3D models and robots might rebuild Palmyra

Cultural organizations have been working to create precise three-dimensional digital models of the threatened heritage monuments in Palmyra, Syria, in case the originals are damaged beyond repair.
Near the marble quarries of Carrara, Italy, robots, like the one in the video above, are using the models to carve a 20-foot-high scale reproduction of one of Palmyra’s most famous ancient monuments: a Roman triumphal arch that Islamic State militants razed last year.

When finished next month, the 12-ton replica is to be temporarily installed at Trafalgar Square in London, with plans to bring it to New York later in the year.

The Romans built the original triumphal arch in the second century to celebrate a victory over the Persians.

The reproduction was created from a 3D computer model generated from dozens of photographs of the arch taken by archaeologists, tourists and other visitors to Palmyra before the Islamic State captured the city.

The photographs had been put into a database, and once experts were confident that the computer model contained all the structural information necessary, a file was sent to Italy. There, robots are carving the reproduction from blocks of Egyptian marble.

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