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Three archaeological treasures from Syria and Iraq, which were severely damaged or completely destroyed by Islamic State militants, have been painstakingly recreated for an exhibition at Rome’s Colosseum.

The exhibition, which opened last Thursday, showcases life-size replicas of three unique masterpieces.

These include a section of the roof from the Temple of Bel in ancient Palmyra, a colossal anthropomorphic statue of a winged bull from Nimrud, the ancient Assyrian capital razed by IS bulldozers, and the royal archives of ancient Ebla.

The UNESCO-funded exhibition employs modern technology to spark a debate about the potential for restoring, reconstructing or recreating works destroyed in times of war.

In August 2015, Islamic State jihadists obliterated the ruins of the Temple of Bel in Palmyra and razed the archaeological site of Nimrud in Iraq just a few months later.

The royal archives of ancient Ebla, comprising around 16,000 inscribed tablets, were extensively damaged during the conflict in Syria.

“Nimrud was the first to be destroyed,” Frances Pinnock, co-head of excavations at the Ebla archaeological site, told the New York Times. “It was known as the Versailles of the ancient Near East and was chosen for that very symbolic significance.”

As the turmoil in the Middle East continues, archaeologists and officials from various international organizations are exploring different approaches to recreate the archaeological sites of Syria and Iraq once the conflict ends.

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“There is a lot of discussion about how to restore what was lost,” says Stefano De Caro, director general of the Rome-based International Centre for Studies on the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage. “One proposal is to combine modern technology with traditional methods.”

For this project, three Italian companies, in collaboration with archaeologists and art historians, used 3D printing technology and materials that mimic the properties of marble and sandstone to reconstruct these invaluable antiquities.

Pinnock noted that the scientific team who reconstructed the Nimrud statue added a few small cracks to “give the sense of wear and tear over time.”

The meticulous reconstruction of these ancient relics was made possible with the help of high-resolution photographs provided by the US military services, which were subsequently stored in Mosul.

Regarding the choice of the Colosseum as the venue for this unique exhibition, site manager Francesco Prosperetti emphasized in a statement: “The Colosseum is the archaeological site with the most visitors. The decision was made to disseminate the message far and wide about the significance of cultural heritage and its intrinsic value to a country’s national identity. Moreover, it highlighted the necessity to safeguard, maintain, and in certain instances, reconstruct it from the ground up.

Information sourced from AP and The New York Times

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