The Foundation of the Hellenic World (FHW) on Tuesday treated journalists to a glimpse of its unique Hellenic Cosmos "museum" where the visitor is able to "experience" history in a cutting-edge technology environment.

"When you arrive at Hellenic Cosmos don't look for statues and exhibits, because there aren't any," FHW managing director Dimitris Efraimoglou told journalists covering the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, during a presentation at the Ζappeion Press Centre.
Hellenic Cosmos, on Pireos street, is not a "museum" in the classical sense of the word, since it does not have collections or permanent exhibits.

"It is a modern, 'living' museum, where the most innovative applications of modern technologies provide visitors with the opportunity to experience Hellenic history and culture in a unique way. Monuments, cities and events relating to Hellenic cultural heritage come to life with the help of virtual reality and multimedia, in ways that stimulate the visitor's mind, senses, vision and zeal for creation," Efraimoglou explained.

The Hellenic Cosmos museum and cultural centre was established six and a half years ago, as the Foundation's showcase for the general public, at an old industrial unit remodeled in accordance with the FHW's needs. "This is the principal, public interface where our projects are tangibly realized," and has since been visited by more than 400,000 people from all over the world, making it the venue with the largest number of visitors in Greece,  Efraimoglou noted, citing figures by Greece's ministry of education.

Incorporating the notion of new technologies, Hellenic Cosmos possesses two virtual reality systems that are unique in Greece: the Kivotos, a CAVE-type system, which is a 3-metre cubical room whose walls and floor consist of projection screens, creating an immersive environment where visitors, wearing special stereoscopic glasses and using a small navigation device, participate in virtual journeys; and the Magic Screen, an Immersa Desk-type system comprising a drawing table-shaped large bright screen which, due to its interactivity, allows the visitor to create his own tour within virtual space, and is the first virtual reality exhibit in Greece.

Another unique aspect of the museum's virtual reality systems is that the content is not something fixed and unchanging -- it is not a video or film -- but, due to its exclusively digital character, is completely interactive, powered by a super computer, that enables visitors to "travel to monuments and cities that no longer exist and admire them as they were during their heyday," Efraimoglou said.
In the "Kivotos" system, visitors are able to "visit", through with the Foundation's virtual reality programs/productions "A Walk in Ancient Olympia", "The Workshop of Phidias in Olympia" and "The Temple of Zeus in Olympia", the area as it was in antiquity, with accurate 3D reconstructions of all 33 buildings of ancient Olympia and the surrounding environment of the birthplace of the Olympic Games, and to interact with the three-dimensional digital representations of athletes of the Games who took part in the ancient pentathlon, and even see them crowned with the "kotinos" (wreath made of branches of the olive tree) in front of the temple of Zeus.

Efraimoglou noted that this is the first time that such a model and thorough display is presented to the public. "This is not a video, it is an animated image where the visitor can choose which parts of Olympia wishes to visit", and is considered the best technological achievement in Greece today created exclusively by Greeks.

Future plans include the creation of "Tholos", which will resemble a planetarium in its physical and morphological characteristics but is an innovative project at international level, since only New York city possesses something similar.

Source: Athens News Agency

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