ST. PETERSBURG, August 22. /TASS/. Russian specialists and experts are willing to take part in restoring the museum of the ancient city of Palmyra. However, monument restoration is not in talks right now, the issue will be decided by the international community after the hostilities in Syria end, Director of the Russian Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky told reporters on Thursday.
"We are willing to participate in the restoration of the Palmyra museum, as well as reopening the Damascus museum. To these ends, the works on 3D geodesic footage and technical drawings will continue. We will exhibit it in the Hermitage, it will become a basis for the Syrian restoration artists’ internships," he said following the talks with Head of the Syrian Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) Mahmoud Hammoud that were held on August 20.
According to Piotrovsky, the cooperation agreement with the Syrian side is planned to be signed in November.
Piotrovsky’s assessment suggests that it will take 1-2 years to restore the Palmyra museum since the beginning of reconstruction works. He pointed out that many exhibits were successfully salvaged and preserved, however, they require restoration as well. The museum displays will be enlarged by the monuments’ digital models created by Russian specialists.
"We need to reconstruct the building, update the displays and breathe new life into it [the museum]. It will be a museum that is simultaneously traditional and modern. The Hermitage Museum will take part in creation and structuring of it, we will gather colleagues and partners. We will rebuild the museum and cultural life will immediately begin there, touristic life, it will mean new jobs," the director of the Russian Hermitage Museum said.
World Heritage Site
The ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, often referred to as the Bride of the Syrian Desert, was an important hub along ancient trade routes, particularly the Great Silk Road, in Western Asia. Its heyday encompassed the 1st-3rd centuries AD, when a number of architectural monuments were built in the city, which have been preserved in the desert up to this day.
UNESCO placed Palmyra on its list of world cultural heritage sites. The militants who controlled Palmyra from May 2015 through March 2016 and from December 2016 through March 2017 destroyed a number of monuments there.
The devastation prompted Russian restoration artists form the Hermitage Museum and other agencies to join the work to collect materials and data on the condition of the World Heritage Site.
In September 2016, after Syrian government forces had liberated the city, a Russian expert team, headed by the Institute’s Deputy Director Natalya Solovyova, went to Palmyra in September 2016 in order to record the scale of the destruction, take photos and create a 3D model of the complex. The 3D model of Palmyra was created based on photos taken by archeologists from the Institute for the History of Material Culture at the Russian Academy of Sciences and the State Hermitage Museum.
It took Russian experts about a year to create the model, which currently presents the most complete and up-to-date information about the city’s condition.
This year, Russian archeologists are planning to record more footage of the treasured monuments in Palmyra to update the 3D model.
World Heritage Site
The ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, often referred to as the Bride of the Syrian Desert, was an important hub along ancient trade routes, particularly the Great Silk Road, in Western Asia. Its heyday encompassed the 1st-3rd centuries AD, when a number of architectural monuments were built in the city, which have been preserved in the desert up to this day.
UNESCO placed Palmyra on its list of world cultural heritage sites. The militants who controlled Palmyra from May 2015 through March 2016 and from December 2016 through March 2017 destroyed a number of monuments there.
The devastation prompted Russian restoration artists form the Hermitage Museum and other agencies to join the work to collect materials and data on the condition of the World Heritage Site.
In September 2016, after Syrian government forces had liberated the city, a Russian expert team, headed by the Institute’s Deputy Director Natalya Solovyova, went to Palmyra in September 2016 in order to record the scale of the destruction, take photos and create a 3D model of the complex. The 3D model of Palmyra was created based on photos taken by archeologists from the Institute for the History of Material Culture at the Russian Academy of Sciences and the State Hermitage Museum.
It took Russian experts about a year to create the model, which currently presents the most complete and up-to-date information about the city’s condition.