The Lost Temple of Baal-Shamin At Palmyra, Syria

thingiverse

The ancient city of Palmyra stands as one of the planet's most breathtakingly beautiful, historically significant, and archaeologically rich sites (no doubt about it, even its excavation history is absolutely fascinating). Unfortunately, it's being ravaged right now by Islamic State forces that are currently occupying the region. Despite promises to protect cultural heritage, ISIS has begun randomly destroying the world's most valuable historical landmarks as they continue their reign of terror in the Middle East. This week, we lost the Temple of Ba'al-shamin, one of Palmyra's most sacred sites dedicated to a variant of the region's most important ancient god. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/24/world/middleeast/islamic-state-blows-up-ancient-temple-at-syrias-palmyra-ruins.html?smid=fb-share&_r=1 The real thing is gone forever—Sadly, before laser scanners could reach it (as far as I know?) to preserve a millimeter accurate digital representation of the temple. Photographs can serve in an emergency. And using a combination of structure from motion and straight up modelling, I built a quick version of this historical wonder today, so that some version of it can live on in 3D. For more on digital heritage, art, archaeology, and everything in between, check out Open Access Antiquarianism. http://openaccessantiquarianism.com/