Ancient Palmyra, close and three-dimensional. A large-scale project was completed by a group of specialists in St. Petersburg. Pearl of the Middle East, torn by ISIS vandals and fanatics for several years, is now controlled by the government forces. And now scientists from all over the world again began to develop reconstruction plans for the ancient city. A new 3D model of Palmyra will be extremely helpful, of course. Suleima Zarif met with the developers.
The scientists didn't sleep this night, they made the finishing touches before the presentation. A hard, almost round-the-clock work at the Institute for the History of Material Culture lasted a year. And here is the result: the world's first detailed 3D model of Palmyra.
Natalia Solovieva, deputy director of the Institute:
"They work with individual things and objects, but such a huge territory represents huge scientific value. Restorers and archaeologists can work with it, it's very helpful for monument protection bodies".
The 3D model covers a huge territory of 13 square kilometers, it's like 8 Luzhniki complexes. At the same time, you can see the smallest details from two centimeters, zoom in, rotate every stone lying on the ground. And after the invasion of terrorists, Palmyra actually turned into a pile of stones.
Yegor Blokhin, junior researcher:
"The valley of the funerary towers. Unfortunately, all tall buildings there are destroyed. There were two and even three-storied buildings. They were a sort of mausoleums with coffins, with fine frescoes, painted walls, bas-reliefs".
Russian scientists spent 3 days in Palmyra last fall. They carried out a detailed aerial survey. They took a total of 20,000 photos, which became the basis of the model. It's a virtual tour of Palmyra.
Here is the main Temple of Bel which was blown up and can't be restored. And the Temple of Baalshamin is also destroyed, but disintegrated into large blocks that are possible to assemble. In a special computer program, to begin with.
Now it's dangerous for scientists to work on the territory of Palmyra. Using the model, scientists can start restoration without leaving their offices. And when Syria is completely liberated from the militants, they can come and implement their projects.
Various nations and religions peacefully coexisted in ancient Palmyra: Greeks, Arabs, and Arameans, which was emphasized in architecture. There are numerous temples erected in honor of the gods of all cultures known at that time. The barbarians destroyed them, but they can't destroy the memory partly thanks to such projects as the 3D model.
Suleima Zarif, Evgeny Kostin, Alexander Burushkov and Galina Orlova for Vesti from St. Petersburg.
