OLYMPIA, Greece — Nov. 10, 2021 — The Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport and Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday announced Ancient Olympia: Common Grounds, a new collaboration to digitally preserve and restore ancient Olympia, the original home of the Olympic games, using AI. This digital revival project allows viewers around the world to explore ancient […]
OLYMPIA, Greece — Nov.10,2021 — The Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport and Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday announced Ancient Olympia: Common Grounds, a new collaboration to digitally preserve and restore ancient Olympia, the original home of the Olympic games, using AI. This digital revival project allows viewers around the world to explore ancient Olympia as it stood more than 2,000 years ago through an immersive experience via an interactive mobile app, web-based desktop experience, or a Microsoft HoloLens 2 exhibition at the Athens Olympic Museum. Digitally preserving ancient Olympia gives people a way to walk through the site during one of history’s most important periods — brought to life in a realistic, engaging way that was never before possible. This new form of digital archiving will continue to offer a portal to another era, helping us understand what humanity has achieved in the past and reminding us of what we’re capable of today. “Ancient Olympia: Common Grounds is a unique way of experiencing Greece’s proud cultural heritage. Visitors around the world can virtually visit the ancient site of Olympia and experience history firsthand using augmented reality technology,” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis, prime minister of Greece. “The project to digitally preserve ancient Olympia is a stunning achievement in cultural heritage, bringing together humanity and cutting-edge technology to benefit the world and empower coming generations with new ways to explore our past,” said Brad Smith, president and vice chair, Microsoft. “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.
