Microsoft has teamed up with the Greek government to preserve the ancient Olympia building digitally, allowing interested viewers to view the site either remotely or in person, as it was more than 2,000 years ago.
The move will be achieved through the use of artificial intelligence to map the site, and through augmented reality to help restore the original home of the Olympics.
Twenty-seven monuments are to be preserved digitally, including the Olympic Stadium, the Temples of Zeus and Hera, and the workshop of the famous sculptor Phidias. To digitize the sites, Microsoft, through its Heritage Initiative, has partnered with Iconem, a company specializing in the digitization of historical sites in 3D.
Hundreds of thousands of images from the site were captured by cameras and drones on the ground, and Microsoft AI then edited the images into models.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said of the partnership and the move to digitise ancient Olympia: “The cultural implications of this technology are endless. For the first time, visitors from around the world can virtually visit the birthplace of democracy, the ancient site of Olympia, and experience history first hand. “