Mixed Reality: The Secret to Preserving History

While mixed reality seeks to change the future, it could also be the secret to preserving the past.

Ancient Olympia Common Grounds

Recently Microsoft announced that it will be partnering with the Greek Government to play an integral role in preserving the ancient site of Olympia. The collaborative project uses AI to allow viewers to explore Olympia as it would have been over 2,000 years ago. This AI experience is delivered in a variety of different ways, depending on how consumers choose to interact with it. The project can be viewed through the interactive mobile app, a web-based desktop experience, or through a Microsoft HoloLens 2 exhibit located at Athens Olympic Museum.

The project digitally preserves 27 monuments, including the original Olympic Stadium, the temples of Zeus and Hera, and the workshop of the renowned Phidias. Each of these monuments also have a built-in timeline that reveals how the buildings changed throughout history.

“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”

– Brad Smith, President and Vice Chair, Microsoft.

Mixed Reality: The Bigger Picture.

Microsoft’s ‘Common Grounds’ project is a great example of how innovative technologies such as Mixed Reality have the potential to play a bigger role than just that of new and exciting technology. Technology like this has the potential to change the way humans archive, interact with and learn from, information.

Why is This Needed?

Ancient monuments have survived through wars, weather, earthquakes, floods, and modernisation, for thousands of years, so you may be wondering why we need XR when it comes to preserving history.

• XR Can Help Stop Over Tourism:

Over tourism has led to the damage and destruction of some of the most well-known historical sites and places. In recent years there have been many examples of tourists damaging sites and artifacts. An American tourist damaged mosaic tiles in an ancient Roman house while trying to get a photo. In Italy tourists shattered a 315-year-old marble statue while trying to get a selfie with it. A 12-year-old boy tripped and punched a hole in a $2-million-dollar painting in Taiwan. High foot traffic archaeological sites corrode faster, leading to the destruction of valuable pieces of human history.

By using technology like Mixed Reality & Microsoft’s HoloLens people are able to engage with archaeological sites and pieces of history without the risk of damage and complete destruction.

• Interactive Learning

By using AI and Microsoft’s HoloLens, learning about historical sites also becomes more interesting for people. The HoloLens lets people have historical buildings and sites appear around them as though they were actually in front of them. By pairing this with educational audio, the person wearing the headset is able to engage with, and be educated on, historical sites in ways that seeing them in real life could not offer, without a serious risk of damage to the sites and artifacts.

Conclusion

Mixed Reality, especially Microsoft’s HoloLens has the potential to become a new way for humanity to preserve its history. Not only will this allow for a new and exciting way to archive and learn history, but it will also mean real historical sites are able to last longer, letting the next generations enjoy them in the same way we have.

Do you think that MR is the secret to preserving and learning history?

If you want to learn more about Microsoft’s HoloLens make sure you check out our other blogs.