RELICA: Dust, Detect, Discover

RELICA: Dust, Detect, Discover

Clean the dust... Find the clues... Learn...

Some old paintings may not be what they seem.Clean the dust, inspect the details, and discover clues.Learn Polish by spotting objects, actions, and suspicious mistakes hidden inside famous-looking artworks

You have entered a forgotten storage room full of old paintings. Some of them look authentic. Others may be clever forgeries. Your task is to remove the dust, examine each artwork carefully, and look for details that do not belong.

But there is more: every painting can also teach you useful words and phrases.

Mission 1: The Italian Renaissance Mystery

This painting looks like a Renaissance masterpiece from Italy. The architecture, clothing, light, and music all seem to fit the period. But can you trust it?

Scratch the dust away and inspect the painting carefully.Look for details that should not be there.

Can you spot the three intruding details? Click on them - you have one minute!

This picture is fake. Before you continue, take a look at the objects, characters, and situations. Can you describe what you see in the picture and explain why the details you identified do not belong there?

Mission 2: A French Afternoon

At first glance, this painting looks convincing: sunlight, elegant guests, riverside leisure, and the soft mood of French Impressionism. But this time the forger made a different mistake. The suspicious objects are placed close to one another — yet they are small and easy to miss.

Scratch the dust away and inspect the painting carefully.Look for details that should not be there.

Can you spot the three intruding details? Click on them - you have one minute!

Unfortunately, this painting is also fake... Before you continue, take a look at the objects, characters, and situations. Can you describe what you see in the picture?

Mission 3: The Greek Vase

This time, the RELICA archive reveals something older than a painting. An ancient Greek vase has been found among the stored objects. Its shape, ornament, and figures look authentic, but small details suggest that something is wrong...

Clean the dust and inspect the vase carefully. The suspicious objects are hidden inside the decoration. They are small, subtle, and easy to overlook.

Can you spot the three intruding details? Click on them - you have one minute!

Unfortunately, this object is also fake... Before you continue, take a close look at the scenes depicted on this vase. Can you describe them?

Mission 4: The Polish Factory Scene

This painting looks like a serious socialist realism style industrial scene: workers, steel, machinery, and a strong sense of purpose. It feels disciplined and convincing, exactly the kind of image that could hide a careful forgery. But something doesn't fit here...

Clean the dust and inspect the painting carefully.The suspicious objects are hidden among tools, plans, and factory equipment.

Can you spot the three intruding details? Click on them - you have one minute!

This painting is fake too… Can you describe it? What would it tell us about the period if it was real?

Mission 5: The German Expressionist Scene

This painting feels tense, distorted, and emotionally charged. Sharp shapes, dramatic colours, and uneasy figures suggest a powerful German expressionist work.

Clean the dust and inspect the painting carefully.This time, the suspicious objects are hidden inside a more dramatic and unsettling scene.

Can you spot the three intruding details? Click on them - you have one minute!

This picture is not real eithe.. Before you continue, take a look at the objects, characters, and situations. Can you describe what you see in the picture?

Mission 6: The Hungarian Waiting Room

This painting looks elegant and refined: decorated walls, travellers in formal clothes, and the quiet atmosphere of a station waiting room. At first glance, everything seems to fit the period. But the forger left behind three modern travel clues.

Clean the dust and inspect the painting carefully.This time, the suspicious objects are linked to modern travel.

Can you spot the three intruding details? Click on them - you have one minute!

Unfortunately, this picture is also fake... Before you continue, take a look at the objects, characters, and situations. Can you describe what you see in the picture?

Take another look at the paintings and describe what you like most about them.Describe what you like the most in the painting. Then think about how you identified the fake elements—what details helped you notice them? Explain why it is important to recognize these inconsistencies. What risks might there be if you believed the image was authentic?

Let’s go through the artistic styles and periods we explored earlier, but this time using real paintings instead of fake ones.

Let’s review the vocabulary of the inventions we encountered in the fake paintings.

Thank you for playing Mosaic City by RELICA

This short game was created as part of the ‘RELICA (Recycling Skills to Improve Literacy, Language and Communication Competences through Artistic and Digital Creation)’ project. You can find more information about how we combine art, creativity, multimedia and language learning on our website at https://relica.online.

Script and production: DIGITAL CREATORS FOUNDATION Project Consortium: COTA ONG (France), COMPARATIVE RESEARCH NETWORK EV (Germany), DIGITAL CREATORS FOUNDATION (Poland), ARTEMISSZIÓ ALAPÍTVÁNY (Hungary), IL SALONE DEI RIFIUTATI (Italy), ARTIFACTORY (Greece)

This is a TV remote control. A remote control does not belong in a factory painting. Socialist Realism was mainly imposed in the 1940s and 1950s, and the first wireless TV remote was introduced in 1955. However, even if the period fits, what would a remote control be doing in a factory?

This is a wheeled suitcase. This Academic painting could have been painted during the Realist period in the late 19th or early 20th century, whereas the wheeled suitcase was invented in 1970.

This painting is by Wojciech Fangor, created around 1950 during the period of Socialist Realism in Poland, depicting idealized workers in a monumental style while contrasting them with a fashionable bourgeois figure, highlighting the ideological opposition between socialist values and consumer culture.

Street, Berlin is a painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, created in 1913, representing German Expressionism with its bold colors, distorted figures, and dynamic composition that conveys the anxiety and intensity of modern urban life.

This is a laptop. Laptops came into use several decades later. Socialist Realism was mainly imposed after World War II, in the 1940s and 1950s during the communist period, whereas laptop computers were first developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s and became widely used from the 1990s onward

This is a backpack. This Academic painting could have been painted during the Realist period in the late 19th or early 20th century, whereas this type of backpack, made with lightweight materials and padded straps, was only produced from the 1950s onward.

This is a tablet with a large screen. Expressionism, especially in Germany, developed roughly during the first two decades of the 20th century, whereas modern touchscreen tablets only became widely popular after 2010.

These are earphones.This object was hard to spot because earphones are small. Impressionism developed roughly between the 1860s and 1880s, whereas modern in-ear earphones like the ones we use today only became common from the 1980s onward.

These are sunglasses. This is another clue that the painting may not be original. The Renaissance took place roughly between the 14th and 17th centuries, whereas sunglasses designed to block sunlight only became popular in the 1920s–1930s.

This is a plastic water bottle. Suspicious clue - that bottle is plastic! The Renaissance took place roughly between the 14th and 17th centuries, whereas the plastic bottles we use today were invented in the 1970s.

This is a smartphone. A smartphone does not belong in a Renaissance painting. The Renaissance took place roughly between the 14th and 17th centuries, whereas smartphones were invented in the 1990s and have only been widely used since the 2000s.

The Euphronios Krater, created around 515 BCE, is a famous example of Ancient Greek red-figure pottery, known for its detailed and dynamic depiction of mythological scenes.

This is a wristwatch. However, this type of modern digital watch did not exist during the Impressionist period. Impressionism developed roughly between the 1860s and 1880s, whereas the first digital watch was only released in the 1970s.

This is a takeaway coffee cup. That tip was obvious. A takeaway cup does not belong in a 19th-century painting. Impressionism developed in the late 19th century, roughly between the 1860s and 1880s, whereas the takeaway paper coffee cup was only invented in the early 20th century.

Irén Biltz is a portrait painted in 1892 by János Thorma, associated with Hungarian Naturalism and early modern tendencies, depicting a young woman with refined realism while also introducing decorative elements that anticipate later artistic developments.

Impression, Sunrise is a painting by Claude Monet, created in 1872 in Le Havre, and it gave its name to the Impressionist movement, capturing a fleeting moment of light and atmosphere with loose brushstrokes and soft colors.

This is a microphone. A microphone does not belong on an ancient Greek vase. This vase could have been produced during the Black-figure period of Ancient Greek art, between the 7th century BCE and the early 5th century BCE, whereas the microphone was invented in the late 19th century, around 1876–1877.

These are roller skates and they do not belong in classical Greek art.This vase could have been produced during the Black-figure period of Ancient Greek art, between the 7th century BCE and the early 5th century BCE, whereas roller skates were invented in 1760.

The Last Supper is a famous Renaissance mural painted by Leonardo da Vinci between 1495 and 1498 in the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, depicting the moment Jesus announces that one of his disciples will betray him, captured with dramatic composition and emotional intensity.

This is a game controller. The first video game controller appeared in the early 1970s, long after the Expressionist period, which ended in the early 1920s.

This is a bicycle. A bicycle does not fit an ancient Greek scene. This vase could have been produced during the Black-figure period of Ancient Greek art, between the 7th century BCE and the early 5th century BCE, whereas pedal-powered bicycles only appeared in the 1860s.

This is a flashlight. The flashlight was invented in 1899, so it already existed during the Expressionist period in the first decades of the 20th century. Still, this huge torch does not seem to fit the scene...

This is an airline ticket. An airline ticket does not fit this old travel scene. This Academic painting could have been painted during the Realist period in the late 19th or early 20th century. Airlines have existed since the early 20th century, but regular airline services only developed in the 1920s and 1930s.

This is a smartwatch. Socialist Realism was mainly imposed after World War II, in the 1940s and 1950s during the communist period, whereas smartwatches began to appear in the early 2000s and became widely used from the 2010s onward.