Media
Architecture: Digital Archaeology
A/D/O by MINI, Monday March 23rd 2020
This is where an unlikely savior enters the story. Before the insurgency of ISIS in Syria, the Institute of Digital Archaeology (IDA) was a reasonably obscure academic endeavor founded in Oxford to help archive Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. “It turns out that creating digital imagery of papyri was the gateway drug to a more omnivorous study of ancient objects and eventually architecture,” explained Roger Michel, founder and executive director of the IDA. “What we managed to do early on was bring a lot of technology that was only used in labs, either because it needed a special environment or specialist knowledge, and we took it into the field.”
Luxemburg feiert ein Jahr lang sein Weltkulturerbe
L’Essentiel, December 16th 2019
Seit dem Jahr 1994 stehen die Festung und die Altstadt Luxemburgs auf der Liste des Unesco-Weltkulturerbes. 25 Jahre später stehen die Sehenswürdigkeiten im Fokus der Festlichkeiten, die bis zum 17. Dezember 2020 andauern werden. Auf dem Programm: geführte Radtouren, digitale Projekte in sozialen Netzwerken und zahlreiche Shows.
L’arche de Palmyre visible à Luxembourg
Le Quotidien, December 17th 2019
Aussi inattendu que cela puisse paraître, Luxembourg et Palmyre ont un point commun de taille : elles sont toutes deux classées au patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco. Rien de surprenant alors que la Ville entame lundi les festivités autour des “25 ans Lëtzebuerg patrimoine mondial” par un hommage à la cité antique de Syrie martyrisée par Daech.
Lundi, la ministre de la Culture, Sam Tanson, le bourgmestre de la Ville de Luxembourg, Lydie Polfer, et la présidente de la Commission luxembourgeoise pour la coopération avec l’Unesco, Simone Beck, ont présenté le programme des festivités autour des “25 ans Lëtzebuerg patrimoine mondial” (programme à retrouver ici)
Lancement des festivités de ''25 ans Lëtzebuerg patrimoine mondial'' et dévoilement de la réplique de l'arche de Palmyre
Government of Luxembourg, December 12th 2019
Le 16 décembre 2019, la ministre de la Culture, Sam Tanson, le bourgmestre de la Ville de Luxembourg, Lydie Polfer, et la présidente de la Commission luxembourgeoise pour la coopération avec l'Unesco, Simone Beck, ont présenté le programme des festivités autour des "25 ans Lëtzebuerg patrimoine mondial". À cette occasion, elles ont pu dévoiler, en présence de Roger Michel, directeur de l'Institute for Digital Archaeology d'Oxford et de Françoise Poos, présidente de neimënster, une réplique en 3D de l'arche de Palmyre détruite en 2015 par l'organisation terroriste Daech.
Assyrian lion destroyed by Isis rises again through latest tech
The Times, Saturday July 6th 2019
A stone beast that once guarded a goddess of love and beauty until it was smashed to pieces by Islamic State has been reconstructed through technology and put on display in London.
The Lion of Mosul was recreated in meticulous detail by computer scientists in Britain, drawing data from dozens of amateur photos of the sculpture as it was in the Mosul Museum in Iraq before its ransacking in 2015.
Une réplique de l'arche de Palmyre se dresse à Berne
24 Heures, Thursday June 13th 2019
Une réplique de l'arche de triomphe de Palmyre a été dévoilée jeudi matin à Berne à l'occasion du 70e anniversaire de l'entrée de la Suisse à l'UNESCO. Des conférences sont également prévues dans ce cadre.
Inscrit au patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO, tout comme la Tour de l'horloge de la vieille ville de Berne, le monument «symbolise la fragilité de notre humanité», peut-on lire dans un communiqué de la commission suisse pour l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'éducation, la science et la culture (l'UNESCO) et de la Ville de Berne. Ville syrienne antique, Palmyre a été en partie détruite par la fureur du groupe terroriste Etat islamique en 2015.
Triumphbogen von Palmyra erinnert in Bern an Unesco-Beitritt
Aargauer Zeitung, Thursday June 13th 2019
In Bern ist am Donnerstagmorgen eine Replik des Triumphbogens von Palmyra enthüllt worden. Anlass dafür ist, dass die Schweiz vor siebzig Jahren der Unesco beitrat, der Organisation der Vereinten Nationen für Erziehung, Wissenschaft und Kultur.
Monumente wie der Triumphbogen von Palmyra zeigen laut einer Mitteilung der Schweizerischen Unesco-Kommission und der Stadt Bern, wie zerbrechlich solche Welterbestätten sind. Palmyra ist eine Stadt in Syrien, in welcher der sogenannte "Islamische Staat" 2015 viele wichtige Bauten zerstörte.
Syrischer Triumphbogen steht in Bern
Basellandschaftliche Zeitung, Thursday June 13th 2019
© GABRIEL DESIGN
Switzerland has been a UNESCO member for 70 years. On this occasion, a triumphal arch on the Bernese Casinoplatz stands these days. The arch is the replica of a world heritage destroyed by the IS in Palmyra, Syria. The bow is made of marble and weighs 13 tons.
Une réplique de l'arche de Palmyre se dresse à Berne
Le Matin, Thursday June 13th 2019
© GABRIEL DESIGN
Une réplique de l'arche de triomphe de Palmyre a été dévoilée jeudi matin à Berne à l'occasion du 70e anniversaire de l'entrée de la Suisse à l'UNESCO. Des conférences sont également prévues dans ce cadre.
Inscrit au patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO, tout comme la Tour de l'horloge de la vieille ville de Berne, le monument «symbolise la fragilité de notre humanité», peut-on lire dans un communiqué de la commission suisse pour l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'éducation, la science et la culture (l'UNESCO) et de la Ville de Berne. Ville syrienne antique, Palmyre a été en partie détruite par la fureur du groupe terroriste Etat islamique en 2015.
In Bern steht Triumphbogen von Palmyra
Liechtensteiner Vaterland, Thursday June 13th 2019
In Bern ist am Donnerstagmorgen eine Replik des Triumphbogens von Palmyra enthüllt worden. Anlass dafür ist, dass die Schweiz vor siebzig Jahren der Unesco beitrat, der Organisation der Vereinten Nationen für Erziehung, Wissenschaft und Kultur.
BERN.
Monumente wie der Triumphbogen von Palmyra zeigen laut einer Mitteilung der Schweizerischen Unesco-Kommission und der Stadt Bern, wie zerbrechlich solche Welterbestätten sind. Palmyra ist eine Stadt in Syrien, in welcher der sogenannte "Islamische Staat" 2015 viele wichtige Bauten zerstörte.
La Genève internationale fête les 100 ans d’une innovation durable
Le Temps, Thursday April 25th 2019
OPINION. Il y a cent ans, la Société des Nations naît. Genève est aujourd’hui un laboratoire mondial, consacré aux générations futures, affirme le conseiller d’Etat genevois Pierre Maudet.
Ce qui a été inventé au XXe siècle est-il toujours valable au XXIe siècle? J’en suis convaincu, s’agissant du quatorzième et dernier point de Wilson, du nom du président des Etats-Unis, dont le programme d’après-guerre a permis d’ancrer la Société des Nations (SDN) à Genève. C’était il y a 100 ans. Un 28 avril, pour être précis. Depuis lors, notre canton n’a cessé de forger son statut de capitale internationale.
Qu’en reste-t-il aujourd’hui? Un laboratoire mondial, consacré aux générations futures. Genève est le dernier incubateur diplomatique, économique, scientifique et sociétal ayant pour vocation de préserver le bien-être de chacun et de lui garantir un avenir.
L’arc de Palmyre se dresse sur la place des Nations, à Genève
Le Temps, Friday April 12th 2019
photo pierre-michel virot
La réplique de l’arc de triomphe de Palmyre a été montée sur la place des Nations comme un symbole. Le 25 et le 26 avril se déroulera en effet à Genève, sous le patronat de l’Unesco, une conférence internationale sur la protection des biens et du patrimoine culturels lors des conflits armés.
Abdulaziz Almuzaini, le directeur de l’office de liaison de l’Unesco à Genève, a rappelé vendredi toute l’importance de ce rendez-vous. Les destructions de biens culturels lors de guerres sont souvent délibérées, comme pour effacer la mémoire d’un peuple, a souligné le maire de la ville de Genève, Sami Kanaan.
Genève accueille une réplique de l’Arc de Palmyre
image pierre-michel virot
Radio Lac, Friday April 12th 2019
Autrefois cité incontournable du désert de Tadmur en Syrie et carrefour de plusieurs civilisations, Palmyre abritait des monuments impressionnants. La ville fut d’ailleurs reconnue pour sa valeur exceptionnelle pour l’humanité et a été donc inscrite sur la liste du patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO en 1980. Mais en 2015, de nombreuses structures importantes ont été détruites par Daesh, dont le fameux Arc de Palmyre.
Grâce à la technologie 3D et la numérisation de photos, la réplique a pu être construite et inaugurée en avril 2016 sur Trafalgar Square, à Londres. Après avoir visité de nombreuses villes, le monument est désormais exposé à Genève, sur la Place des Nations, jusqu’au 27 avril prochain, pour alerter et sensibiliser sur cette mission fondamentale de défense des cultures et du patrimoine « humain ».
Listen to commentary from Michael Moeller and Antonio Hodgers HERE.
Une réplique de l’arc de Palmyre se dresse sur la place des Nations, à Genève
Le Nouvelliste, Friday April 12th 2019
image wikimedia commons
La réplique de l’arc de triomphe de Palmyre a été montée sur la place des Nations comme un symbole. Le 25 et le 26 avril se déroulera en effet à Genève, sous le patronat de l’UNESCO, une conférence internationale sur la protection des biens et du patrimoine culturels lors des conflits armés.
L’arc, composé de sept pièces, a déjà été exposé à Londres, aux Etats-Unis, à Florence et aux Emirats arabes unis:
Abdulaziz Almuzaini, le directeur de l’office de liaison de l’UNESCO à Genève a rappelé vendredi toute l’importance de ce rendez-vous. Les destructions de biens culturels lors de guerres sont souvent délibérées, comme pour effacer la mémoire d’un peuple, a souligné le maire de la Ville de Genève, Sami Kanaan.
L'arc de Palmyre se dresse sur la place des Nations, à Genève
MA RTS, Friday April 12th 2019
Une réplique de l'arc de triomphe monumental de la cité antique de Palmyre, en Syrie, a été dévoilée vendredi sur la place des Nations à Genève. Elle sera visible jusqu'au 27 avril. Ce joyau de l'art romain avait été dynamité par les troupes du groupe Etat islamique.
La réplique installée à Genève est deux fois moins grande que l'arc original. Celui-ci avait été érigé au IIIe siècle, pendant le règne de l'Empereur Septime Sévère, qui régna de 193 à 211. Le monument a été détruit par Daesh, lorsqu'il s'est emparé de la ville en 2015, et avant que l'armée syrienne ne reconquière définitivement la cité de la reine Zénobie.
L'arc de Palmyre se dresse sur la place des Nations
Tribune de Genève, Friday April 12th 2019
image pierre-michel virot
Une réplique de l'arc de triomphe monumental de la cité antique de Palmyre, en Syrie, a été dévoilée vendredi sur la place des Nations à Genève. Elle sera visible jusqu'au 27 avril. Ce joyau de l'art romain avait été dynamité par les troupes de l'Etat islamique.
La réplique installée à Genève est deux fois moins grande que l'arc original. Erigé au 3e siècle, pendant le règne de l'Empereur Septime Sévère, le monument avait été détruit par l'Etat islamique, lorsqu'il s'était emparé de la ville, en 2015, et avant que l'armée syrienne ne reconquière définitivement la cité de la reine Zénobie.
La réplique de l'Arche de Palmyre sur la place des Nations
Ville de Genevé, Friday April 12th 2019
Image Pierre-michel virot
Les 25 et 26 avril 2019, l'UNESCO organise à Genève, avec le soutien du gouvernement suisse, l’une des conférences les plus importantes sur le thème de la protection du patrimoine culturel, intitulée «Protection des biens culturels: Conférence internationale sur le 20e anniversaire du Deuxième Protocole de 1999 à la Convention de La Haye de 1954».
L'actualité du 12 avril 2019 en images
Arc News, Friday April 12th 2019
image pierre-michel virot
L'arc de Palmyre dévoilé à la place des Nations
20 Minutes, Friday April 12th 2019
La réplique de l'arc de triomphe de Palmyre a été montée sur la place des Nations comme un symbole. Le 25 et le 26 avril se déroulera en effet à Genève, sous le patronat de l'UNESCO, une conférence internationale sur la protection des biens et du patrimoine culturels lors des conflits armés.
Abdulaziz Almuzaini, le directeur de l'office de liaison de l'UNESCO à Genève a rappelé vendredi toute l'importance de ce rendez-vous. «Les destructions de biens culturels lors de guerres sont souvent délibérées, comme pour effacer la mémoire d'un peuple», a souligné le maire de la Ville de Genève, Sami Kanaan.
The Arch of Palmyra: pushing the potential of technology to help preserve the past (French and English)
TL Magazine, Winter 2018
V&A to unveil leading collection of sculptural casts in restored gallery
The Financial Times, Tuesday 27th November 2018
“After casts lost their appeal in the 20th century, the V&A held on to its collection while other galleries destroyed theirs, leaving it with one of the best preserved and most comprehensive in the world. Its casts also preserve details that have been lost from some of the original works, which have deteriorated over the centuries. Detail of the Pepys Cup, 1879, electroformed copper, electroplated and electrogilt © Angela Moore An entirely new gallery will look at modern digital equivalents of 19th century plaster cast technology, such as a scaled-down 3D printed copy of the arch at Palmyra, Syria, destroyed by Isis in 2016.”
V&A opens up towering replica of Trajan's column in revamped Cast Courts
The Art Newspaper, Tuesday 27 November 2018
“In addition to reinstating the textured Victorian paint schemes and stripping the 1950s linoleum from the original stone mosaic floors, the renovation of the Ruddock Family Cast Court has also created a new gallery devoted to copies in various forms, such as photographs, electrotypes and casts. It explores their history and the different technologies used to make them, as well as their relevance today. A special section on digital technology used to produce replicas of art and architecture caught in the crossfire during conflict includes a small model of the arch of Palmyra, which Islamic State destroyed in 2015.”
After Brazil Museum Fire, Debate Over How, or if, to Rebuild
The New York Times, Monday 29th September 2018
Alexy Karenowska, the institute's director of technology, says some initially worried that the replica was suggesting some sort of equivalence to the original. But soon the new arch began to take on a significance of its own.
"It's not really the atoms and molecules of those old objects that make them important," Karenowska said. "It's people's relationships with them. It's what they've come to symbolize. It's the sort of immortality of the sets of cultural references that they represent."
3D technology helps assess world heritage sites
Digital Journal, Friday 3rd August 2018
Computational photographic methods are being used by archaeologists to help capture the past, where digital process reveal more detail than is possible using conventional equipment.
http://www.digitaljournal.com
Digital Archaeology
Avaunt Magazine, Tuesday 10th July 2018
If these stones could talk: the Institute for Digital Archaeology deploys the latest technology to recreate monuments ravaged by war and destruction. Here the team members explain their vision.
The young Somalis recreating Mogadishu's prewar splendour
The Guardian, Wednesday 23rd May 2018
Shegow’s project is only the latest initiative that uses digital technology to preserve and recreate the architectural splendour of the past. A project inspired by the late Syrian activist Bassel Khartabil and supported by the Institute of Digital Archaeology (IDA) and Unesco had volunteers take 3D photographs of Palmyra before it fell to Islamic State fighters in 2015. The ancient city’s Arch of Triumph was subsequently rebuilt off-site based on 3D models created by the database of images, with oversight from the director of the Palmyra museum.
Plaster Monuments: Architecture and the Power of Reproduction, by Mari Lending
In 2015, Islamic State destroyed much of what remained at Palmyra, and an arch from there was digitally reconstructed and erected in Trafalgar Square, arousing public interest and prompting debates about the “morality” of reproducing such artefacts. The actions of people such as Albers were not that far removed from those of the Taliban, however: Walter Gropius, for example, supported the demolition (1964) of one of the greatest monuments of American Beaux-Arts Classicism, Pennsylvania Station, New York (designed by McKim, Mead, & White, 1906-10), a sublime masterpiece that showed up the aesthetic poverty of Bauhaus-approved architecture. And the whole ethos of forming collections of plaster casts for display was an essential part of Beaux-Arts education, so had to be obliterated, just as the real architecture of Pennsylvania Station was not permitted to survive.
World Government Summit: Is the arts world ready for the first virtual Vivaldi?
National AE, Monday February 12th 2018
Is there a virtual Van Gogh or an artificially intelligent Beethoven on the horizon?
Art and music created by AI are both on display at the Museum of the Future at the World Government Summit in Dubai.
The temporary exhibit takes artificial intelligence as its theme for the 2018 summit and includes six pieces of music ranging from rock and folk to classical and ambient created by computer programmes without any human involvement.
The verdict on the compositions was mixed. One visitor compared it to “elevator music”, adding that “It lacked human feeling.”
The museum is also displaying canvases painted by a computer that has “studied” the techniques and styles of great artists and then generated original works using a mechanically held brush.
Oxford team virtually reconstructs goddess al-Lat statue smashed by Isis
The Times of London, Tuesday January 2nd 2018
3D Printed Palmyra Arch Honored for Engaging the Public with Research
3DPrint.com, Monday October 25th 2017
It’s now been announced that the 3D printed replica, intended to immortalize the fallen gateway to the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, has won a prestigious University of Oxford award, known as the Public Engagement with Research Award, sponsored by the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Louise Richardson.
Dubai's 3D-printed Palmyra Arch Replica wins Award
Gulf News, Saturday October 23rd 2017
Dubai: A 3D-printed replica of Palmyra’s Arch of Triumph, which was created by the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) to immortalise the historical gateway to the ancient Syrian city, has won the Public Engagement with Research Award, sponsored by the vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford.
The international project seeks to document archaeological sites at risk around the Middle East region using 3D imaging, and then reconstructing them using 3D-printing technology. The end goal is to safeguard the region’s rich history and cultural heritage from vandalism and destruction.
“This initiative is a direct implementation of the UAE leadership’s forward-thinking vision, which calls for utilising the technologies of the future to preserve our region’s ancient heritage,” said DFF’s acting CEO Abdullah Bin Toq.
Fuochi e note per l’addio all’Arco di Palmira
La Stampa, Sunday October 1st 2017
La cerimonia di saluto all’Arco di Palmira, che lascia Arona per Parigi, venerdì sera si è chiusa con uno spettacolo di fuochi d’artificio. Sulle note dei «Carmina burana» di Orff, il rosso dei fuochi è stato accompagnato dai rumori che ricordano le esplosioni delle bombe, per poi cedere il posto al bianco, simbolo di pace, e all’oro della rinascita.
La riproduzione dell'Arco di Palmira lascia Arona
AzzuraTV, Thursday, September 28th 2017
Arona ha salutato l'arco di Palmira
Novara Today, Saturday September 30th 2017
Ieri sera la cerimonia di chiusura che ha lanciato un messaggio di pace. Guarda la fotogallery!
http://www.novaratoday.it
Dopo cinque mesi l’Arco di Palmira lascia il lago Maggiore e vola a Parigi
La Stampa, Friday September 29th 2017
Arona saluta l’Arco di Palmira: dopo cinque mesi la riproduzione in 3D del monumento-simbolo del sito archeologico siriano distrutto dai miliziani dell’Isis, lascia la città sul Lago Maggiore alla volta di Parigi. Ricostruito in scala dall’Institute for digital archeology di Oxford con la Torart di Carrara, simbolo della pace fra i popoli, è stato il cuore di appuntamenti culturali e musicali e ha incrementato il numero di turisti in città.
Can VR and 3D mapping save China’s cultural history from tourists, earthquakes and climate change?
South China Morning Post, Tuesday August 1st 2017
Technology is being used to digitally preserve Dunhuang’s Mogao Caves as mass tourism takes its toll, while drone footage and photos are helping groups such as CyArk create 3D models of heritage sites across the globe.
La Rocca di Arona: presentato il progetto di valorizzazione delle mura
Meteoweb, Thursday July 27th 2017
IMAGE BOB CAPRAI
Ieri, mercoledì 26 luglio, è stato presentato ad Arona il progetto di restauro delle mura Borromee in Rocca, realizzato dall’architetto Simonetti su incarico della famiglia Borromeo, durante una serata di gala organizzata da IDA di Oxford (Institute for Digital Archaeology) e a cui hanno partecipato, tra gli altri, Alberto Gusmeroli, Sindaco di Arona, Roger Michel, Executive Director di IDA, Alexy Karenowska, Director of Technology di IDA, e l’Architetto Simonetti in rappresentanza della famiglia Borromeo.
MPLS researchers win Vice-Chancellor's Public Engagement with Research Awards
Oxford University, Wednesday June 28th 2017
VICE-CHANCELLOR'S AWARD 2017 AND EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER AWARD: DR ALEXY KARENOWSKA (PHYSICS)
Dr Karenowska, of the Department of Physics, won her award for her work on a public science project focused on the documentation, preservation, and restoration of at-risk cultural heritage sites across the world. Working with the likes of UNESCO and the Government of the United Arab Emirates, she developed the means to study, document and preserve heritage materials through optical, radio-frequency and X-ray based approaches and the application of 3D printing and machining technologies. In 2016 Dr Karenowska led a team to create a 13 tonne replica of the Triumphal Arch from Syria's Palmyra site using a combination of photogrammetry-based 3D computer modelling and state-of-the-art 3D machining in stone. She managed the installation of this structure on Trafalgar and has overseen the installation of the same arch in New York, Dubai and Florence.
Funded by: Institute for Digital Archaeology [IDA] and the Dubai Future Foundation.
FULL PRESS RELEASE
Preserving Syrian Heritage Project Funded by British Council
British Council
We are pleased to award Preserving Syrian Heritage Project £109,445
This project aims to train Syrians in digital documentation techniques in order to digitally document heritage sites at risk.
Protecting heritage in Syria
Heritage sites in Syria are under grave and immediate threat as the war continues. Archaeological sites in the region are subject to illegal excavations and looting, with archaeological objects then sold through illicit markets. In addition, sites have been routinely destroyed by Daesh as a direct attack on Syria and its people.
Arco di Palmira, ad Arona ricostruzione in 3D
Sky TG24, Tuesday May 2nd 2017
Restore civilisations through monuments
Khaleej Times, Monday May 1st 2017
Using technology to restore ancient architecture destroyed by conflicts and natural disasters is crucial in helping people reconnect with their identity, an expert has said.
Speaking at the Arab Media Forum, Dr Alexy Karenowska, a physicist and a research fellow at Oxford's department of physics and a Director of Technology at the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA), stressed that using technology is successful when it sparks civil dialogue.
"The success of any project is measured not only by the technical prowess of the engineering, but in the extent to which the process of reconstruction enables people to reclaim the sense of individual and community identity invested in what is being rebuilt," said Karenowska.
Rebuilding is about restoring people's connection with history - and each other: Arab Media Forum delegates told
Zawya, Monday May 1st 2017
The process of reconstructing a civilisation is about restoring people’s connections with each other -- and with their history and their culture -- through the act of the reconstruction of physical things, said an expert.
Dr Alexy Karenowska, Director of Technology, The Institute for Digital Archeology, Physicist and a researcher at Oxford’s Department of Physics, was addressing a session titled “Civilisation Restored by Technology” on the first day of Arab Media Forum 2017,
Dr Alexy said the process of reconstructing a civilisation or community which has suffered as a result of cultural cleansing or the large-scale devastation of its physical heritage through natural forces, is not just about a practical challenge of rebuilding physical things.
Arco di Palmira ad Arona, ci sarà anche il figlio dell’archeologo giustiziato dall’Isis
La Stampa, Saturday 29th April 2017
Waleed al-Asaad sabato presenterà la ricostruzione 3D del monumento distrutto dai terroristi in Siria. La riproduzione sarà aperta al pubblico fino al 30 luglio prossimo.
G7, ARCO DI PALMIRA IN PIAZZA SIGNORIA
Contaradio, Monday 27th March 2017
Dopo Londra e New York arriva in Italia, a Firenze, in occasione del G7 della Cultura, una copia dell’Arco di Palmira. Sarà esposta in piazza della Signoria davanti a Palazzo Vecchio da oggi al 27 aprile, simbolo di rinascita e ricostruzione della cultura colpita dal terrorismo.
http://www.controradio.it/g7-arco-di-palmira-in-piazza-signoria/
A Firenze la riproduzione dell'Arco trionfale di Palmira - Galleria fotografica
La Repubblica, Monday 27th March 2017
La riproduzione dell'Arco di Palmira, distrutto dall'Isis, è esposta da oggi al 27 aprile in piazza della Signoria in occasione del G7 della cultura che si terrà a Firenze giovedì e venerdì prossimi. L'iniziativa è nata nell'ambito del progetto "The Million Image Database" per la tutela e la salvaguardia del patrimonio culturale mondiale, promosso da The Institute for Digital Archaeology in collaborazione con Unesco, Università di Oxford, Museo del Futuro di Dubai e governo degli Emirati Arabi Uniti.
Firenze, l’arco di Palmira svelato in piazza Signoria
Corriere della Sera, Monday 27th March 2017
http://corrierefiorentino.corriere.it/foto-gallery/toscana/17_marzo_27/firenze-l-arco-palmira-arriva-piazza-signoria-5bcc7ca0-12bf-11e7-8d27-214c729abb0c.shtml
In piazza della Signoria "rinasce" l'Arco di Palmira / FOTO
La Nazione, Monday 27th March 2017
Firenze è la prima città italiana a ospitare la riproduzione, dopo Londra, New York e Dubai. "Visto che i terroristi vogliono colpire l'uomo è la cultura, noi dedichiamo questo gesto all'uomo e alla cultura", ha aggiunto Nardella, che con questa inaugurazione ha simbolicamente aperto il programma di iniziative ("Un mese di eventi", ha sottolineato) previste nell'ambito del G7 della cultura che si terrà proprio a Firenze.
http://www.lanazione.it/firenze/cronaca/arco-palmira-1.2995847
Arch of Palmyra installed for G7 Off
The Florentine, Wednesday 22nd March 2017
With the G7 Culture Summit just around the corner, a copy of the Monumental Arch of Palmyra has been installed in piazza della Signoria from March 27 to April 27, 2017.
The installation coincides with the G7 Summit, held in Palazzo Vecchio on March 30 and 31, 2017, as a symbol of the rebirth and reconstruction of humanity’s cultural heritage, continually at risk from the dangers of humankind and nature.
http://www.theflorentine.net/news/2017/03/arch-palmyra-installed-g7-off/
Découverte - Palmyra
Radio-Canada.ca, Friday January 20th 2017
See the full video HERE
Cambridge applicant secures new home for Palmyra's restored Arch of Triumph two years after ISIS destroyed the monument
The Telegraph, Tuesday January 17th 2017
As a keen Classicist, Olivia first began interning at Arona's Archaeological Museum in an attempt to "beef up" her UCAS personal statement with some relevant work experience.
Noting that the museum was in the process of renaming itself in honour of Khaled al Asaad, the curator of the Palmyra UNESCO site murdered by ISIL militants, Olivia contacted the IDA in hope of acquiring some printed material to create an exhibit about his life.
L'arco distrutto dall'Isis in Siria rivira nella piazza di Arona
La Stampa, Tuesday January 10th 2017
Dopo Londra e New York, l’Arco di Palmira arriva ad Arona. L’evento internazionale si chiamerà «Passing through, moving forward»: alto più di cinque metri, il monumento è stato ricostruito utilizzando immagini digitali e in stampa in 3D dall’Institute for Digital Archeology di Oxford ed è stato realizzato da una ditta di Carrara.
Turning Points: 2016, as Seen by 3 Artists
New York Times, Thursday December 8th 2016
ISIS was hoping to destroy the arch forever, to erase it from the surface of the earth and from our memory. Instead, they made it the best-known piece of ancient architecture in the world. Pictures of it have appeared on television and in countless newspapers and magazines. Thousands of people visited our model arch in London. We’ll be sending our 3-D files all over the world so that other arches can be created.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/opinion/2016-as-seen-by-3-artists.html?_r=1
Has Nimrud Survived Brutal IS Occupation?
BBC World Service, Monday November 14th 2016
BBC World Service, Monday November 14th 2016
Iraqi government forces say they've recaptured Nimrud - the site of an ancient city south of Mosul. The historical site was overrun by the so-called Islamic State group two years ago. The old city, once the capital of the Assyrian empire, was reportedly completely destroyed by IS last year, an act condemned by the UN as a war crime.
However, The Institute of Digital Archaeology says all may not be lost. The Institute's founder, Roger Michael, explains why the site is so special and why there may be reason for hope.
Here the full recording HERE
‘If They Knock It Down, We Will Rebuild It’: Palmyra Redux
Pacific Standard, Thursday December 1st 2016
The accelerating proliferation of these digital archaeology initiatives is at once encouraging in its promise and, occasionally, troubling in its execution. On the one hand, reclamatory technology holds out the possibility of a world where no aspect of the past will ever truly be lost, like having the Cloud, but for the world’s artistic and architectural heritage. With 3-D scanning and printing, if a site is bombed, it can simply be printed in marble once the fighting is over. That is exactly what the IDA hopes to do in Palmyra, once the situation there has calmed down and funding is in place, though they face competition from a number of other international and Syrian agencies.
https://psmag.com/if-they-knock-it-down-we-will-rebuild-it-palmyra-redux-7576071c2d3c#.zf0bxsyzd
The Institute for Digital Archaeology
Screenshot, Sunday December 4th 2016
In the overarching ethos of the IDA, the notions of authenticity and millimetric accuracy – so precious for classical archaeology - have been prevailed by reversible interventions, whose possible imperfections do not interfere with the message they aim to carry on. The IDA’s ad hoc reproductions do not modify the landscape permanently or aggressively, but instead, attempt to re-establish a lost tangible memory, one that can be reshaped and adapted along the years and avoids dictating a certain historical narrative.
http://screenshot-magazine.com/#projects/jul-dec-16/november/the-institute-for-digital-archaeology
Present, Past and the In Between
Screenshot, Sunday 4th December 2016
The general agenda when considering the rejuvenation of a war torn area is how to rebuild its infrastructure, how to ignite a stream of funds back into its school systems and hospitals - for obvious reasons indeed. But another perhaps seemingly less urgent measure is to rebuild, restore or even rethink the rubble of its important sites of cultural heritage. Attacking structures of community and national value is a strategy used by fighters for decades, marching head first towards collective places of value, meaning and where their destruction is a method to ensure a lasting air of war long after it has ceased. It is with this precise timely affect that the Institute for Digital Archaeology approach the communities they aid to heal.
The Victoria & Albert Museum grapples with art, architecture, and authenticity at the Venice Biennale
AN Review, Friday 23rd September 2016
andrea avezzu
A World of Fragile Parts doesn’t just cover this passage of history: Cormier has sampled modern reproductions too. Part of the remade Palmyra arch can be found in the exhibition. The arch was fabricated with precise stone-cutting tools and information from a 3D model built using photographs of the original. In this example, and indeed many others, a sense of urgency is installed throughout the exhibition. “Despite best efforts to preserve originals, there will always be a level of uncertainty—the potential damage of violent attacks, environmental disasters, and accidents—that put our material culture at risk,” said Cormier. “Compiling a vast database of digital backups, which then can be reconstituted physically, offers an immense opportunity.”
http://archpaper.com/2016/09/a-world-of-fragile-parts-venice-biennale/
ISIL-Destroyed Building Resurrected With 3D Printing
Urban Developer, Tuesday 11th October 2016
photo credit simon haisell
Specifically, in conjunction with UNESCO, engineering specialists at Oxford University and Harvard University, the IDA captures millions of 3D images of threatened objects throughout the world through volunteers armed with 3D cameras, specifically within conflict zones, captured by ordinary people living in these zones who are passionate about preserving structures and architecture.
https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/isis-destroyed-building-recreated-3d-printing/
Replica of lost ancient ruin to grace New York
Timeout, Tuesday 16th August 2016
Move over Temple of Dendur: You'll soon have competition for status of most selfie-ready, ancient ruin in New York. On September 19th, the Institute for Digital Archaeology will be bringing a full-scale replica of Arch of Palmyra to Gotham at a yet-to-be announced location. The original version of this fine example of Roman-era monumental architecture was wantonly destroyed last year by ISIS in the Syrian city from which it got its name.
https://www.timeout.com/newyork/blog/replica-of-lost-ancient-ruin-to-grace-new-york-081616
3D Imaging Is Helping Us Save History for the Future
Futurism, Monday 8th August 2016
In a recent interview, Alexy Karenowska, who is the Director of Technology at The Institute for Digital Archaeology and a research fellow at Magdalen College, noted the increasing violence that is perpetrated against sites that are of important historical and cultural significance. “There is an increasing awareness in the archaeological and cultural heritage community of the dangers of various programs of systematic cultural cleansing, which we are seeing executed by various malicious and terrorist organizations across the world,” Karenowska asserts.
And in an attempt to preserve these artifacts, Karenowska and her team are turning to a rather unlikely savior: 3D imaging.
http://futurism.com/3d-imaging-is-helping-us-save-history-for-the-future/
The Technology That Will Resurrect ISIS-Destroyed Antiquities
PBS Nova Next, Thursday 9th June 2016
IMage #3dpalmyra
In fact, satellite photography is revealing a shocking picture of the ongoing, systematic destruction of churches, mosques, antiquities, and museums throughout Syria and parts of Iraq and threats to heritage sites elsewhere in the Middle East. But that hasn’t stopped courageous local archaeologists and citizens from risking their lives to combat the devastation, aided by specialists outside the war zone who are deploying satellite and 3D imaging to help monitor, record, and replicate ancient sites.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/ancient/digital-preservation-syria/
The Printer Masters
Centurion Magazine, June 2016
Simultaneously great disruptor and gimmicky hobbyist toy, 3D-printing is an indisputable creative outlet. We look at projects both grounded and flighty, that make use of the technology.
https://centurion-magazine.com/crafting-excellence/art-of-design/3d-printing-concepts
Palmyra Arch lives again (again)
Ribaj, Thursday May 26th 2016
At the heart of the World of Fragile Parts exhibition at this year’s Venice Biennale sits a doppelganger once removed. It is a chunk of yellow, Egyptian marble; the top of an arch that has been carved with floral motifs. It is an echo of an echo, a copy of a copy of the destroyed victory arch from Palmyra. The original arch was constructed around two centuries after the death of Christ in modern-day Syria partially to commemorate the might of the Roman Empire but also as an integral part of an architectural set-piece which reconciled a kink in the main colonnade as it ran in the direction of the Temple of Bel.
Erasing Isis: how 3D technology now lets us copy and rebuild entire cities
The Guardian, Friday May 27th 2016
Boris Johnson called it giving “two fingers to Daesh”, but this remarkable new capability – to rebuild exact copies of urban structures – goes much further. From Palmyra to the Iraqi city of Mosul and the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, new technologies in digital copying and 3D building are allowing us to bring back not just monuments, but entire cities from the rubble.
Fake it till you remake it: the lost masterpieces that are returning — digitally
The Times, Friday May 27th 2016
That advances in 3D photography and scanning, digital modeling and 3D fabrication techniques might bring back one of the world’s greatest historic monuments does much to illustrate what these technologies can do partially to alleviate the material devastation caused by terrorist action.
Now A World of Fragile Parts, a new exhibition organised by the V&A, suggests still more possibilities.
A Look Back at the Future: This Week in Tech — April 23, 2016
Voice of America, Saturday April 23rd 2016
The 11-ton arch was re-created by students at the Institute of Digital Archaeology. The team used photographs to map the arch in exquisite detail on a smaller scale and then rebuilt it life size using a 3-D printer.
The printer didn't reprint a pristine version of the arch; the model includes all the chips and age lines of the arch as it existed in 2015, making the model an exact replica of the one that was destroyed — flawed by nature and time, but not people.
http://www.voanews.com/content/looking-back-to-the-future/3298524.html
Reconstruction of Palmyra’s Arch of Triumph to Travel the World
Architectural Record, Friday April 22nd 2016
"Blowing things up is a kind of censorship. It's like burning books - it's detracting from the marketplace of ideas," says Roger L. Mchel, founder of the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA), an organization that leverages technology to document and recreate cultural artifacts. "No one person, no one group should make the decision for another what their history is going to be," he says.
Palmyra Arch Replica is Unveiled in Trafalgar Square in London
The New York Times, Tuesday April 19th 2016
LONDON — A landmark Roman arch that was destroyed by Islamic State fighters in Palmyra, Syria, stood proudly once again on Tuesday, this time as a replica built from digital models that was installed in Trafalgar Square in London.
Umstrittene „Rückkehr“ des zerstörten Triumphbogens
Welt, Wednesday April 20th 2016
In London wurde eine Replik des Triumphbogens von Palmyra aufgebaut. Bald soll er nach Syrien „zurückkehren“. Aber darf man Geschichte einfach so zurückdrehen und zerstörte Kunst rekonstruieren?
https://www.welt.de/
Palmyra's ancient Triumphal Arch resurrected in London's Trafalgar Square (Video)
CNN, Tuesday April 19th 2016
The scale model of Palmyra's Triumphal Arch, which was destroyed in an act captured on an ISIS video, has been reconstructed using 3-D printing technology and photographs of the original. The new structure was built in Italy using Egyptian marble before being shipped to London.
It was constructed by experts from Oxford's Institute of Digital Archeology (IDA) as an act of solidarity with Syria to raise awareness of the fight to safeguard its ancient treasures.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/19/architecture/palmyra-triumphal-arch-replica-london/index.html
Palmyra's Triumphal Arch Recreated in Trafalgar Square
CBC News, Tuesday April 19th 2016
The original 1,800-year-old arch was destroyed by ISIS in October, during their ten-month siege of Palmyra which ended in March.
More yellow in hue than the original, the reconstruction is made from Egyptian marble and cost £100,000 to make. It was created using the Institute of Digital Technology's Million Images Database, a collection of 3D photographs submitted by volunteers to provide a blueprint for the replica arch.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/palmyra-in-london-trafalgar-square-1.3544171
Ghost of Palmyra's Arch Rises in trafalgar Square
Financial Times, Tuesday April 16th 2016
Replica of Palmyra Arch Unveiled in London
Newsweek, Tuesday April 19th 2016
Created by the Institute of Digital Archaeology (IDA) using 3D technology, the model was based on photographs of the original arch’s positioning in Palmyra, northeast of the Syrian capital, Damascus. Syria's director-general of antiquities and museums , Maamoun Abdulkarim said it was an "action of solidarity," BBC News reports.
Following its display in Trafalgar Square for three days, the model be transported to other big cities around the world, including New York’s Time Square in September. Next year, it will be unveiled in Palmyra where it will permanently remain.
http://www.newsweek.com/replica-palmyra-arch-unveiled-london-449513?rx=us
Replica heads for Palmyra after Trafalgar Square
The Times, March 30th 2016
A replica of Palmyra’s 2,000-year-old Arch of Triumph will be sent to Syria after being displayed in Trafalgar Square next month.
Experts from Oxford and Harvard universities and the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) are building the copy using 3D images produced from photographs of the monument, which Islamic State blew up in October.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/replica-arch-heads-for-palmyra-after-trafalgar-square-5bm7695vh
London’s new marble arch
Mike Pitts, Wednesday 20th April 2016
In any event, international solidarity has to be good. It was also good to see the mayor of London (as he does) talk up ancient civilisations and multiculturalism. “Monuments,” said Boris Johnson, “as embodiments of history, religion, art and science, are significant and complex repositories of cultural narratives” (take that Justin Trudeau and your quantum computing!). People in Trafalgar Square cheered when he raised “two digits” to IS (or Daesh as he calls it). Perhaps IS also cheered in their own way; they like publicity. Roger Michel, IDA’s founder and executive director, seemed to have enough confidence and charisma to match Johnson’s, and came across as enthusiastic and sincere. Good luck to them. Heritage needs champions.
Why Should we Stand by and Watch our Heritage Crumble?
The Guardian, Wednesday 13th April 2016
Monuments, as embodiments of history, religion, art and science, are significant and complex repositories of cultural narratives. No one should consider for one second giving terrorists the power to delete such objects from our collective cultural record. When history is erased in this fashion, it must be promptly (and, of course, thoughtfully) restored. Such reconstructions, at least in the context of terrorist acts, vindicate an infinitely more important value than any misguided obsession with the romance of ruins.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/12/why-should-we-stand-by-and-watch-our-heritage-crumble
Why the Arch of Triumph of Palmyra is Being Recreated in London - 1,800 years after it was built
The Telegraph, Friday 8th April 2016
We watch mesmerised as the robotic arm beavers away, the drill bit on the end painstakingly incising the precise lineaments of a 1,800-year-old monument that was blown up last October.
The monument in question is the Arch of Triumph of Palmyra, destroyed by Isil forces as they spread across Syria in the summer of 2015.
For the past two months, in a mountain workshop right next to where Michelangelo quarried a block of finest-quality white marble for his David, a new arch has been rising, and the week after next, in a culminating flight of fancy, it will touch down in Trafalgar Square.
'Disneyland' and the Restoration of Palmyra
The Times, Thursday 7th April 2016
Sir, I agree wholeheartedly that any plan for the reconstruction of Palmyra must be thoughtfully conceived and carefully executed (“Plea not to create a Disneyland of relics”, Apr 6). At the same time, I am mindful of how, in the Bamiyan valley in Afghanistan, initial delay translated into decades of dispute and inaction. Right now, we are in a golden bubble of international solidarity around support for reversing the terrorists’ efforts to rewrite history in Palmyra.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/disneyland-and-the-restoration-of-palmyra-6wfrnv9p8
Hope for Palmyra's Future
The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday 5th April 2016
The Institute for Digital Archaeology hopes 3-D models of Palmyra’s sites will result in their detailed reconstruction led by Syrians. The Unesco partner uses photos from its Million Image Database at Harvard University to provide a 360-degree view of the object and create a computer model, said technology director Alexy Karenowska. Stone can also be carved using the 3-D model, as in the replica of Palmyra’s Arch of Triumph the organization will display in London’s Trafalgar Square this month; an installation is also planned for New York’s Times Square this fall.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/hope-for-palmyras-future-1459807486
Weekend Edition Saturday
NPR, Saturday 2nd April 2016
Upon reclaiming Palmyra, the controversial side of digital reconstruction
Listen here: http://www.npr.org
Palmyra Triumphal Arch Comes to Life in 3D Printed Display
Voice of America, Friday 1st April 2016
“As soon as our teams are given access to the Palmyra site, our first step will be to consult with local stakeholders to learn of their priorities,” Roger Michel, IDA’s founder and Executive Director, said in an email.
The team will then build a large-scale 3-D printing grid near the site of the reconstruction.
“This will dramatically reduce cost and allow local stakeholders to participate in the building process,” he said. “After rough-printing the reconstruction, the next step is to provide surface finishes that match the appearance and texture of the original objects or architecture.”
Replica Heads for Palmyra after Trafalgar Square
The Times, Wednesday 30th March 2016
A replica of Palmyra’s 2,000-year-old Arch of Triumph will be sent to Syria after being displayed in Trafalgar Square next month.
Experts from Oxford and Harvard universities and the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) are building the copy using 3D images produced from photographs of the monument, which Islamic State blew up in October.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/replica-arch-heads-for-palmyra-after-trafalgar-square-5bm7695vh
If All Else Fails, 3D Models and Robots Might Rebuild Sites
The New York Times, Monday 28th March 2016
“Every time we resurrect from the rubble one of these monuments, it undercuts the message of fear and ignorance that these people are trying to spread,” he said. “If they knock it down, we will rebuild it. If they knock it down again, we will rebuild it again.”
The Romans built the original triumphal arch in the second century to celebrate a victory over the Persians.
The reproduction was created from a 3D computer model generated from dozens of photographs of the arch taken by archaeologists, tourists and other visitors to Palmyra before the Islamic State captured the city.
British Archaeologists should Rebuild Palmyra, says Boris Johnson
The Guardian, Sunday 27th March 2016
Britain should send top archaeologists to help restore the ancient city of Palmyra after Vladimir Putin’s drive to liberate it from Islamic State exposed the west’s “ineffective” response to the Syria crisis, Boris Johnson has said.
The London mayor said the Russian president deserved credit for showing “ruthless clarity” in providing Bashar al-Assad’s regime with military backing, reportedly including troops on the ground.
Life Among the Ruins
The New York Times, Saturday 19th March 2016
NEXT month, the Temple of Baal will come to Times Square. Reproductions of the 50-foot arch that formed the temple’s entrance are to be installed in New York and in London, a tribute to the 2,000-year-old structure that the Islamic Statedestroyed last year in the Syrian town of Palmyra. The group’s rampage through Palmyra, a city that reached its peak in the second and third century A.D., enraged the world, spurring scholars and conservationists into action. Numerous nongovernmental organizations are now cataloging and mapping damaged cultural heritage sites in the region.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/opinion/sunday/life-among-the-ruins.html?_r=1&referer=
Technology can Defeat the Wreckers of Isis
The Times, Friday March 18th 2016
What the vandals did not realise was that those images, and others contributed by individuals around the world, would be used to carry out the digital reconstruction of these priceless artefacts. In the act of obliteration lay the seeds of renewal, thanks to a combination of new technology, crowdsourcing and hundreds of ordinary photographs.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/article4715942.ece
Syria's Shattered Relics are Rebuilt
The Times, Wednesday 16th March 2016
Archaeologists have completed the first 3D reconstructions of some of Syria’s greatest relics after an unprecedented international effort led by Oxford and Harvard universities to preserve the country’s threatened heritage.
Sites including the great Crusader castle at Krak des Chevaliers and the Umayyad mosque in Damascus — the fourth holiest place in Islam — have been mapped using 3D digital cameras to build complete computer models of the buildings. The first images were put online yesterday.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article4714106.ece
3D Images of Syria Archaeological Treasures go Online
Phys.org, Monday 14th March 2016
The Million Images Database hopes be fully online by the end of the year and will display life-size replicas of Palmyra's destroyed triumphal arch in New York's Times Square and London's Trafalgar Square in April.
The replicas of the arch, blown up by IS jihadists in October, are being made with the world's largest 3D printer.
France's culture minister had earlier floated the idea of a 3D recreation of the ancient city, known as the "Pearl of the Desert", based on photos taken by tourists over the years.
http://phys.org/news/2016-03-3d-images-syria-archaeological-treasures.html
The Heroic Effort to Digitally Reconstruct Lost Monuments
Smithsonian Magazine, March 2016
They’re among a growing number of digitally savvy academics, artists and preservationists worldwide who are turning to computer imaging in response to the terrorists’ campaign to obliterate history. One Iranian-born artist, Morehshin Allahyari, who now lives in San Francisco, has 3-D-printed miniature, translucent versions of destroyed artworks from the ancient cities of Nineveh and Hatra, and has embedded a flash drive containing images, video and text about the work in each replica. Her work was most recently displayed at the Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery in Manhattan, in an exhibition called “The Missing: Rebuilding the Past,” featuring eight artists’ responses to acts of historical destruction. Next month, the Institute for Digital Archaeology, a project from Harvard, Oxford and the Museum of the Future in Dubai, plans to fabricate full-scale copies of the arch at Palmyra’s Temple of Bel and place the 3-D-printed structures in Trafalgar Square and Times Square during Unesco’s Heritage Week.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/heroic-effort-digitally-reconstruct-lost-monuments-180958098/?no-ist
Trafalgar Square will soon be home to a replica of an ancient Syrian arch
Timeout London, Tuesday 5th January 2016
In May, Islamic State militants captured the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria, ransacking the area and demolishing sites they described as symbols of 'idolatry'. All the group left behind was a 2,000-year-old arch from the Temple of Bel.
Now, the arch is being recreated using 3D printing as part of a project to emphasise the importance of preserving cultural sites in war-torn countries. The copy of the monument will stand in Trafalgar Square during World Heritage Week in April. It will be joined by an identical arch in New York's Times Square.
The replica arches are the work the Institute of Digital Archaeology – a collaborative project from Harvard and Oxford Universities as well as Dubai's Museum of the Future. Alexy Karenowska from the Institute explains: 'People say, "should we be worrying about this stuff when human lives are being lost?" Of course all of this stuff takes second place to human life, but these cultural objects are very important to give a sense of place and community.'
Greece vs. Rome with Boris Johnson and Mary Beard
Intelligence2, Thursday 19th November 2015
Newsweek: The New Monument Men
Newsweek, Wednesday 11th November 2015
How 3D printers can help undo the destruction of ISIS
Washington Post, 7th January 2016
The plan to install 3D-printed replicas of the arch in New York and London is all part of a broader initiative by the Institute for Digital Archaeology and UNESCO known as the Million Image Database to preserve and restore some of the world’s most important landmarks. When it’s complete, the Million Image Database will hold exactly that – 1 million images of important architectural landmarks and structures throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
The struggle to save the Middle East's cultural heritage
Nature, Friday 8th January 2016
Researchers are more optimistic, however, about their ability to reduce damage caused by the more commonplace looting and illegal or poorly planned construction. Multiple analyses of satellite images that document archaeological sites over time suggest that more sites are destroyed by looting and construction than by the attacks that have become a regular feature of ISIS propaganda videos. And it is not just sites in Syria and Iraq that are vulnerable: looting of archaeological treasures is widespread in countries such as Yemen, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.
http://www.nature.com/news/the-struggle-to-save-the-middle-east-s-cultural-treasures-1.19131
Replicas of a Temple Nearly Destroyed by ISIS are Coming to New York and London
Smithsonian Magazine, Wednesday 30th December 2015
Soon both Times Square and Trafalgar Square will feature replicas of the 50-foot-tall archway marking the entrance to Palmyra’s Temple of Bel. The structure was built around 2,000 years ago as a temple to a Mesopotamian god but was used as a Christian church and an Islamic mosque, Brian Boucher writes for artnet News. While satellite images taken in September revealed that the militants had destroyed most of the ancient temple, recent reports suggest that other parts of the site, including the archway, sustained damage but still somehow managed to remain mostly intact.
“[The reconstruction] is really a political statement, a call to action, to draw attention to what is happening in Syria and Iraq and now Libya,” Roger Michel, executive director of the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) tells Gayle. “We are saying to them ‘if you destroy something we can rebuild it again’”
Palmyra arch that survived Isis to be replicated in London and New York
The Guardian, Tuesday 29th December 2015
Building a copy of the temple entrance has been proposed by the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA), a joint venture between Harvard University, the University of Oxford and Dubai’s Museum of the Future that promotes the use of digital imaging and 3D printing in archaeology and conservation.
In collaboration with Unesco, the institute began distributing 3D cameras to volunteer photographers earlier this year to capture images of threatened objects in conflict zones throughout the Middle East and north Africa.
Replica of Syrian arch of Palmyra that survived Isis attack to be erected in Trafalgar Square and New York
The Independent, Tuesday 29th December 2015
"The aim of our proposed installaton is to draw attention to the global crisis surrounding the looting and despoliation of cultural heritage objects and architecture and the importance of celebrating the beauty and significance of these objects to the everyday lives of modern people" Dr. Alexy Karenowska, Director of Technology at the Institute for Digital Archaeology, told The Independent.
Palmyra arch from Syrian heritage site to be recreated in London's Trafalgar Square
BBC News, Tuesday 29th December 2015
Alexy Karenowska, from the Institute of Digital Archaeology, which is behind the project, said she hoped it would help people understand how important it was to preserve cultural sites in war-torn countries such as Syria.
She said: "People say, 'should we be worrying about this stuff when human lives are being lost?'
"Of course all of this stuff takes second place to human life, but these cultural objects are very important to give a sense of place and community."
The famous 15m (50ft) arch will also illustrate Britain and Syria's shared heritage, with the Greco-Roman architecture of Palmyra echoed by the neoclassical buildings of the National Gallery and Nelson's Column.
New York and London Replicate the Palmyra Monument that Survived Islamic State
Vice News, Tuesday 29th December 2015
In September, UNESCO, the United Nations' culture organization, released satellite images showing that IS used explosives to destroy the Temple of Bel, which dates back to 32 AD. Now the world heritage organization is working with the Institute for Digital Archaeology or IDA— a joint venture between Harvard and Oxford Universities and Dubai's Museum of the Future — to replicate the site's entry arch for display in London's Trafalgar Square and New York's Times Square.
The venture will use digital imaging and 3D printing to create off-site individual parts, which will then be assembled in the two popular tourist destinations.
Using Laser Scanners to Preserve Antiquities in ISIS' Crosshairs
The New York Times, Sunday 27th December 2015
Its director of technology, Alexy Karenowska, a physicist at Oxford University, said that the institute was supplying volunteers with 5,000 lightweight 3-D cameras — they are less precise but more discreet and easier to maintain than laser scanners — to document at-risk cultural sites throughout the Middle East and North Africa. In April, at Trafalgar Square in London, it will install a temporary full-scale replica of the Arch of the Temple of Baal in Palmyra based on its 3-D digital model. The arch’s current status is uncertain, although much of the temple appears to have been destroyed.
“Of course, a reproduction is only a reproduction, not the original object,” Dr. Karenowska said. “It can only ever be second best, but if we are in a situation where it is all that we have, I do think we should embrace the possibility of having that.”
Palmyra's Last Stand in Trafalgar Square
The Times, Monday 28th December 2015
The 15m-high structure, which stood at the temple’s entrance, was badly damaged in an explosion but has remained standing, for now. The full-size replica will be a symbol of defiance in the face of attempts to erase the Middle East’s pre-Islamic history.
The arch is being created in sections in Shanghai and will be shipped to Italy for finishing before being erected like a giant Lego set in the shadow of Nelson’s Column. Simultaneously there are plans for identical arches in Times Square, New York. The Palmyra arch is due to be on display during World Heritage Week in April.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/visualarts/architecture/article4650820.ece
The World This Weekend: Libya's New Monuments Men
BBC Radio 4, Sunday 20th December 2015
Hear the whole piece here
Digital Innovation of the Year: Apollo Awards 2015
Apollo Magazine, Monday 23rd November 2015
The world has lost some irreplaceable cultural treasures this year, most distressingly at the hands of militants in Syria and Iraq. While international organisations struggle to protect the region’s surviving heritage, the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) and its partners have opened up another front – digital preservation and, in some cases, reconstruction.
The Million Image Database is a collaborative international project that aims to compile as complete a photographic record as possible of endangered sites and artefacts in the Middle East. Thousands of specially adapted cameras are being shipped from the IDA’s Oxford base to regional volunteers, whose photographs are uploaded to an online database. This material will be processed to produce virtual, navigable 3D-renderings of the original objects. From spring next year, the evolving digital catalogue will be released as an open-access hub.
Future Museum to Preserve Ancient Sites
Gulf News, Wednesday 28th October 2015
Dubai: The Dubai Museum of the Future Foundation will play a vital role in a joint global project to document ancient heritage monuments across the region by taking up to one million digital images of the sites using three-dimensional imaging technology.
The project will be carried out under the supervision of a group of archaeologists from Harvard University and the University of Oxford in cooperation with Unesco.
The foundation said it will build an electronic platform to manage the massive database of archaeological images. It will also distribute 5,000 three-dimensional cameras to partners and volunteers to photograph the heritage sites in the region. Images collected from volunteers and partners will be indexed and kept ready for the 3D printing phase of the project
Dubai’s Museum of the Future announced the partnership on Wednesday with Unesco and the UK-based Institute for Digital Archaeology (Ida).
http://m.gulfnews.com/news/uae/culture/future-museum-to-preserve-ancient-sites-1.1609093
Islamic State: how to save Syria’s antiquities
Prospect Magazine, Friday 11th September 2015
Archaeologist Roger Michel is sprinting.
He is in a race against the Islamic State (IS), to preserve as many relics as he can which lie in the militants’ onward march—even if this is only their shapes and memory, using digital 3D cameras.
Indiana Jones may have exchanged his bull-whip for high technology, but this time, his enemies are waging war on the past. As Mr Michel tells me just before an air hostess makes him put away his mobile: “if we don’t act now, it will all soon be gone forever.”
http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/islamic-state-how-to-save-syrias-antiquities
High-tech plan to save ancient sites from Isis
The Times, Friday 28th August 2015
A team of digital-age “monuments men” are to launch an unprecedented fightback against the destruction of ancient sites in the Middle East by Islamic State.
Archaeologists at Oxford and Harvard will flood the region with 3D cameras in a plan to create a full digital record of every threatened artefact.
“Palmyra is rapidly becoming the symbol of Isis’s cultural iconoclasm,” Roger Michel, the institute’s director, said. “If Isis is permitted to wipe the slate clean and rewrite the history of a region that defined global aesthetic and political sensibilities, we will collectively suffer a costly and irreversible defeat.
“But there is hope. By placing the record of our past in the digital realm, it will lie for ever beyond the reach of vandals and terrorists.”
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article4540560.ece
Racing Agains the Militant Threat to Document Syria's Heritage
The New York Times, Thursday 24th September 2015
BEIRUT — Scientists are slipping 3-D cameras into Syria to local activists and residents to scan antiquities. A U.S.-funded project aims to provide local conservators with resources to help safeguard relics. Inside Syria, volunteers scramble to document damage to monuments and confirm what remains.
"I don't want to be having this conversation with somebody three years down the road, and they say, 'Gee why didn't you start in 2015 when they (IS) only controlled three percent of sites'," said Roger Michel, whose Million Image Database, an Oxford Institute of Digital Archaeology project, began distributing hundreds of 3-D cameras around the region to activists.
The Digital Race Against ISIS
BBC Today, Friday 28th August 2015
"All we can hope to do is create a permanent record" - Roger Michel
Hear the full interview here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p030ys68?p_f_added=urn%3Abbc%3Aradio%3Aprogramme%3Ap030ys68
Memories of Things Unseen
NYT Magazine, Wednesday 14th October 2015
The Institute for Digital Archaeology, a joint project of Harvard and Oxford Universities, uses sophisticated imaging techniques to aid conservation, epigraphy, archaeology and art history. One of the institute’s current efforts, the Million Image Database Project, involves photographing artifacts that are at risk of being destroyed for military or religious reasons, a bleak necessity in a world in which the beauty or importance of an object does not guarantee its safety. The goal of the project is to distribute up to 5,000 modified cameras, to professionals and to amateurs, and use them to capture a million 3-D images by the end of 2015. Already, more than a thousand cameras have been distributed, and the 3-D data from them are being received (though the directors of the project, to protect their associates on the ground, are leaving a lag of several months before they make the images publicly available). In the event of some of the objects being destroyed, the detailed visual record could be enough to facilitate a reconstruction. Photography is used to ward off total oblivion, the way that the photographs of Courbet’s ‘‘The Stone Breakers’’ and van Gogh’s ‘‘The Painter on the Road to Tarascon’’ accidentally made the lost paintings visible to future generations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/magazine/memories-of-things-unseen
Alexy Karenowska on BBC South Today
BBC South Today, Friday 25th September 2015
Indiana Jones with a 3-D camera? Hi-tech fight to save antiquities from ISIS
CNN, Friday 28th August 2015
A new hi-tech front has opened in the battle to save priceless ancient monuments under threat from ISIS.
A team of archaeologists has come up with a cheap 3-D digital camera that can capture a record of buildings and artifacts -- and they are sending thousands into hot spots in the Middle East and beyond.
They are enlisting the help of locals who live near monuments to snap the images, which could allow them to build replicas if they were destroyed.
"People in Syria have exactly the same cultural history as we do in New York and Boston," says Roger Michel, executive director of The Institute for Digital Archaeology, a joint venture between Harvard and Oxford Universities, which has come up with the project, "and if that gets wiped out by the sands of the desert, that's going to be a significant thing."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/28/middleeast/3d-mapping-ancient-monuments/index.html
As ISIS destroys ancient sites, experts race to digitally preserve others
SCPR, Friday 4th September 2015
Hear the full interview here: http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2015/09/04/44366/as-isis-destroys-ancient-sites-experts-race-to-dig/?slide=1
Can 3-d Imaging Save Ancient Art from ISIS?
NY Observer, Tuesday 1st September 2015
With few ways to combat ISIS’ direct targeting of cultural sites, without putting museum officials and antiquities experts in danger, (Syrian scholar Dr. Khaled al-Asaad was killed in Palmyra in August), Oxford’s Institute of Digital Archaeology is now pursuing a way to archive such places, using high-tech, 3-D cameras. The Institute, lead by Harvard University and The Classics Conclave, a private foundation, is researching digital imaging techniques for archaeology and conservation, with the goal of compiling one million 3-D images of at-risk cultural heritage sites and objects by the end of 2016 using modified 3-D cameras distributed to volunteers from NGOs, museums, government organizations across Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Iran, and Yemen.
http://observer.com/2015/09/can-3-d-imaging-save-ancient-art-from-isis/
How England's Institute Of Digital Archeology Will Preserve The Art Isis Wants to Destroy
Forbes Magazine, Monday 31 August 2015
Lots of good can come of that–massive 3-D print-rcconstructions of destroyed iconic sculpture and architecture spring to mind, for which MIT has partnered with the Institute to do. But right now, or in a couple of months as the cameras are hardened for the battlefield and the actual work of the data-gathering gets underway, Dr. Michel and his colleagues will run a fraught race. Because, in the unforgiving vocabulary of war, the noble world-heritage preservation project requires people on the ground.
Dr. Michel’s race against time matters to everybody on the planet, and, the glad news is that it isn’t just restricted to Syria and Iraq–it’s region-wide, encompassing Lebanon, Turkey, Iran, and Yemen, most of which have their own arenas of conflict and thus pose their own dangers.
New Digital Archaeology Effort Attempts to Capture Cultural Heritage Before It's Gone
Hyperallergic, Friday 4th September 2015
As ISIS and other groups continue to destroy important heritage sites and ancient artifacts, archaeologists and other onlookers continue to scramble to find ways to counter the destruction. The latest effort comes from an organization called the Institute for Digital Archaeology, which will distribute some 10,000 3D cameras in West Asia over the next year, in the hopes of documenting archaeological sites and objects before they’re gone, the Daily Beast reports.
As Islamic State Destroys Antiquities, a rush to get 3-D images of what's left
The LA Times, Wednesday 2nd September 2015
The digital preservation project was conceived late last year and got off the ground about six weeks ago. Its price tag is about $2 million.
Support has been strong, the researchers said, and they expressed confidence that it could work.
"We've had so many people step forward and offer to help," Michel said, but he cautioned that time may be short. "We want to do something to document this legacy before it disappears."
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-antiquities-3d-preservation-20150901-htmlstory.html
Tecnología 3D para salvar el patrimonio amenazado por el IS
El Mundo, Saturday 29th August 2015
"Es nuestra manera de luchar contra el IS (Estado Islámico, por sus siglas en inglés) y reconocer que la Historia de Oriente Próximo es también la de Occidente. Si uno observa los edificios clásicos de las grandes capitales europeas se da cuenta de que no son muy diferentes a los templos de Palmira. Fueron su fuente de inspiración", explica a EL MUNDO Roger Michel, director del Instituto para la Arqueología Digital -participado por la Universidad estadounidense de Harvard- y adalid de esta singular iniciativa.
http://www.elmundo.es/ciencia/2015/08/29/55e0b580ca4741b06e8b4597.html
Modern-day Monuments Men take on Isis by 3D-mapping ancient sites militants are seeking to destroy
The Independent, Friday 28th August 2015
“It will include GPS data and dates,” Mr Michel said. “If someone is selling an object and says it was obtained in Syria in the 1930s we will know that was not the case because in 2015 it was at longitude X and latitude Y.”
Alexy Karenowska, a physicist at Magdalen College, Oxford, worked on the design of the cameras, which cost as little as £20.
“We want to do a sweep, as fast and as much as we can, using simple technology for images at multiple angles in a single shot,” she said.
The Million Image Database Project: BBC News World
BBC News World, Friday 28 August 2015
Erin Simmons speaks with BBC News World on the Million Image Database Project.
Archaeologists plan to use 3D imagery to preserve antiquities under threat from Islamic State
The Telegraph, Thursday 27th August 2015
Sophisticated "Monuments Men" initiative could see 20 million images compiled by 2017 to enable replicas to be constructed if artefacts lost.
“If Isil is permitted to wipe the slate clean and rewrite the history of a region that defined global aesthetic and political sensibilities, we will collectively suffer a costly and irreversible defeat,” said Roger Michel, the institute’s director.
Archaeologists' Weapon Against Isis: 5,000 Cameras
Fox News, Friday 4th September 2015
In recent months, the terrorist group has blown up a pair of 2,000-year-old temples in Syria and destroyed Iraq's ancient city of Nimrud. ISIS considers these antiquities idolatry, and destroying them is a major facet of its propaganda, notes Forbes.
To combat the loss of history, the institute—a venture between Harvard and Oxford—is spending $2 million to send at least 5,000 high-tech cameras to volunteers in the region to take millions of photos, the Telegraph reports.
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/09/04/archaeologists-weapon-against-isis-5000-cameras/
Protecting History: The Digital Project Preserving Artifacts from ISIL Ruin
Sputnik International, Wednesday 2nd September 2015
"The attack on these artifacts is systematic. It is an attempt to simply wipe out an aspect of not just western culture, but the breadbasket of the world where humanity first domesticated crops and built the earliest civilizations, and this is an attempt to destroy that history," Ms Simmons said.
"Unfortunately, it is just a case of out of sight, out of mind — a lot of history can be forgotten if we're not reminded of it, and these artifacts are the embodiment of a universal, shared history, and I think what we're fighting for is to preserve that and preserve it in the minds of people."
"The ultimate goal […] is creating awareness, building up the database, letting people know that they have access to it — not just academics and researchers, but anyone…"
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20150902/1026494356/Middle-East-ruins-digital-preservation.html
Before and after images show the destruction of Palmyra’s treasured temple
Washington Post, Friday 28th September
Meanwhile, scientists from Oxford and Harvard have announced plans to install about 5,000 3-D cameras in war zones so that artifacts and historic buildings can be re-created if they are destroyed. The idea, which is being pursued under the name "The Million Image Database Project," was born out of the destruction of the Baal Shamin temple.
Digitale 'Monuments men' openen 3D-front tegen IS
De Morgen, Friday 28th August 2015
Tijdens WO II trachtten de Amerikaanse Monuments men kunstschatten uit de klauwen van de nazi's te redden. Nu proberen Britse en Amerikaanse oudheidkundigen erfgoed in het Midden-Oosten te beschermen tegen IS-barbarij. Al is het dan digitaal.
http://www.demorgen.be/technologie/digitale-monuments-men-openen-3d-front-tegen-is-a2438980/
La 3D au secours des tresors archaeologiques menaces par Daech
Le Figaro, Friday 28th August 2015
Le projet est ambitieux. Dans la lettre de l'Institut d'archéologie numérique situé à Oxford à l'origine du projet, l'équipe explique aspirer à «survoler tout le Moyen-Orient avec des milliers de caméras 3D à bas coût en recrutant des partenaires locaux pour filmer le plus grand nombre d'objets d'importance historique». L'objectif? Réunir près de 20 millions d'images avant la fin de l'année 2017.
Can We Digitize History Before ISIS Destroys it?
The Daily Beast, Wednesday 2nd September 2015
“Digital archaeology, in my view, is the best hope that we have for preserving the architecture, the art history, of these sites,” Roger Michel, the Institute for Digital Archaeology’s executive director, told the BBC.
The institute has spent five years developing the project, but is now expediting its efforts. Michel told the BBC that the push to record these images is “a race against time.”
The program plans to send out 5,000 cameras by the end of 2015 and 5,000 more next year.
Mit 3D-Drucken gegen das Vergessen
Frankfurter Allgemeine, Friday 4th September 2015
Es gebe, so sagte er dieser Zeitung, auch schon konkretere Pläne dafür, wann und wo diese Reproduktion stattfinden soll. Genaueres möchte er „aus Sicherheitsgründen“ aber noch nicht verraten. Fest steht bisher nur, dass insgesamt fünftausend der von einer chinesischen Firma eigens produzierten Kameras im Jemen, in Libanon, in der Türkei und im Irak sowie in Afghanistan verteilt werden sollen. Für die Organisation dieser Verteilung ist der in Oxford arbeitende Ben Altshuler zuständig, der als „field director“ den Kontakt zurUnesco und zu kleineren Organisationen in den arabischen Staaten hält, deren Mitarbeiter sich, da sie zuweilen in der Nähe wertvoller archäologischer Stätten tätig sind, nun eben auch als Fotografen beschäftigen werden. Auf diese Weise hofft das Oxforder Institut, dem nach eigenen Angaben zwei Millionen Pfund von privaten Stiftern zur Verfügung stehen, bis zum Ende des nächsten Jahres rund zwanzig Millionen Bilder von historisch wertvollen Gebäuden, Palästen und Tempeln, aber auch von kleineren Antiquitäten wie Münzen, Tonwaren und Werkzeugen zu besitzen.
Projeto vai fotografar monumentos ameaçados pelo Estado Islâmico
BemParaná Mundo, 12th September 2015
SÃO PAULO, SP (FOLHAPRESS) - Arqueólogos de Harvard e Oxford uniram forças para tentar preservar monumentos históricos sob ameaça de destruição pelo grupo terrorista Estado Islâmico. É o projeto Million Image Database (Banco de dados de um milhão de imagens), que vai distribuir em zonas de guerra 5 mil câmeras que captam imagens em 3D.
哈佛牛津联手3D打印重建伊拉克受损文物
zol.com.cn, 6th September 2015
【中关村在线办公打印频道原创】资料显示，极端组织“伊斯兰国”（IS）在今年2月26日发布视频披露，“伊斯兰国”武装人员在伊拉克尼尼微省首府摩苏尔市持大锤和电钻毁坏珍贵文物，扬言古代偶像必须被破坏。学者认为，视频内容可靠，文物遭劫“令人心碎”。
Vom IS bedrohte Kunst: Mit 3D-Technik gegen den Terror
Der Spiegel, Sunday 20th September 2015
Die Katastrophe hatte sich angekündigt. Kein Experte zweifelte nach der Einnahme der syrischen Oasenstadt Palmyra am Zerstörungswillen der Dschihadisten - und die Befürchtungen bewahrheiteten sich: Stück für Stück pulverisieren die Terroristen des "Islamischen Staats" dort seit einigen Wochen Prachtbauten aus der Römerzeit. Der riesige Baal-Tempel, die berühmten Grabtürme, etliche wertvolle Statuen, der prachtvolle Baalschamin-Tempel - alles verloren.
Eine "Zerstörung mit Ansage" beklagen Wissenschaftler - doch resigniert haben sie nicht. Weltweit arbeiten Experten derzeit daran, das bedrohte Erbe der Menschheit vor dem Zerstörungswahn von Terroristen zu bewahren. Gelingen soll das mittels hochkomplexer Technik: Artefakte und ganze Bauwerke sollen als 3D-Scans gespeichert werden und so jederzeit reproduzierbar sein. Kultur aus der Konserve, geht das auf?
Remembrance of Things Past
Architectural Digest, November 2015
Racing Against Militant Threat to Document Syria's Heritage
Boston Globe, Saturday 3rd October 2015
"I don’t want to be having this conversation with somebody three years down the road, and they say, ‘Gee why didn’t you start in 2015 when they (the Islamic State) only controlled 3 percent of the sites,’ ’’ said Roger Michel, whose Million Image Database, an Oxford Institute of Digital Archaeology project, began distributing hundreds of 3-D cameras around the region to activists."
Archäologie: Initiative sichert 3-D-Daten von Kunst und Antiken in Kriegsgebieten
Presseportal, Friday 23rd October 2015
Aus diesem Grund hat das von den Universitäten Harvard und Oxford betriebene Institute for digital Archaeology in Absprache mit UNICEF in Krisengebieten 5000 3-D-Kameras an Freiwillige verteilt: Archäologen, Mitarbeiter von Hilfswerken und einfache Bürger sollen antike Kunstwerke und Stätten fotografieren. Die aufgenommenen Bilder sollen automatisch auf einen von der New York University betriebenen Computer hochgeladen werden. "Indem wir unsere Vergangenheit digital speichern, entziehen wir sie dem Zugriff von Vandalen und Terroristen", sagt Michel in ART.
Archaeologists armed with ‘cheap’ 3D cameras hope to rebuild ancient sites razed by Islamic State
The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 28th October 2015
The Telegraph reports experts from Oxford and Harvard universities plan to “take 3D photographs of every artefact under threat” from IS in an attempt to prevent thousands of years of history being lost.
CNN compared the initiative to an Indiana Jones film. The archaeologists, armed with “cheap 3D cameras”, have been sent to thousands of sites under threat.
Roger Michel is the executive director of The Institute for Digital Archaelogy, a joint venture between the two prestigious schools.
“People in Syria have exactly the same cultural history as we do in New York and Boston and if that gets wiped out by the sands of the desert, that’s going to be a significant thing,” he said.
Des archéologues veulent numériser les vestiges du Moyen-Orient menacés par l'Etat islamique
Clubic, Tuesday 30th June 2015
Face à la menace de l'Etat islamique qui détruit progressivement les vestiges archéologiques du Moyen-Orient, des chercheurs tentent de numériser un maximum de données sur ces derniers, notamment à l'aide de caméras 3D.
