HERMES project aims to enhance the synergy between public and private actors to promote and strengthen the common social and cultural identity of Puglia and Epirus, more specifically of Arta, through integrated interventions, which include infrastructure projects and access interventions in archaeological sites but also highly sustainable innovative cultural services.
Joint intervention and cooperation on issues of cultural interest is vital to promote the tourist attractiveness of the areas involved, focusing on the local cultural identity and the common cultural routes shared by the two countries. Theater, music and visual arts are the main goals, where with the use of innovative IT tools will be achieved the promotion of the common cultural heritage and the most important cultural monuments and points of interest, as well as the education in common musical and theatrical traditions.

A virtual environment with the main historical monuments of the city of Arta will be designed and implemented, where the technologies of both virtual reality and augmented reality will be fully utilized. It is planned to design an Augmented Reality application for the Tour of the Castle of Arta, as well as for specific cultural routes within the city of Arta. The visitor / traveler, using a smartphone while walking, will be able to have an audiovisual experience interacting with virtual objects and events of the past, which will incorporate multimedia content and information of historical and cultural content. Physical objects coexist with virtual objects, which display information that is not directly detectable by the user through his senses and complement the real world.

In addition to ΙΤ applications, workshops for music and theater will be organized, where people of selected target groups will be invited to actively participate. In order to promote the transnational cultural routes, the thematic workshops will be organized both in Arta, and in the region of Puglia. The trainees / participants will be taught techniques and tools that aim to inspire and mobilize them to explore the common cultural paths through music and theater that connect the two regions, which they will put into practice and present at joint cultural events.