Hundreds of major heritage sites have been destroyed or damaged during the Syrian conflict. Now detailed 3D mappings of the country's famous monuments provide hope for their preservation.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
Advertisement
A French team of digital surveyors has been collaborating with archaeologists from the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) to map in detail the country's cultural monuments threatened by the ongoing conflict in the country.
The French start-up called Iconem has developed a photogrammetric technology that can at least preserve the memory of these buildings.
"This solution gives our archaeological sites a real hope of renaissance and allows the memory of them to be preserved, no matter what happens," the head of DGAM, Maamoun Abdulkarim, said in a press statement.
The Krak des Chevaliers is one of the most important preserved medieval castles in the worldImage: Syrian Heritage Archive/Issam Ballouz
Mapping the buildings that are left
Their Syrian Heritage database is said to be the biggest 3D record of the country's monuments and treasures, according to news agency AFP. They began working on it in December and published it online on Tuesday (15.03.2016).
Three sites are available for now, including the eighth-century Umayyad Mosque in the capital Damascus, seen by some Muslims as the fourth-holiest place in Islam. New 3D versions of heritage sites will be published from week to week, Eric Thibaut, an Iconem contributor, told DW.
Another famous site they have reconstructed in 3D is the Krak des Chevaliers, the Crusader castle near the devastated city of Homs. Although the hilltop castle has some war scars, the damage it underwent during the heavy fighting in the region is fortunately limited. It nevertheless remains one of the six Syrian sites on UNESCO's list of World Heritage in danger.
"For now, the mapping focuses on buildings which are still standing, as a preventive measure," said Thibaut. Unlike its sister mosque in Damascus, the Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo was destroyed in 2013 due to the civil conflict.
Life-size reproduction of Palmyra arch
Another similar initiative led by the Institute for Digital Archaeology has provided 5,000 low-cost 3D cameras to NGO workers and archaelogists to gather millions of images of these threatened sites.
"IS" militants blew up the Arch of Triumph in Palmyra; now a huge 3D printer will reproduce itImage: Fotolia/waj
Their Million Images Database is expected to be published by the end of the year. Their goal is also to use the world's largest 3D printer to recreate a life-size reproduction of the triumphal arch destroyed in Palmyra and put it on show in New York's Times Square and London's Trafalgar Square.
"Islamic State" jihadist militants outraged the world by blowing up the first-century temples of Bel and Baalshamin in the ancient desert city of Palmyra in August last year, destroying treasures of "one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world," according to UNESCO.
More on the topic: The "Palmyra - What's Left?" exhibition at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne currently presents 18th century sketches of the Syrian city's former splendor.
Drawings to preserve Palmyra's glamorous past
In 2015, the "Islamic State" terror militia shocked the world when it destroyed monuments in the ancient city of Palmyra. An exhibition in Cologne presents 18th century sketches of the Syrian city's former splendor.
Image: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum/Daniel Lohmann
Artist, archeologist, architect
Like so many who traveled to the Orient in the 18th century, French artist Louis-François Cassas came from an upper-class family. His father was a marquis and royal land surveyor. In 1785, Louis-Francois spent two months in Palmyra, drawing virtually all of the ruins of the legendary cultural center of the Ancient World.
Image: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum/Fondation Corboud
What survives
Cassas encountered nothing but ruins in Palmyra; however, instead of drawing what he actually saw, he tried to reconstruct the ancient city in its former splendor on paper. The Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne has 123 of his sketches in its collection. Some of them were restored for the exhibition "Palmyra: What's Left?," which also reflects on the current terrorist destruction of these sites.
Image: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum/Fondation Corboud
Wealthy caravan oasis
Palmyra is located halfway between Damascus and the Iraqi border. Erected between the first and the third centuries AD, the monumental buildings were well-preserved, silent witnesses to the wealth of the Greco-Roman city. Trade caravans brought spices, precious gems and cloth to the independent city.
Image: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum/Daniel Lohmann
Diffferent styles and influences
Palmyra went with the times, mixing architecture in the Greco-Roman style with indigenous elements and ornamental flourishes. The semicircular Roman Theater has a stage facade designed like an oriental palace. Plays in Aramaic were shown there.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Marczok
Fascination with history
Artists and architects have aimed to revive the spirit of the antique city as early as the 15th century. Cassas' perspective was unique: Using different colors, he distinguished the actual architecture from the imagined building in his drawings. Black depicted reality, while red marked his reconstructions.
Image: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum/Fondation Corboud
Tower graves
Cassas' drawings offer insights into Palmyra's burial rites. The dead were entombed in burial towers, three to four stories high, with up to 42 sarcophagi per level, each elaborately decorated with the likeness of the deceased.
Image: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum/Fondation Corboud
Privileged elite
The elaborate ornaments in the towering necropolises demonstrate that the burial towers were reserved for wealthy residents of Palmyra. It is not immediately clear what actually existed at the time Cassas made his drawings - and what he added.
Image: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum/Fondation Corboud
The center of religious life
The temple of Bel was built toward the end of the second century AD under Roman rule. Bel was the local equivalent of the Greek god Zeus. The architecture combined Greek and Roman building traditions, with additional oriental flourishes.
Image: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum/Fondation Corboud
Lost forever
The approximately 2,000-year-old temple of Baalshamin, one of the most complete ancient structures found in Palmyra, was also demolished by "Islamic State" militants. Baalshamin, the "Lord of Heaven," was one of Palmyra's supreme deities.
Image: Reuters/Stringer
Stately main street
The Great Colonnade was the city's main avenue. There were shops to the left and right, as well as the Agora market place, a theater and the roman Diocletian bath complex. As the IS pursues its destruction of ancient sites, what will finally remain of this cultural heritage remains to be seen.