On April 19, in a gesture of defiance and solidarity, a full-size replica of an ancient Syrian arch that has to date survived repeated attacks by Isis will be placed in London’s Trafalgar Square.
Two Tuscan companies played a key role in the project: technology group TorArt in Carrara and 3D printing company D-Shape in Cascina teamed up for the finishing touches, which are currently underway.
The monument is a copy of the entryway to the Temple of Bel in the ancient city of Palmyra. Although most of the temple has been destroyed, its entry arch still stands. Though “copies can never replace originals,” says the project’s technical director Alexy Karenowska, of the Institute for Digital Archaeology, “the idea is to attract attention to the fact that reconstruction is underway—as proof of what technology can do.”
The project was conceived by the Institute for Digital Archaeology, a joint venture of Harvard University, the University of Oxford and Dubai’s Museum of the Future, and organized in collaboration with UNESCO.
In 2015, the institute launched the Million Image Database Project, distributing 3D cameras to volunteer archaeologists and tourists, who then photographed monuments in high-risk areas of the Middle East. Their photographs were then placed in a data bank and sent to Carrara. TorArt is now using advanced robotic tools and D-Shape’s 3D printers to complete the reconstruction, using blocks of unrefined marble and sandstone.
TorArt has previously contributed to numerous cultural heritage conservation projects, including for the Hermitage of St. Petersburg, the Musèe d’Art et d’Histoire Genève and Copenhagen’s Thorvaldsen Museum.
