World Heritage Day takes place today, Thursday April 18, so to celebrate ExplorAR has pulled together some of our favourite 360 pictures that we've taken in heritage locations.

World Heritage Day aims to raise awareness of our important heritage sites through events, talks, blog posts - and #WorldHeritageDay is even trending on Twitter.

Here in the North East, we're particularly blessed with fantastic heritage, spanning a wide variety of periods from the Romans (and even earlier, such as the Cheviot hillforts), through our massive industrial heritage and into the 20th Century.

Here at ExplorAR, we're all about using the latest digital technology to make our heritage more accessible, and one of our favourite technologies is 360 pictures. We're never happier than when we're shooting high dynamic range 360 images in a beautiful historic location.

So to celebrate World Heritage Day, here are three 360 pictures in some of our favourite North East heritage locations.

Use your finger or your mouse to spin them around and see the locations from every angle.

Want a virtual tour or 360 image of your business or heritage site? Contact us on hello@explorar.co.uk

Durham virtual tour: Durham Cathedral 360 of the feretory

One of our favourite Durham virtual tour pictures that we've ever taken is inside the feretory, which is arguably the heart of Durham Cathedral.

Click on the image below to open the 360 picture in a new window:

We had the privilege of going into Durham Cathedral and shooting the 360 picture next to the shrine of St Cuthbert. Here, there is a view of the deep colours of the Rose Window, which is one of the most famous features of Durham Cathedral, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

You can read more about the site's history and what's going on there in our Durham Cathedral section.

Newcastle virtual tour: Newcastle Cathedral 360 of the altar

The many layers of history inside the beautiful Newcastle Cathedral is a testament to the vital role it has played for generations of Newcastle citizens down the centuries.

Especially during the 17th and 18th Centuries, Newcastle Cathedral was the place to be seen - at least, when you'd already passed on. Newcastle Cathedral's amazing collection of ledger stones is the largest in the country and shows just how important it was for wealthy families in Newcastle and across the North East to stake their claim on a spot of Newcastle Cathedral's floorspace.

For this Newcastle Cathedral 360, we've focused on the magnificent altar area.

Click on the image below to open the 360 picture in a new window:

There are also many beautiful and touching monuments inside Newcastle Cathedral, from the memorial to Danish sailors who operated out of Newcastle during the Second World War, to the memorial to Admiral Lord Collingwood, who has somewhat played second fiddle to Lord Nelson in the history books, but is remembered locally as the man of the moment who took over from Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar and in later years spent the majority of his life at sea, effectively becoming Britain's de facto ambassador in the Mediterranean Sea and conducting his way through the many complex political situations of the time.

Northumberland virtual tour: Hadrian's Wall 360

The last of the three 360 pictures that we're choosing from the many in our collection focuses on one of the most globally recognised heritage locations that the North East has to offer: the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hadrian's Wall:

Click on the image below to open the 360 picture in a new window:

This Hadrian's Wall 360 picture was shot not far from Cawfield Quarry, to the west of Sycamore Gap and the impressive Sill, which is the Northumberland National Park visitor centre.

Why did we choose this one? Well, this 360 picture shows off not only a lovely sunset, but also a wide horizon of the landscape through which Hadrian's Wall marks its thin and weathered line. For us, it's not just the monuments themselves that make a heritage site special, but the location and the community in which they're placed too. After all, it's their story that is told in the stones.