How can we experience the past? Truly experience it, with all our senses? How can we capture for ourselves the sights and sounds, the odors sacred and profane, the play of light from an open window or a flickering oil lamp — the entire sensorial range experienced by the people of previous centuries and millennia?

The Ancient Synagogues and the Human Sensorium Theme at the Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies welcomes you to a symposium in which a interdisciplinary team considers these questions as they take you on a digital tour of their recent fieldwork at the site of the Theme’s case study, the archaeological remains of the synagogue at the Roman city of Ostia. 

In recreating the sensations of the past, is it possible to understand the feelings of awe or comfort, anticipation or familiarity, or even the memories invoked by the experience of gathering together within the walls of a sacred space? The team invites you to engage with the results of their interdisciplinary journey over the past year, during which they worked with innovative experimental methods in 3D digital modelling as well as with the practical and theoretical challenges involved in creating and using these models to study ancient cultures.

We will provide refreshments during the day and look forward to your registration no later than 21 May: 

Registration for event 26 May: Ancient Synagogues and the Human Sensorium

Please visit Ancient Synagogues and Human Sensorium for the complete programme

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Programme (short version)

10.00 – Welcome/Coffee

Session 1: 10.15 — Introduction to our Pufendorf Theme: What We Were Aiming for and Why

Session 2: 10.45 — Making 3D models to Study Ancient Spaces

Session 3: 11.15 — Bringing the past into the present using 3D GIS 
technology and Virtual Reality: What did we gain? What did we miss?

Session 4: 11.45 — Demonstrating the Possibilities of an Immersive Approach to Ancient Spaces: Virtual Reality, the Senses, and Beyond

12.30 Light Lunch (included for participants who have registered)

Session 5: 13.30 — What Does It Mean to Make a “Good Model”? Methodological Challenges to Building 3D Models and Using Them to Address Scientific Questions

14.30 Panel Discussion with Q&A from audience

15.00 Reception in the Pufendorf Sculpture Hall: Refreshments will be served