Aim

The main purpose of the 1821 Greek Revolution Observatory is to record and interpret the various ways in which 21st-century societies worldwide perceived the Greek Revolution through conventional as well as through digital means. It has recorded the plenitude of events regarding the revolution in a bilingual digital archive, which is categorised in five main parts, covering the academic, artistic, educational, the media as well as personal contributions. In addition, its includes a crowdsourcing enterprise on the revolution. The ultimate aim of this endeavour is to record, in a digital archive, a crucial moment in the formation of historical culture, as the 1821 bicentenary has been, in the multiple areas which produce historical knowledge, contemplation or emotions. The Observatory did not merely seek to create a digital reservoir of information, but rather has attempted to make sense of the information it has gathered, periodically presenting analyses of its collections, discussing the new practices formed by academia and public opinion and thus revealing contemporary considerations of the event. In parallel, it has sought to examine new file formats in the digital domain and how they have changed the way we relate to the past through the culture formed by software, a culture that is subsequently reshaped by users. In relation to that, the Observatory has proposed at new working methods and research on similar historical events. The 1821 Observatory hopes to offer a foundation for future research on the public history of 1821 and on world historical culture in the 21st century.