Microsoft inaugurates ‘Ancient Olympia: Common Grounds’ AR app

Classical antiquity converged with virtual reality on Wednesday, as IT giant Microsoft showed off its augmented reality app “Ancient Olympia: Common Grounds” during a high-profile event at the storied archaeological site in southeastern Greece.

The specific app reconstructs, in a virtual manner, the site where the Olympic Games were held all the way to late antiquity.

Speaking at the event in ancient Olympia, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis referred to a new start, one where technology is combined with the history, world heritage sites and archaeology.

“Twenty-one months ago, in January 2020, I met with the president of Microsoft for the first time. We discussed many things then, the possibility of the company investing in our country and creating data centers. The idea of working together on an emblematic project was put on the table. Microsoft agreed at once, embraced this idea and the place we chose is to my mind self-evident: Olympia, as a global symbol of ecumenical human values,” Mitsotakis said.

“As important as the great capability that technology gives us may be, on the one hand, to create images and augmented realities, equally important is the contribution of archaeologists. Without the cooperation of archaeologists, the culture ministry, their enthusiasm, I believe that this project could not have been implemented in the end,” the prime minister added.