• by Colin Kirkland , Yesterday

Using augmented reality to showcase historically-accurate man-made creations, Snapchat’s AR studio team in Paris has partnered with historian Bettany Hughes OBE and production company SandStone Global Productions to bring ancient architectural wonders into peoples’ homes.

The AR launch is designed to engage Snap users ahead of Hughes’ new documentary series, “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World with Bettany Hughes,” which follows the professor’s book of the same name.

The three-part series features Hughes’ time-traveling across three continents exploring the world’s seven wonders, including the Great Pyramid of Giza, The Colossus of Rhodes, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia.

Three-dimensional visualizations of these ancient wonders are now accessible to Snapchatters by using their smartphones to scan a QR code showcased during the docuseries broadcast on Channel 5 in the UK. Viewers will then be able to experience AR versions of the monuments in their living rooms.

“It’s a multisensory experience,” Hughes says in a video Snap posted to their blog.

The “Seven Wonders” Snap experience also provides users with added perks, including visuals of current-day architectural reference points – like Big Ben – to help them understand the scale of each ancient wonder.

The promotional partnership comes less than a month after Snap’s launch of “Densez Versailles,” an AR-centric art experience based at the Palace of Versailles, which is also a product of the social media company’s amplified presence in France – “one of the most dynamic and strategic markets” for Snap’s European business goals.

In May, Snapchat opened a 4,000-square-meter office in Paris, which CEO Evan Spiegel said would continue the work of AR Studio Paris via various immersive in-app cultural experiences, as well as a residency program focused on AR artmaking viewable on the company’s upcoming “Spectacles” glasses.