ISIS occupied the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra for nearly a year and during that time destroyed two ancient temples and a triumphal arch, and sadly killed Khaled al-Asaad, the city’s chief archaeologist who had refused to reveal the location of hidden artifacts.
Today, replicas of several artifacts destroyed in Syria and Iraq have been re-created in Italy and are part of a UNESCO-sponsored exhibit called “Rising from Destruction” which is running through December in the Coliseum.
Cristina Acidini, who supervised the reconstructions, says that specially trained technicians worked from photographs to create a small-scale model and then via 3-D printers, replicas were re-created and eventually molded together on site.
The clear message is “to show that all that has been destroyed can be reconstructed,” says the curator of the exhibit, Francesco Rutelli. “Because it is our heritage, not only the Syrian or Iraqi or Afghan or Latin American. It’s a universal heritage.”
