As part of the EXCALIBUR project, which is funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe initiative, HERITΛGE’s Dr. Eleni Stefanou and Maria Kagkelidou joined EXCALIBUR project partners in Paphos, Cyprus, for the first Use Case visit centred on one of the Mediterranean’s most remarkable archaeological landscapes: the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Tombs of the Kings. 

EXCALIBUR is one of the flagship projects contributing to the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECHOES) initiative, which is developing the European Heritage Cloud—a shared digital ecosystem designed to enable heritage professionals, researchers and institutions across Europe to collaborate, share knowledge and harness advanced digital technologies for the preservation, study and interpretation of cultural heritage. Within this framework, EXCALIBUR is developing innovative AI-powered and extended reality (XR) tools that will help document, analyse and safeguard heritage sites for future generations.

The team visited the sites and was privileged to have a special guide: the tour was led by Dr Sophocles Hadjisavvas, Honorary Director of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus and the archaeologist who directed excavations at the site between 1977 and 1990. Walking through the monumental necropolis alongside the person who helped reveal many ofl its secrets transformed what could have been a technical site visit into an unforgettable lesson in archaeology, history and interpretation.

Dr Hadjisavvas guided participants through the remarkable architectural diversity of the cemetery, explaining how the site reflects the social hierarchy of Hellenistic Cyprus. Some tombs are relatively modest underground chambers, while others are monumental peristyle complexes inspired by domestic architecture, complete with colonnaded courtyards carved directly into the rock.

“Walking through the Tombs of the Kings with the archaeologist who excavated them reminded us that every digital model begins with human knowledge. The future of heritage lies not in replacing expertise with technology, but in bringing them together.”
Dr Eleni Stefanou, HERITΛGE

Throughout the morning, he shared stories from the excavations that only someone who had spent years uncovering the site could tell.

Among the most fascinating insights was the evidence suggesting that Tomb 8 may be the burial place of Ptolemy of Cyprus, the island’s last king before Cyprus became a Roman province—a reminder that archaeology is not simply about objects and monuments, but about reconstructing lives, identities and historical turning points. The tour was complemented by a visit to the Paphos Archaeological Museum that houses many of the artefacts found at the Tombs of the Kings. 

For the EXCALIBUR consortium, the visit also had a practical purpose.

The Tombs of the Kings constitute Use Case 1 of the project, providing a real-world environment in which partners are defining the requirements for a new generation of digital tools. During the site visit, participants examined the monument’s structures, discussed areas vulnerable to environmental degradation and human impact, and identified priorities for documentation, including 3D scanning, environmental monitoring and the datasets required for future digital preservation. The visit was followed by technical workshops exploring AI, risk mapping, semantic data, XR technologies and collaborative digital environments for cultural heritage.