This paper demonstrates how the low cost 3D visualization techniques can be easily used for the transmission of historical and cultural contents in the museum communication strategy. Specifically we used computer 3D animation graphics to introduce the knowledge of Queen Nefertari, the Maya chapel and the Tomb of Kha in the specific exhibition in the Egyptian Museum of Turin. Video documentaries are developed an support of thematic path, offering a virtual trip to the visitors in the places where the goods displayed were found. The same approach has been used for the virtual reconstruction of two Pompeian contexts: the house of the Golden Bracelet  and the house of Octavius Quartio. The research allowed to make an accurate representation of gardens, statues, architectural spaces, pools with fountains and frescoed rooms, all virtually reproduced in their original context, using communication methods that combine technology with a synthetic and emotional approach. Techniques of close range photogrammetry have allowed the 3D survey of sixteen statues and other architectural elements; lost artefacts have been reconstructed and spaces destroyed by the eruption of 79 b.C. have been evoked. The eruption was partially represented, with fluid-dynamics simulations and Computer Graphics effects in order to transmit accurate scientific information in simple and immediate language, developed by lengthy technical experiments. The synthesis imposed by the short duration of the movie made it possible to match all this information with a self-explaining approach, which allows the visitor to understand the peculiarities of the archaeological goods displayed in the exhibition in a general view that repeats colours, sounds and suggestions of the environments destroyed two thousand years ago.