Athens of the Othonian Period and Xanthi in the 19th Century: Two Different Cities in the Same Era – How Do We Showcase and Communicate Them?

The effort to revive the pulse and daily life of historic settlements, utilising advanced technologies such as 3D sound and augmented reality experiences, is a challenge that the project team has successfully tackled with remarkable results. This effort aims to highlight the uniqueness of Athens during the Othonian period and Xanthi in the 19th and early 20th centuries, offering visitors the sensation of being at the heart of those eras.

However, during the project, we encountered additional challenges that may not be as apparent but are equally significant and demanding. Specifically, the cultural production and management company MENTOR faced the issue of promoting and communicating two cities, each charged with historical, political, and social significance for entirely different reasons. The geographical, geomorphological, architectural, and linguistic particularities of these cities posed further challenges in identifying a common thematic axis for their presentation. In summary, Athens during the Othonian period is characterised by reconstruction and a frenzy of development, while Xanthi flourished as a tobacco trading centre with a pronounced multicultural identity. Xanthi has preserved much of its historical architecture, whereas Athens from the Othonian era has undergone radical changes.

How, then, can we communicate to a diverse audience (with varied locations, ages, interests, and backgrounds) two such distinct cities, whose only direct connection is the time period? It was necessary to find a narrative axis so that the project’s communication strategy could present these differences cohesively and comprehensively, while simultaneously providing engaging and concise information tailored to an extremely diverse audience.

Additionally, the primary dissemination channels for this project are social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram. The outreach and engagement potential of these platforms are undeniably significant but come with certain limitations. Specifically, the amount of information and the formats (e.g., photos or videos) through which it can be shared are both constrained. This condition intensified the challenge of conveying rich, multi-layered information and meanings in brief, concise posts. Historical details, social context, and connections to cultural heritage had to be distilled into a compelling paragraph of no more than 300 words, containing a clear and direct message that could capture users’ attention.

Images and graphics play a decisive role in storytelling through social media. To “enhance” the impact of these paragraphs, we engaged in researching and selecting appropriate archival material, postcards, paintings, photographs of the era, daguerreotypes, sketches, lithographs, and engravings. These elements were utilised to tailor the communication strategy to align with the project’s goals and purpose.

As such, the decisions made regarding the communication strategy aimed to depict the daily habits of the people who lived in the Old Town of Xanthi and the ever-changing Athens of the 19th century—their musical tastes, professions, religious communities, active collectives, the natural environment surrounding them, significant historical events and figures tied to that era, the local dialects heard in the streets of Xanthi and outside the Ministry of Finance, and the ways they chose to entertain themselves and spend their leisure time. In this way, a shared narrative axis runs through all aspects of the project, aiming to create a historical world that offers engaging and original content, which has garnered remarkable resonance with the audience.

The creation of content and the communication strategy followed for the “Echoes” project proved to be a complex process that required careful management of the linguistic, geographical, and cultural dimensions of history, with respect for local specificities and audience preferences. By addressing these challenges through the use of original content, documentation that captures users’ interest, and a communication strategy closely aligned with the project, a cultural experience was created that connects the audience with the past through a creative dialogue between technology and history.

Through the research project “Echoes,” the reconstruction of the past is attempted using technologies that give users the sensation that the historical content emanates from the space around them, not from their mobile devices. The implementation of this project is a collaboration among the Xanthi branch of the Athena Research Center, the cultural production and management company MENTOR, and the sound production company Rabbeats.

The research project “ECHOES – Reconstructing the life of traditional settlements through interactive experiences and 3d sound” is funded by Greece 2.0 National Recovery and Resilience Plan through the Action “Research – Create – Innovate”  (ID 16971).