Now you can visit Ancient Olympia and you don’t even have to leave your home

A partnership between the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports and Microsoft has made use of AI technology to digitally preserve and restore Ancient Olympia. The project, known as “Ancient Olympia: Common Place” was inaugurated last week by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Mitsotakis stated, “the project ‘Ancient Olympia: Common Place’ is a unique way to get to know the cultural heritage of Greece. Visitors from all over the world can ‘visit’ through digital imaging the place as it was in antiquity and experience the history and values it stands for using augmented reality technology.”

One of the key aspects of “Ancient Olympia: Common Place” is that the project is freely accessible through a website, a mobile app that offers augmented reality, and a mixed reality exhibit at the Athens Olympic Museum. This allows people from all over the world the opportunity to learn about and explore Ancient Olympia.

Brad Smith, President of Microsoft, remarked on the partnership, saying, “the project for the digital preservation of Ancient Olympia is an important achievement in the field of promoting cultural heritage. It brings together the human factor and cutting-edge technology and invites future generations to explore our past in new ways.”

Lina Mendoni, the Hellenic Minister of Culture and Sports, spoke on the inauguration of the project, commenting, “with the digital representation of the Panhellenic sanctuary of Ancient Olympia, its cultural heritage — but also the values of Olympism, peace, harmony, excellence and noble rivalry — becomes accessible to the whole world through the use of state-of-the-art technology.”

“The digital preservation project, through the use of artificial intelligence and augmented reality technologies, implemented through the cultural sponsorship of Microsoft, promotes and highlights the unique and emblematic archaeological site of Ancient Olympia.”

“This contributes to the research and documentation of monuments, supports the tourism and extroversion of the country as a modern and strong democracy with a long historical and cultural past and unquestionable development dynamics.”

According to Microsoft, the project digitally preserves 27 monuments at the site, such as the Olympic Stadium, the temples of Zeus and Hera, and the workshop of the renowned sculptor Phidias.

The buildings and histories sites were recreated in “lifelike detail” using 3D technology, with an effort made to preserve historic accuracy.

The project includes audio guided tours, video tours, an interactive map, photos of artifacts and ruins, a timeline of the Ancient Olympic Games, and an augmented reality experience.