Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Moscow, SANA – Scientists from the Institute for History of Material Culture at the Russian Academy of Sciences finished a detailed 3D model of the ancient city of Palmyra in order to facilitate its reconstruction and help preserve it.
In a press statement on Thursday, the Institute announced that it has completed its project of making a 3D model of Palmyra city which is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The statement said the model was created to in order to help preserve ancient Palmyra and to rebuild it for future generations, pointing out that the model was presented to the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) in Syria.
Director of the DGAM Mahmoud Hammoud said in a statement to SANA that following the large-scale destruction inflicted on the ancient city of Palmyra at the hands of Daesh (ISIS) terrorist organization, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Hermitage Museum began a 3D documentation project for the city.
Hammoud said the project was carried out in two stages, which involved documenting the damage caused to the city and the illegal excavations carried out in Palmyra, which will pave the way towards the restoration and rehabilitation of the site.
He also noted that this project is one of a series of projects in coordination with the Russian side to preserve the Syrian cultural heritage, which include the restoration of archeological artifacts and the complete renovation of Palmyra Museum.
The Institute said that throughout the past few years, it carried out this project alongside its partners which covered an area of 20 square kilometers, taking over 55,000 high-quality aerial photos in order to produce the model which is made of around 700 million polygons.
In addition, thousands of photos were taken to document the archeological landmarks in Palmyra, which was liberated from Daesh in March 2017 by the Syrian Arab Army.
Hybah / Hazem Sabbagh
