App Shows How Greek Sites Looked Thousands of Years Ago
Tourists at the Acropolis this holiday season can now use their smartphones to view the ancient Greek site, with a digital image showing how it once looked.
That includes a collection of marble sculptures removed from the Parthenon more than 200 years ago that are now on display at the British Museum in London. Greece has demanded they be returned.
An app supported by Greece's Culture Ministry allows visitors to point their phones at the Parthenon temple, and the sculptures housed in London appear back on the monument as archaeologists believe they looked 2,500 years ago.
Other, less widely known features also appear, such as the striking colors that many of the sculptures on the Acropolis were painted with. A statue of goddess Athena in the Parthenon also stood over a shallow pool of water.
The virtual restoration works anywhere and could spare some visitors the crowded uphill walk and long wait to see the monuments up close. It might also help the country's campaign to make Greek cities year-round destinations.
Tourism, vital for the Greek economy, has recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of inbound visitors from January through July was up 21.9% to 16.2 million compared with a year ago, according to the Bank of Greece. Revenue was up just over 20%, to $10.8 billion.
The free app, called "Chronos" after the legendary king of the Titans and Greek word for "time," uses augmented reality to place the ancient version of the site onto the screen, matching the real-world view as you walk around.
Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said technological innovations would improve accessibility to Greece's ancient monuments, supplementing the recent installation of ramps and anti-slip pathways.
"Accessibility is extending to the digital space," Mendoni said at a preview launch event for the Chronos app. "Real visitors and virtual visitors anywhere around the world can share historical knowledge."
Virtual reconstructions using Chronos also cover three other monuments at the Acropolis, a nearby Roman theater and parts of the Acropolis Museum built at the foot of the rock.
