had been struck by the destruction of the statues. Having
experimented with their projections on a mountainside
in China, they received approval from UNESCO and the
Afghan government to bring their hologram projection
of the statues to Afghanistan in 2015.
UNESCO is doing a lot of work to ensure the
safeguarding of Syrian cultural heritage. One such measure
is employing digitisation for organising the inventories
and archives of cultural property in Syrian museums in
order to simplify the identification and registration of
missing artefacts.
A campaign called “Save Syria’s History” was launched to
raise awareness of the current looting of museums and illegal
excavation of archaeological sites. UNESCO states that the
initiative “serves to remind all Syrian people, regardless of
their political allegiance, of the importance to protect their
rich cultural heritage for the benefit of future generations”.
The campaign disseminated posters and audio-visual material
across Syria to convey this message, and created a network of
volunteers from local communities to come together all over
the country. The project works to help museum staff move
archaeological artefacts to safe and secure places, while also
providing added security around archaeological sites at risk
of being illegally excavated.
IMAGE © GETTY IMAGESREBUILDING SYRIA
Organisation Iconem is working to preserve the knowledge
of threatened heritage using digital technology, producing
digital doubles of archaeological remains. Iconem sends
specialists to support Syrian archaeologists and architects by
providing them with advanced techniques to document their
heritage, creating a digital database of Syrian monuments.
To view their incredible digital reconstructions, visit
http://www.syrianheritagerevival.orgart