cultural Heritage in Immersive Virtual Spaces: The Experience of the “Marriage of the Virgin” in the Metaverse

The development of the Metaverse has opened new research perspectives for digital representation in virtual environments, influencing the communication of material and intangible cultural heritage. Digital experiences in these spaces offer opportunities for interaction, knowledge sharing, and immersive participation. This chapter investigates the role of virtual environments in the analysis and representation of heritage, focusing on Raphael’s *The Marriage of the Virgin*, whose central architectural structure was reconstructed in 3D and integrated into the multi-user immersive platform Spatial. The model, explorable via avatars and VR visors, transforms a pictorial element into a navigable digital space, enabling new forms of analysis. This experimentation forms part of broader research on virtual architecture in the Metaverse, addressing issues of perception, graphic rendering quality, and user interaction. The chapter contributes to the academic debate on digital heritage, outlining future directions for cultural representation in virtual worlds.