How Can We Conserve Heritage Using Technology?

International Council on Monuments and sites, popularly known as ICOMOS is one-of- the apex bodies in the world which strive to conserve and protect the world heritage sites. This body among other initiatives celebrates 18 April as the International Day on monuments and sites.

The intention behind celebrating this day is to create awareness among the world citizens on the diversified and rich heritage and the amount of efforts required by us to protect these.

With this as a context, and considering the advancement of the technology in today’s world, we decided to put together some thoughts on how can we use the technology to conserve and preserve the monuments and heritage available for us.

Deploying 3D techniques to digitally reconstruct the monuments.

Monuments and heritage sites degrade over time and eventually are destroyed naturally or are destroyed due to inhuman acts. The 3D technology can be deployed to digitally rebuild the monument.

There are multiple images available on the internet and official archives, the technologists or the archeologists can use the images to rebuild the monument. This will create a digital database of the sites of importance and also serve as important data bank in case of re-construction being taken up.

Knowledge Tip: This technique was used to reconstruct Bamiyan Buddha site in Taliban.

3D printing opens up a universe of opportunity!

The advancement in the field of technology has many an applications in the field of archeology. The case in point is 3D printing. Google defines, 3D printing as – “a process for making a physical object from a three-dimensional digital model, typically by laying down many successive thin layers of a material.”

3D printing can be deployed to reconstruct or re-build the monument or part of the heritage structure entirely. This process is cost effective when compared to original restoration process and is far more effective.

Knowledge Tip: The 3,300 years old 2-foot- long ceramic lion from a temple in long-ago Nuzi was repaired using this technology.

Virtual Reality to the rescue.

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are the newest set of technologies on the block which are being implemented in this domain. Thanks to social platforms such as Facebook and mobile phone manufacturers such as Samsung, this technology is now easily accessible to the lay man.

Usage of VR and AR opens up a land of opportunities for conservation groups and archeologists. Right from creating virtually available prototypes to building virtual museums, these technologies can be deployed to conserve and preserve the monuments in many ways.

Virtual walk through is one of the best ways to engage the enthusiasts.

This is how we the people of the world can utilize technology to preserve our cultural and monumental heritage However, beyond this we should also be doing our bit to reduce the effect of pollution and manmade disasters on monuments across the world.

Hope you enjoy reading it.

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26 April, 2016
The Reputation Blog