“The Cowboy: An Immersive Journey,” which offers an ambitious 360-degree view of the American West, recently opened at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
A reporter for The Oklahoman went to the exhibit, and it left quite an impression:
On the wide walls of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Kerr Gallery, the buffalo are beginning to roam in the pale light of sunrise.
Even more impressively, the sun-kissed prairie grasses suddenly seem to be sweeping across the wide floor, which just seconds before appeared plain and bare, except for the scattering of padded benches fashioned to resemble old crates. […]
As a bald eagle wings across the sprawling sky, the perspective of the hyper-realistic projections shifts, taking viewers soaring up high. Across all four walls, the images morph into a vast vintage U.S. map, with ocean waters seeming to wash over museumgoers’ feet.
The newspaper reported the exhibit also shows “a flashy lightning storm threatening to turn a cattle drive into a stampede and a campfire sending smoke curling toward a star-spangled night sky to railroad workers stirring up clouds of dust as they lay down train tracks and movie reels unfurling scenes from favorite films like ‘Tombstone’ and ‘Stagecoach.'”
Visit OKC posted this short video from the exhibit:
@visitokc NEW IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE IN OKLAHOMA: The Cowboy: An Immersive Journey opening January 2📍 The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City #SeeOKC NEW EXTENDED HOURS: Beginning January 15, 2026 the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum will be open from 10 am- 10 pm Thursdays- Saturdays! #okc #oklahomacity #oklahoma #immersive ♬ original sound – ATLAS NOIR
“The Cowboy: An Immersive Journey” will run through May at the museum, then return from August through December. Tickets to the exhibit at the museum generally are $25.
The exhibit will tour Europe in late 2026 and 2027.
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a popular destination for Route 66 travelers, especially foreigners traveling in the West for the first time.
The museum also sits near two alignments of Route 66.
(Image from “The Cowboy: An Immersive Journey” via the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City)