INTRODUCTION
March 15, 2011. Fifteen boys were detained and tortured for writing graffiti on a wall in support of the Arab Spring. An act that would start huge demonstrations all over Syria, with the result of thousands of imprisonments and killings commissioned by the regime of Bashar Al-Assad.
This day marked the beginning of the Syrian civil war which has recently reached its eighth year. Eight years of war leading to almost 6 million Syrians fleeing the country and another 6 millions being displaced within the country, leading to the biggest refugee crisis of our time. Destroyed lives, homes, hospitals, schools. Also historic monuments and landmarks have been destroyed or are threatened, making the once much visited heritage sites of Syria a very sensitive reality.
The Syrian case is one of the worldwide examples of a need for digitalization of cultural heritage due to either, or both destruction and diaspora. In this blog post, we will elaborate on the importance of digitizing heritage, with a focus on the ICONEM creating 3D maps of Syrian heritage sites threatened or already destroyed by the war in Syria.
This day marked the beginning of the Syrian civil war which has recently reached its eighth year. Eight years of war leading to almost 6 million Syrians fleeing the country and another 6 millions being displaced within the country, leading to the biggest refugee crisis of our time. Destroyed lives, homes, hospitals, schools. Also historic monuments and landmarks have been destroyed or are threatened, making the once much visited heritage sites of Syria a very sensitive reality.
The Syrian case is one of the worldwide examples of a need for digitalization of cultural heritage due to either, or both destruction and diaspora. In this blog post, we will elaborate on the importance of digitizing heritage, with a focus on the ICONEM creating 3D maps of Syrian heritage sites threatened or already destroyed by the war in Syria.
ICONEM
ICONEM, the founder of the 3D mapping of heritage sites, has the ambition to preserve knowledge of threatened heritage and archaeological sites. They want to offer their public and the scientific community an innovative way of exploring famous world heritage, predominantly sites that have been destroyed, and the possibility for transmission of cultural heritage to future generations. Their team partners up with different organizations as UNESCO, Google and Microsoft to make this happen. They first visit a site and make as many photos and videos of the site to make sure they capture every part of the site. On the basis of that they construct their 3D map and publish it on the website http://iconem.com/ .
THE SYRIAN MAP
Since the conflict in Syria began in 2011, many monuments and archaeological sites have been destroyed by various bombings and fights. A new detailed 3D map, a collaboration with the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM), offers hope for the preservation of these sites. The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, the Temple of Bel and the Antiquities Museum in Palmyra, among others, have been documented in these 3D maps. This 3D mapping project includes sites which have been destroyed recently and are not able to be seen in their original state anymore. One of the many examples is the Temple of Bel, which has been destroyed, but is in the 3D database to admire.
For people in Syria it is of course also important to transmit the cultural heritage of their country to their children and grandchildren and to remember their heritage. Silberman and Purses (2009) write about the use of digital heritage as part of a collective memory and identity, in particular for diasporic communities. They write that "in the absence of the physical landscape, a virtual landscape constructed digitally from both empirical evidence and collected reminiscences can map the community of memory itself." Although in the case of Syrian heritage, reminiscences of the community are not implemented in the process of 3D mapping, the article does highlight the importance of digital preservation of shared heritage for displaced people: "The internet is transformed from a source of practical information that facilitates the move, to a source of cultural capital when an immigrants' identiy begins to erode."
Although the 3D mapping is not as impressive to behold as seeing a mosque or a temple in real life, it is a great initiative to preserve cultural heritage and preserve the knowledge that otherwise wouldn’t been able to access anymore. It is amazing how lifelike images of new generations compute constructions of ancient sites, this is a powerful new element in the presentation of official heritage (Silberman & Purser, 2012). This 3D mapping is a whole new way of visualizing heritage.
Although the 3D mapping is not as impressive to behold as seeing a mosque or a temple in real life, it is a great initiative to preserve cultural heritage and preserve the knowledge that otherwise wouldn’t been able to access anymore. It is amazing how lifelike images of new generations compute constructions of ancient sites, this is a powerful new element in the presentation of official heritage (Silberman & Purser, 2012). This 3D mapping is a whole new way of visualizing heritage.
TEMPLE OF BEL, PALMYRA
An important project that is currently being done, is the one on the Temple of Bel in Palmyra. The aim of this project is to organize a restoration campaign through 3D reconstitution.
The Temple of Bel is a famous monument in Syria and has been built in 32 AD, when it became the center of religious life in Palmyra. It is a temple of 200 by 200 meters and has a large sanctuary in the center. This impressive monument was a well-preserved monument in Palmyra. However, in August 2015, it was further destroyed by IS, leaving only the gate and the exterior walls intact.
An important project that is currently being done, is the one on the Temple of Bel in Palmyra. The aim of this project is to organize a restoration campaign through 3D reconstitution.
The Temple of Bel is a famous monument in Syria and has been built in 32 AD, when it became the center of religious life in Palmyra. It is a temple of 200 by 200 meters and has a large sanctuary in the center. This impressive monument was a well-preserved monument in Palmyra. However, in August 2015, it was further destroyed by IS, leaving only the gate and the exterior walls intact.
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The work done in Palmyra started by some thorough field data acquisition. The ICONEM
team and DGAM archaeologists started recording the antique site with drones in April 2016,
just one week after liberation for accurate documentation. Then, the pictures taken are processed by a 3D algorithms which generates a 3D model of the site. This working method led to high definition 3D models of all the damaged monuments in the area.
team and DGAM archaeologists started recording the antique site with drones in April 2016,
just one week after liberation for accurate documentation. Then, the pictures taken are processed by a 3D algorithms which generates a 3D model of the site. This working method led to high definition 3D models of all the damaged monuments in the area.
What ICONEM also did, was collecting earlier data of the site, from the time before the IS-damage, such as photographs and architectural surveys. Here, ICONEM brings together the past and the present in adequately, digitally reconstructing the Temple of Bel.
Reconstruction of the temple of Bel before the explosion (in red), overlapping the current state of the temple.
Finally, ICONEM processed a theoretical simulation of the explosion, which helps archaeologists to find the original place of the blocks that have fallen and identify the degradation of the blocks.
CONCLUSION
We never had heard of something like this 3D mapping and certainly not on this scale. It is a whole new, smart way of approaching and preserving cultural heritage and archaeological knowledge. This project by ICONEM can be very useful in the future, and not only for the Syrian community, but for all world heritage this is a good way of preserving and examining sites, even if you are not able to see it in person. Also for diasporic migrant communities such as the Syrians, digitalization of heritage has become an important share in preservation of identity. As Silberman and Purser (jaartal) write: "Where before the mechanisms that defined shared cultural heritage were territorially bounded or required physical presence, those connections can now be maintained digitally."
This case study and article show us great ways of digitalization of heritage. Could you think of any negative aspects of the use of digital media on cultural heritage?
This case study and article show us great ways of digitalization of heritage. Could you think of any negative aspects of the use of digital media on cultural heritage?
Here you can see the 3D mapping of the Temple of Bel, Palmyra.
